Black Lives Matter: IU Libraries Curates Resource List

With the rising awareness and discourse surrounding racial inequity in the United States, you may have noticed several resource lists curated to educate and inform the public. These include, but are not limited to, Black-authored revolutionary texts, histories of race relations in the United States, Anti-Racism toolkits, and tips for meaningful allyship. You may also have noticed that these resources often do not last long and are often modified or removed entirely. This may happen for a number of reasons, including the failure to obtain proper permissions to post and publicly disseminate the resources they used. To create a more stable collection of resources, IU Libraries’ Scholarly Communication Department has created a list of materials consisting entirely of either library licensed content for IU Bloomington affiliates or open access resources, meaning they are free and available for the public to use and disseminate. As an IUB affiliate, you can freely access all items on our Black Lives Matter resource list. 

Library Licensed Content

The Libraries’ collection contains many foundational Black revolutionary texts and other resources. All library licensed content (LLC) is available to  anyone with an IU Bloomington affiliation at no cost. This list contains a combination of e-resources, which can be accessed online with your CAS credentials, and print resources, which can be checked-out through the Libraries’ no-contact Paged Pickup. A few of the resources, while not normally available electronically, have been digitized through the Hathi Trust Emergency Temporary Access Service. These are marked by the Hathi Trust logo on the resources IUCAT page. To access these, click on the logo and login with your CAS credentials. Some highlights from the LLC resources are:

• The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (Michelle Alexander, e-book)
  • This book examines the relationship between systematic racism and incarceration, specifically among black males, and inequity which Alexander claims needs to be treated as both a racial justice and civil rights issue.
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou, autobiography)
  • Angelou’s autobiography serves as a coming of age story which details the author’s experiences and recovery from racism and its surrounding traumas.
• Teaching to Transgress (bell hooks, book)
  • bell hooks’ pedagogical theory suggests teaching students to “transgress” against boundaries and biarnies of race, class, sex, etc. to achieve free and democratic thinking. 
• The Racial Contract (Charles Mills, essay)
  • This foundational essay challenges white European-centered philosophical thinking, arguing that these philosophers create a “Racial Contract” that perpetuates (either implicitly or explicitly) white supremacy and the disclosure of black voices. 
• Algorithms of Oppression (Safiya Noble, book)
  • Noble’s book demonstrates how seemingly innocuous tools, such as Google, maintain the white control of information and perpetuate racism. 

Open Access Resources

For those without an IU affiliation, the list also contains several open access resources. Open access resources are those which can be freely accessed by the public without restrictions. All resources marked with an “OA” are open and can be accessed anywhere and by anyone. Some highlights from the OA resources are:

• Why The Coronavirus Is Hitting Black Communities Hardest (Code Switch; podcast)
  • This podcast discusses why marginalized communities have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.
• A Timeline of Racial Progress in the U.S., and the Lack of It, Through the Years by Dr. Carolyn Calloway-Thomas, Chair, African American and African Diaspora Studies at IU Bloomington and Sam Hill, Newsweek contributor
  • This article features a timeline “Racial Progress in America: The Slow March Forward” which highlights the progress and setbacks in seeking racial justice in America
• The Urgency of Intersectionality (Kimberlé Crenshaw, TED Talk)
  • This TED Talk expands on Crenshaw’s coined term “intersectionality” and the increased biases people face when their different identities (e.g., race, class, sex, sexual orientation, etc.) combine to create more severe forms of oppression.
• Celeste Bartos Forum: Literacy, Libraries and Liberation (Angela Davis and Toni Morrison; interview with the New York Public Library)
  • A conversation between the New York Public Library, activist/scholar Angela Davis, and author Toni Morrison on racism in libraries. Both a recording and a transcript of the conversation are available. 
• 13th (Ava DuVernay; documentary)
  • DuVernay’s documentary explores the history of racial inequity in the United States, focusing on the criminal justice system. 
• Celebrating Black History Month (Poetry Foundation; online collection)
  • This collection of poems from the Poetry Foundation celebrates and highlights the works of black poets, including Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Hayden, and Langston Hughs. 

This list is by no means comprehensive or finite, but it serves as a starting point for anyone to educate themselves and others about racial inequity. Please contact IUSW@indiana.edu for suggested additions to the resource list or with any questions.