ACLS Resources: Interrogating the Legacies of Racism in our Society

So many of us are continuing to process the anger and grief of the loss of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and too many others as a result of police violence and a history of institutional racism in America.

ACLS and many learned societies have issued statements condemning racism, calling for justice, and declaring solidarity with the anti-racism movement. At the same time, we recognize the need to take steps beyond rhetoric and demonstrate a commitment to building and amplifying the world we wish to see.

Humanities research lays bare the long history of violence and oppression in the United States as well as the systemic factors that impede our progress toward equity. The following list represents existing readings, research, curricula, published works, and other resources shared by fellows and other members of the ACLS community that can help in education and reflection on where we have been, where we are now, and where we need to go regarding race and our society. We share these as a means of empowering each other toward elevating the discourse on race, police brutality, and human dignity, as we grapple with the grim and violent expressions of white supremacy in our country and culture and how best to approach change.

If you are a fellow and members of the ACLS community with a favorite resource – yours or another’s – that interrogates the legacies of racism in our society, please share it with us.

GLOBAL ANTI-RACISM EFFORTS

• Anti-Asian Bias and Asian Empowerment Movements Scholarly Resource List
  Compiled by American Council of Learned Societies
• “Becoming Less Racist: Lighting the Path to Anti-Racism” web series
  Hosted by Simran Jeet Singh F’18
• “‘Don’t Hurt Yourself’: (Anti)Racism and White Self-Harm” – Los Angeles Review of Books, July 6, 2021
  Written by David Sterling Brown F’21
• “Schomburg Center Black Liberation Reading List”
  Sent by Candacy A. Taylor F’16
• “Racism is a Health Risk” – WORLD: we got this podcast
  Conversation between Anne Pollock F’19 & Dr. Melissa Creary

RACE IN AMERICA

• “Black autonomy and lessons from the Black Power struggle” – Al Jazeera, June 22, 2020
  Written by Mohammed Elnaiem & Mehmet Dosemeci F’20
• “‘Caste, Class, and Race’ @70” – Public Books, February 12, 2019
  Written by Leah N. Gordon F’15
• The Color of Mind: Why the Origins of the Achievement Gap Matter for Justice (University of Chicago Press, 2018)
  Written by Derrick Darby F’15 & John L. Rury F’15
• “‘The Crowning Insult’: Federal Segregation and the Gold Star Mother and Widow Pilgrimages of the Early 1930s” – Journal of American History, Volume 102, Issue 2, September 2015
  Written by Frances M. Clarke F’14 & Rebecca Jo Plant F’14
• “Demands of justice for George Floyd echo Wisconsin’s long history of black and brown protests” – Wisconsin Watch, June 10, 2020
  Written by Antonio Ramirez F’19
• Indigenous Studies Resource Page
  Compiled by American Council of Learned Societies
• Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America (Abrams Press, 2020)
  Written by Candacy A. Taylor F’16
• From Power to Prejudice: The Rise of Racial Individualism in Midcentury America (University of Chicago Press, 2015) 
  Written by Leah N. Gordon F’15
• “Racism and Inequality: Protesting for a Better, Truer US” – The Wire, June 8, 2020
  Written by Rashmi Sadana F’19
• “A reading list on issues of race” – The Harvard Gazette, June 15, 2020
  Submitted by Alejandro de la Fuente F’17
• “Remembering Past Lessons about Structural Racism-Recentering Black Theorists of Health and Society” – New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 385, Number 9, 2021
  Submitted by Ava Purkiss F’22

CRITICAL RACE STUDIES

• Mulatto · Outlaw · Pilgrim · Priest: The Legal Case of José Soller, Accused of Impersonating a Pastor and Other Crimes in Seventeenth-century Spain (Brill, 2020)
  Written by John K. Moore, Jr., PhD F’16

RACE AND COLONIALITY

• White Enclosures: Racial Capitalism and Coloniality along the Balkan Route
  Written by Piro Rexhepi F’19, Lecturer, Southern New Hampshire University.

RACE AND LGBTQ+ EXPERIENCE​S ​

• “Black. Queer. Southern. Woman.” – Southern Spaces, June 27, 2019
  Conversation between E. Patrick Johnson of Northwestern and Sharon Bridgforth   

RACE AND LINGUISTICS

• “Linguistics and race: An interdisciplinary approach towards an LSA statement on race”
  Sent by Alyson Reed, Executive Director of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA)
• “LSA Issues Statement on Racial Justice”
  Sent by Alyson Reed, Executive Director of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA)

RACE AND MEDIEVAL STUDIES

• “The Mother of All Pandemics: The State of Black Death Research in the Era of COVID-19” – Medieval Academy, May 15, 2020
  Hosted by the Medieval Academy of America; Sent by Lisa Fagin Davis – The Executive Director of the Medieval Academy of America
• “The Mother of All Pandemics: The State of Black Death Research in the Era of COVID-19” webinar bibliography
  Hosted by the Medieval Academy of America; Sent by Lisa Fagin Davis – The Executive Director of the Medieval Academy of America
• “Race and Medieval Studies: A Partial Bibliography”
  Sent by Lisa Fagin Davis – The Executive Director of the Medieval Academy of America
• “Featured lesson resource page: Race, Racism and the Middle Ages” – TEAMS, September 16, 2020
  Sent by Lisa Fagin Davis – The Executive Director of the Medieval Academy of America
• “Special Series: Race, Racism and the Middle Ages” – The Public Medievalist
  Sent by Lisa Fagin Davis – The Executive Director of the Medieval Academy of America
• Teaching Medieval Slavery and Captivity
  Created by Hannah Barker F’20

RACE AND SHAKESPEARE

• David Sterling Brown: Resources on Race in Shakespeare’s Time
  Website created by David Sterling Brown F’21
• “(Early) Modern Literature: Crossing the Color-Line” – Radical Teacher, Vol. 105, 2016
  Written by David Sterling Brown F’21
• “Is Black so Base a Hue?: Black Life Matters in Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus” – Bates Video on Demand, 2016
  Talk by David Sterling Brown F’21
• “Shakespeare, Race & Pedagogy 2021: Dr David Sterling Brown and Wendy Lennon”
  Talk featuring David Sterling Brown F’21
• “To Teach Shakespeare for Survival: Talking with David Sterling Brown and Arthur L. Little Jr.” – Public Books, November 9, 2021
  Conversation featuring David Sterling Brown F’21

RACE IN BIBLICAL STUDIES​ ​

• Interpretation for Liberation (Society of Biblical Literature, 2005)
  Edited by Katie Geneva Cannon and Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Krister Stendahl Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School
• Scripturalizing Revelation: An African American Postcolonial Reading of Empire (Society of Biblical Literature, 2015)
  Written by Lynne St. Clair Darden
• They Were All Together in One Place? Toward Minority Biblical Criticism (Society of Biblical Literature, 2009)
  Edited by Randall C. Bailey, Professor Emeritus Interdenominational Theological Center; Tat-Siong Benny Liew, 1956 Chair in New Testament Studies at College of the Holy Cross; and Fernando F. Segovia, Oberlin Graduate Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Vanderbilt University
• The Tyranny of Resolution: 1 Corinthians 7:17–24 (Society of Biblical Literature, 2000)
  Written by Brad Ronnell Braxton, Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer at St. Luke’s School and the Curator for Living Religions in Twenty-First-Century America at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
• Womanist Interpretations of the Bible: Expanding the Discourse (Society of Biblical Literature, 2016)
  Edited by Gay L. Byron, Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the Howard University School of Divinity; and Vanessa Lovelace, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dean, and Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament at Lancaster Theological Seminary
• Yet with a Steady Beat: Contemporary U.S. Afrocentric Biblical Interpretation (Society of Biblical Literature, 2002)
  Edited by Randall C. Bailey, Professor Emeritus Interdenominational Theological Center