How To Be An Antiracist - Banned Books - 2023-2024 Common Read - Research Guides at Johnson County Community College

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Themes

How to be an Antiracist explores themes of racism and antiracism, race and identity, and racist policy. It also looks at sexism, classism, and LGBTQ+ issues and how these issues intersect with one another.

Discussion with Ibram X. Kendi (Colleen Walsh, Harvard, 11/20/2020)

How to be Antiracist (Ibram X. Kendi & Jemele Hill, Aspen Ideas, n.d.). This can be viewed as a video, or you can scroll down to a summary of each of the discussed themes.

Interview with Ibram X. Kendi (John Blake, CNN, 03/26/2023)

Newsmaker: Ibram X. Kendi (Heather Booth, American Libraries Magazine, 03/01/2022)

NPR Book Review (Ericka Taylor, NPR, 08/15/2019)

Study Guide (Gari De Ramos; edited by Mia Eisenberg, Radical in Progress, n.d.) Sections include: definitions; body & culture; color & class; and gender, sex, & systems

TED Talk: The difference between being "not racist" and antiracist

In this conversation, Ibram X. Kendi defines the concept of antiracism to help us more clearly recognize, take responsibility for and reject prejudices in our public policies, workplaces and personal beliefs.

Recommended Library Databases

African-American History This link opens in a new window
Collections of primary resources, maps, graphs, videos, and other items tracing African American history. Available on campus or off campus with current MyJCCC ID.
African American Studies Center This link opens in a new window
This resource describes itself as "the online authority of the African American Experience." You'll find biographies, articles, subject descriptions, images and video, audio clips, and more chronicling African American history.

Other Books by Ibram X. Kendi

Four Hundred Souls by Ibram X. Kendi (Editor); Keisha N. Blain (Editor)
Call Number: E185 .F625 2021
ISBN: 9780593134047
A chorus of extraordinary voices tells the epic story of the four-hundred-year journey of African Americans from 1619 to the present--edited by Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist, and Keisha N. Blain, author of Set the World on Fire.
How to Raise an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Call Number: eBook
ISBN: 9780593242544
The book that every parent, caregiver, and teacher needs to raise the next generation of antiracist thinkers. Kendi combines a century of scientific research with a vulnerable and compelling personal narrative of his own journey as a parent and as a child in school. The chapters follow the stages of child development from pregnancy to toddler to schoolkid to teenager. It is never too early or late to start raising young people to be antiracist.
Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi
Call Number: E185.61 .K358 2017
ISBN: 9781568585987
In this deeply researched and fast-moving narrative, Kendi chronicles the entire story of anti-black racist ideas and their staggering power over the course of American history.

Find the Book

Billington Library 2nd Floor E184.A1 K344 2023
Course Reserve Copy Available
Check availability for either the circulating or reserve copies in the library catalog

About the Author

Dr. Ibram X. Kendi is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University and the founding director of the BU Center for Antiracist Research. He is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and a CBS News racial justice contributor. He is the host of the new action podcast Be Antiracist.

Dr. Kendi is the author of many highly acclaimed books and is the youngest winner of the National Book Award for Nonfiction.. In 2020, Time magazine named Dr. Kendi one of the 100 most influential people in the world. He was awarded a 2021 MacArthur Fellowship, popularly known as the Genius Grant.

Bans & Challenges

Eanes, Texas List of Book Challenges (Eanes School District, n.d.). Click on the "see decision" link beside a book to read the parent's challenge and the school district's response.

"How to Be an Antiracist," by Ibram X. Kendi (Jennifer Martin, CBS News, 11/10/2022). Kendi's book is number 46 on this list of "The 50 most banned books in America."

Ibram X. Kendi says a backlash has 'crushed' the nation's racial reckoning. But there's one reason he remains hopeful (John Blake, CNN, 03/26/2023). This article provides brief background information about Kendi and his books, then proceeds to an interview with Kendi about racism and antiracism.