For far too long we haven’t been taught the correct Black history, we haven’t had open conversations on systemic disparity, and we haven’t addressed daily micro aggressions that people of color endure day in and day out. 80% of teachers are of white decent and only 40% of public schools do not have a teacher of color (source), it is difficult to say that we are being taught more than surface level black history. Further, teaching the basics 1 month of the year needs an adjustment on a national level, Black history is a year round learning as we celebrate the inventors, creators, activists and educators who provided so much to our historical make up.

Last year, I made it my mission to teach myself more so I could provide that education to Logan that he most likely will miss out on in school just as I had. We only learn about the slave trade to America but not how African slaves were used by other countries prior to their trade to the US, how sharks changed their migration patterns to follow the ships for food or how the democratic party split and flipped because the Dixie Democrats wanted to keep a Jim Crow south and the other side wanted to progress.

With that education initiative, I have found 5 books that really changed the way I see, understand and live my life moving forward. Each of these reads have shifted my perspective immensely and even giving me a better grasp on hot button topics, systemic racism and more.

5 | Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi

4 | White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin Diangelo

3 | How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

2 | Say It Louder!: Black Voters, White Narratives, and Saving Our Democrac by Tiffany D. Cross

1 | So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

Here are some additional books that I haven’t read but are on my list :

I hope you enjoy these titles as much as I have, let us be educated as we navigate forward so we do not repeat the past. If you have any additional books I should add to my list, please slide in those instagram DM’s!

Here are 10 books for your toddlers & preschoolers to teach about brilliant Black minds!

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