RESOURCES FOR AWARENESS

Books, Websites, Articles, Videos

Books

Banks, C.A.M. (2004). Improving multicultural education: Lessons from the intergroup education movement. New York: Teachers College Press.

Intergroup conflict has been a perennial problem in the United States since colonial times. This book describes how a group of educators, social activists, and scholars tried to reduce intergroup tensions and create schools where people of all groups could learn together and from each other.

Bouser, B. P. (1996). Impacts of racism on white Americans.

What motivates white racism? What effects does racism have on white Americans? The Second Edition of this provocative book reveals that racism remains a pervasive force in American society and that its effects on whites are still misunderstood.

Bush, M. E. L. (2004). Breaking the code of good intentions: Everyday forms of whiteness.

Here, Melanie Bush examines why most white people in the U.S. believe we have achieved racial equality through social and economic indicators suggest otherwise. The book draws on research conducted between 1998-2000 at a college within the largest urban public university in the nation, exploring with students’ perceptions about identity, privilege, democracy, and intergroup relations.

Delgado, R. & J. Stefancic (1997). Critical white studies: Looking behind the mirror. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

A sweeping portrait of the emerging field of whiteness studies, Critical White Studies presents, for the first time, the best work from sociology, law, history, cultural studies, and literature. Delgado and Stefancic expressly offer critical white studies as the next step in critical race theory.

Derman-Sparks, Louise. (1997). Teaching/learning anti-racism: A developmental approach.

This exciting new book is an indispensable guide for teachers, trainers, and anyone interested in fighting racism.

Dimitriadis, G. (2003). Friendship, cliques and gangs: Young black men coming of age in urban America.

This volume follows the life course of two African American teens from the urban Midwest—best friends who have followed very different paths. Challenging popular preconceptions about black youth, the author discusses the complexities of their everyday lives, their seemly unpredictable friendship, and their difficult transition from boys to men.

Fine, M., L. Weis, L. P. Pruitt, & A. Burns. (2004). Off white: Readings on power, privilege, and resistance. New York: Routledge.

Reuniting the top scholars in psychology, sociology, education, women's studies, and ethnic studies, Off White is again breaking new ground in analyses of race and privilege. This thoroughly revised collection provides an extended examination of the material conditions of whiteness and contemporary racial formations by considering such areas as class, gender, sexuality, geography, and media as sites for studying racism. With a fascinating new introduction on the proliferation and development of the field of whiteness studies and updated essays throughout, this much-anticipated second edition continues to redefine our understanding of race and society.

Fredrickson, G. M. (2003). Racism: A short history.

With a rare blend of learning, economy, and cutting insight, George Fredrickson surveys the history of Western racism from its emergence in the late Middle Ages to the present.

Friere, P. (1998). Teachers as cultural workers: Letters to those who dare to teach.

In Teachers as Cultural Workers, Freire speaks directly to teachers about the lessons learned from a lifetime of experience as an educator and social theorist. This book challenges all who teach to reflect critically on the meaning of the act of teaching as well as the meaning of learning. Freire shows why a teacher's success depends on a permanent commitment to learning and training, as part of an ongoing appraisal of classroom practice.

Green, S. and Abt-Perkins, D. (2003). Making race visible: Literacy research for cultural understanding.

Grounded in classroom experiences, this volume opens new territory on a critical but rarely addressed topic—the intersection of race with literacy research and practice.

Howard, G. R. (2006). We can’t teach what we don’t know: White teachers, multiracial schools.

This is a book that can help anyone struggling to understand the role that Whites play in multicultural education.

Johnson, A.G. (2005). Privilege, power, and difference. Boston: McGraw-Hill.

This brief supplemental book provides students with an easily applied theoretical model for thinking about systems of privilege and difference. Writing in accessible, conversational prose, Johnson joins theory with engaging examples in ways that enable students to see the nature and consequences of privilege and their connection to it.

Kaplan, H. R. (2004) Failing grades: How schools breed frustration, anger and violence, and how to prevent it.

Here is a book about the causes of violence and failure in America’s schools. In it, Kaplan helps to explain why children underachieve, drop out, withdraw, become angry, and commit violent acts. Kaplan presents case studies from his experiences conducting workshops and mediating conflicts in schools with the students, teachers, and administrators. He focuses on interpersonal relations among these groups and demonstrates that much of the conflict and low achievement in schools is the result of clashes over communication, fairness, class, and race.

Landsman, J. (2001). A white teacher talks about race. London: The Scarecrow Press.

Veteran teacher Julie Landsman leads the reader through a day of teaching and reflection about her work with high school students from a variety of cultures. She speaks honestly about issues of race, poverty, institutional responsibility, and white privilege by engaging the reader in her experiences in the classroom with some of her remarkable students.

Michie, G. (1999). Holler if you hear me: The education of a teacher and his students. New York: Teachers College Press.

Weaving back and forth between Gregory Michie’s awakening as a teacher and the first-person stories of his students, Holler If You Hear Me creates an intimate and compassionate portrayal of what it means to be a teacher and a student in urban America. While not shying away from hard truths, Michie lends a measure of hope, humor, and practical insight about the difficult work of teaching for social justice. In the process, he brings us the stories of his students both in his words and theirs, giving voice to Latino and African-American youth who often go unheard. The resulting tales of struggle and triumph, while clearly indispensable to educators, will be inspiring reading for most anyone.

Sue, D.W. (2003). Overcoming our racism: The journey to liberation.

A groundbreaking new look at racism and how to overcome it within ourselves. This extraordinary book challenges the reader by documenting how each of us have a role in the oppression of others–and tells what we can do about it.

Takaki, R. (1993). A different mirror: A history of multicultural America. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.

A Different Mirror is a dramatic new retelling of our nation's history, a powerful larger narrative of the many different peoples who together compose the United States of America.

Thompson, B. & S. Tyagi. (1996). Names we call home: Autobiography on racial identity. New York: Routledge.

The autobiographies in Names We Call Home are told by twenty-seven visionary artists, educators, and activists from the United States, England, Brazil, the Caribbean, and India. They analyze how they define themselves, what they were taught about race as children and teenagers, how various social movements have shaped their intellectual work and activism, and what keeps them going in conservative times.

Waters, M. (1990). Ethnic options: Choosing identities in America. Berkeley: University of California Press.

In this perceptive and revealing study, Mary Waters explores the "reinvention" of ethnicity in the lives of the grandchildren and great grandchildren of European immigrants, asking how their ethnic heritage is lived, maintained, and celebrated. Through in-depth interviews with sixty third and fourth generation white ethnics in suburban California and Pennsylvania, the author discovers a surprisingly resilient sense of ethnicity among people who could reasonably label themselves simply "American."

Zinn, H. (2001). A people’s history of the United States: 1492 to present. New York: HarperCollins.

Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, A People’s History of the United States is the only volume to tell America’s story from the point of view of—and in the words of—America’s women, factory workers, African Americans, Native Americans, working poor, and immigrant laborers.

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Websites

Black Past
This site is dedicated to providing reference materials to the general public on six centuries of African American history. It includes an online encyclopedia of hundreds of famous and lesser known figures in African America, full text primary documents and major speeches of black activists and leaders from the 18th Century to the present. There are also links to hundreds of websites that address the history of African Americans including major black museums and archival research centers in the United States and Canada.

California Newsreel
Award winning videos on race and diversity, study guides, and other resources.

The Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice
This site helps define cultural competence and the importance of this work.

Center for the Study of White American Culture: A Multiracial Organization
This group is dedicated to developing a concept of white identity in a multicultural American society. This site explores White privilege, the impact of a White-centric society and seeks to foster anti-racist thinking and living. Including are a wide range of writings, editorials and links that can serve as resources to further educate and facilitate discussions amongst white and multi-ethnic groups.

Civilrights.org
Over 180 organizations make up Civilrights.org. Site provides information and updates on issues from Hate Crimes to Human Rights, Poverty to Civil Rights.

Dialogue: Racism
The Center for the Healing of Racism (Houston, TX) offers a 9-week course on various topics of racism. This curriculum uses various films and discussion topics to raise awareness. Topics include white privilege, internal racism, institutional racism, stereotypes. Serves as a good resource for those wishing to start dialogue.

EdChange
EdChange is dedicated to diversity, equity, and justice in schools and society. They act to shape schools and communities in which all people, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, class, (dis)ability, language, or religion, have equitable opportunities to achieve to their fullest. On this website you will find links to workshops and consulting and resource development. They also offer multicultural posters.

Education Trust, Inc.
Washington
Facts about achievement, attainment, and opportunities in education in Washington.
United States
Facts about achievement, attainment, and opportunities in the U.S.

"I'm not White" - Tara Goldstein
This article, by Canadian Education Professor Tara Goldstein, explores issues around white privilege and awareness; specifically for White teachers.

The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network
Informs educators and students about issues, available resources, local chapters, and news and events.

Multicultural Pavilion: Awareness Activities
This site contains a number of relevant guides, exercises and group activities around the various topics of multiculturalism. These activities are well-organized and targeted and formatted much like lesson plans, though they have adaptable applications for groups of adults.

Project Implicit
It is well known that people don't always 'speak their minds', and it is suspected that people don't always 'know their minds'. Understanding such divergences is important to scientific psychology.

This web site presents a method that demonstrates the conscious-unconscious divergences much more convincingly than has been possible with previous methods. This new method is called the Implicit Association Test, or IAT for short.

Race: The Power of an Illusion
This interactive website was built to accompany the California Newsreel 3-part documentary about racism in society, science and history. It explores difficult questions about racism and includes a tool where you can test your biases.

Stir Fry Seminars
Since the release of the groundbreaking video Color of Fear (1993), Lee Mun Wah and his associates have developed a wealth of training and educational resources around unlearning racism and sexism. Of specific interest are the sample video clips available from Color of Fear and Color of Fear 2 as well as Stir Fry's groundbreaking video on unlearning sexism, Last Chance for Eden and Last Chance for Eden 2.

Teaching For Change
This site offers books educating issues with gender & sexuality, professional development and issues of institutional racism and oppression, social studies and children books and posters.

Tim Wise Commentary
Tim Wise, a leading White anti-racist, has written prolifically on societal issues and white privilege. This site has a compendium of recent articles, future speaking engagements as well as audio recordings of past speaking engagements.

Understanding Prejudice
Fantastic site with many interactive portions. This site includes several surveys and inventories that test one’s awareness of their own subtle racism and sexism. A great site for groups to visit together in a lab and then spark discussion. Includes many links for teachers and a directory of social scientists that can be contacted for information and/or mentorships.

US Department of Defense
Remembering the Legacy: African Americans in the Military
This site documents the history and current participation of African Americans in the U.S. armed forces.

White Privilege
White Privilege is a free resource for antiracist education and activism; its editorial focus is analyzing and critically assessing racialized social privilege. The site contains news articles and linked commentary.

White Privilege and Male Privilege - Peggy McIntosh, PhD
Wellesley Professor Dr. Peggy McIntosh, associate director of the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women has authored a seminal work detailing specific aspects of white privilege built into the structure of American society. Elements of this linked article and her other work provide great concrete examples of white and male privilege and often induce 'aha' moments amongst White readers.

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Articles

Brady, Phyllis. The Journey Towards Anti-racist Identity for Multi-racial People, People of Color, and Whites. 1996

Jacobs, James. Edited by Root, Maria. Identity Development in Biracial Children and in Racially Mixed People. 1992

Jones, Kenneth and Okun, Tema . White Supremacy Culture Dismantling Racism: A Workbook for Social Change Groups.2001

McIntosh, Peggy. White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences Through Work in Women’s Studies. 1988

Saundra, Tomlinson-Clarke, and Curran. Towards a Conception of Culturally Responsive Classroom Management. Feb. 2004

Steele, Claude M.and Aronson, Joshua. Stereotype Threat and the Intellectual Test Performance of African Americans. 1995.

Wise, Tim. White Whine: Reflections on the Brain-Rotting Properties of Privilege. 2004

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Videos

8 Films About the Asian Pacific American Experience and History
www.cetel.org and www.pbs.org/ancestorsintheamericas
These films include the topics Ancestors in the Americas, World War II, Nation Building, and Children Making History.

Crash (2004) directed by Paul Haggis (Fiction)
For two days in Los Angeles, a racially and economically diverse group of people pursue lives that collide with one another in unexpected ways. These interactions are always interesting, and sometimes quite unsettling. The film explores and challenges your ability to judge books by their covers.

Fear and Learning at Hoover Elementary (1996) directed by Laura Angelica Simon
Measures the impact of specifically Proposition 187 which denies public health care and education to immigrants but addresses immigration reform in general. Fear interweaves the testimony of two teachers -- one Mexican-American (director Simón), the other an European-American woman; interviews with kids and adults who live in Pico Union, Los Angeles' "Ellis Island"; and the story of Mayra, a self-possessed, ambitious nine-year-old from El Salvador to personalize the ways Prop 187 has divided school and community.

Race: The Power of an Illusion
www.pbs.org/race
This three part film examines the lack of genetic variation between “races” and challenges the idea that humans can be easily placed in groups. It then looks at the historical construction of the concept of race used to sort and rank people. The final episode reveals how our institutions give race its meaning and power by advantaging white people.

Tim Wise: Vote No on MCRI-Michigan Civil Rights Initiative
Author and compelling orator Tim Wise explains that ending affirmative action will allow white privilege to persist unchallenged. Wise spoke on the issue at Michigan State University, in Author and compelling orator Tim Wise explains that ending affirmative action will allow white privilege to persist unchallenged. Wise spoke on the issue at Michigan State University, in a debate with one of the authors of the MCRI. With passion and with statistics, Wise lays out the case that affirmative action is still a much-needed remedy to achieve racial justice.

White Privilege 101: Getting in on the Conversation
www.whiteprivilegeconference.com
This film deals with the issues of White privilege, White supremacy and other forms of institutional and systemic oppression in a direct and positive way. The film allows for the viewers to engage in a conversation about how these issues saturate our society. White Privilege 101 is a collection of keynote speeches and interviews of presenters and participants from the Annual Conference on White Privilege. This video will guide you through the complex issue of White privilege in three phases: (1) Privilege: Getting in on the Conversation—The definition of White Privilege, (2) Reflecting on How White Privilege Exists in Our Society: Examples of White Privilege, and (3) Dealing with Emotional Reactions: Plan of Action for the Future. The facilitator's guide provides background information on white privilege, classroom activities and a comprehensive resource list. The facilitator's guide is designed to provide facilitators with critical information to deal effectively with issues of white privilege and white supremacy.

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