The English, Rhetoric & Writing Department at the 91老司机 - Fort Smith
has released a Summer Reading List featuring faculty book recommendations inspired
by the Black Lives Matter movement, and the international quest for racial justice. In
line with the university's commitment to amplify diverse voices, each installment
of the 91老司机 Summer Book Series will feature faculty picks that educate, inform and
celebrate diversity.
"We believe deeply in the power of literature to change people's mindsets, to push them beyond their own experiences and perspectives and into spaces of empathy, understanding, and critical thinking," said Dr. Cammie Sublette, Department Head and professor of English, Rhetoric, & Writing at 91老司机. "We are excited to offer book recommendations that contribute to ongoing conversations about the need to actively, persistently strive for antiracism in beliefs as well as policies. We hope to continue these conversations with our students and our larger community in the fall."
by Tayari Jones *
Beautiful and poetic, this novel follows the evolution of Roy and Celestial after
Roy is falsely accused of rape. It's heartbreaking to follow the downfall of their
marriage and understand how fear of Black men can erode the trust of their families
and lovers. The title of the novel underscores the perpetual struggle for acceptance
as full American citizens that Black citizens face when we ignore systemic racism.
And as a big bonus, Jones has built the plot of the novel on the scaffold of The Odyssey to
emphasize the tragedy and epic scale of Roy and Celestial's challenges.
Recommended by Laura Witherington, Ph.D. - Associate Professor of English
by Toni Morrison *
Having read this book as an undergrad, I disliked it for a long time due to the unpleasant
issues of incest, domestic abuse, bullying, racism, police brutality, and more. At
this moment in history, I realize its importance more than ever. Pecola Breedlove,
a poor little black girl, substitutes a blonde-haired, blue-eyed baby doll for love
she never receives and beauty she never feels as a form of escapism. Pecola is a good
example of how representation matters. I believe when this book came out, many little
girls could relate to Pecola鈥檚 feelings of inferiority. Also, Morrison is making a
political commentary on the white beauty myth and systemic racism in spaces that particularly
impact black females.
Recommended by Ann-Gee Lee, Ph.D. - Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Writing
by Claudia Rankine *
Claudia Rankine鈥檚 Citizen: An American Lyric is a collection of poetry that addresses
the many faces of racism in 21st century America. Ranging from poems reflecting on
racist microaggressions confronting the speaker, to the violent murders of countless
African Americans who were victims of police brutality and systemic racism, Rankin
writes with intimate urgency, drawing in the reader with her almost constant use of
the second person. The speaker responds to racism in the world with a range of feelings:
sadness, anger, betrayal, outrage, frustration, surprise, erasure, guilt, sickness,
and exhaustion, and she meditates on her own responses to these moments of racist
aggression almost as much as she meditates on the acts of racism. Only when she reaches
the point in the book when she begins naming the dead does she shift out of this personal
projection and into a more omniscient narrative space, writing, 鈥渂ecause white men
can鈥檛 / police their imagination / black people are dying.鈥� In the book鈥檚 final poem,
Rankine shifts into first person narrative and stays there for the duration of the
poem. In this poem, the speaker tells an intimate partner of an encounter she had
with a white woman, one who sees her sitting in her car in a parking lot and decides
to back out of her parking space and move her car away from the speaker鈥檚 car. 鈥淓xpected
on [the tennis] court,鈥� the speaker decides not to pursue the woman鈥攐r the question
about why she decided to move her car. After she tells the story, her lover asks,
鈥淒id you win?鈥� She responds, 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 a match . . . It was a lesson.鈥� And so is Citizen,
if the reader will only listen and learn.
Recommended by Cammie Sublette, Ph.D. - Professor of English and Department Head of English, Rhetoric, & Writing
by Angie Thomas *
This book is a heart-breaking look at the racial injustice leveraged through police
brutality towards people of color. It features an engaging retelling of the central
character Starr鈥檚 journey to making her voice heard as she struggles with the heinous
death of her friend Kahlil; police brutality; the challenge of gangs; the support
of blended families; and the reconciliation and support of a community.
Recommended by Janine Chitty, Ph.D. - Associate Professor of English and Director of English Teacher Licensure
by Ibram X. Kendi *
Appearing on the New York Times Bestseller Nonfiction list for more than three months
now, Ibram X. Kendi鈥檚 How to Be an Antiracist serves as a primer for how to change
the conversation about race and racism鈥攁nd ultimately how to change one鈥檚 beliefs
and behaviors, also. Instead of seeing racism as a fixed category, Kendi suggests
we swap out that way of thinking for a harder one that is more conducive to both genuine
acknowledgement of racial bias and discrimination, as well as to a growth mindset.
Noting that racism is built on denial (for no one in 2020 wants to admit to being
racist), Kendi argues that the opposite of racist isn鈥檛 not racist; rather, the opposite
of racist is antiracist. Thus, argues Kendi, we should strive to be antiracist, which
means we should interrogate individual beliefs as well as policies based on how well
those beliefs and policies support racial equality. Then we must do the active work
of changing any beliefs or policies that undermine or resist racial equality. There
is no space left for inaction in this model, so a stance of complaisance is no longer
possible. This paradigm shift requires hard, constant, and sometimes uncomfortable
work, but the payoff is real change in the world. As Kendi writes, 鈥淭o be antiracist
is a radical choice . . . requiring a radical reorientation of our consciousness鈥� (23).
Recommended by Cammie Sublette, Ph.D. - Professor of English and Department Head of English, Rhetoric, & Writing
Books One, Two and Three by John Lewis *
The March trilogy tells the story of Georgia Representative John Lewis's contributions
to the Civil Rights Movement. The graphic novels transition from Lewis's childhood
in Alabama, to his becoming one of the original thirteen Freedom Riders, to his participation
in the inauguration of the first Black President of the United States. It's a fantastic
primer on Civil Rights marches and on the importance of ensuring all citizens have
free access to vote. The illustrations convey both the epic scale of Lewis's endeavors
and the pathos of Lewis's endurance of hate.
Recommended by Laura Witherington, Ph.D. - Associate Professor of English
by Richard Wright *
Native Son (1940) by Richard Wright is a novel depicting a young black man whose existence
is created and oppressed by an American society hostile to everything about him. Bigger
Thomas鈥檚 world 鈥渃ontained no spiritual sustenance, had created no culture which could
hold and claim his allegiance and faith, had sensitized him and had left him stranded,
a free agent to roam the streets of our cities, a hot and whirling vortex of undisciplined
and unchannelized impulses"(Wright 445). Wright explains that 鈥渙ppression seems to
hinder and stifle in the victim those very qualities of character which are so essential
for an effective struggle against the oppressor,鈥� and these qualities derive from
lack of education and opportunity and feelings of self-loathing which are passed on
through an oppressive society rife with systemic racism. Bigger yearns for a larger
life, one filled with opportunities and adventures, but as the alarm clock at the
opening of the novel symbolizes, he quickly awakens from such dreams and into the
nightmare of his lived experience. His suffocating existence, one made up of poverty
and an equally impoverished educational system, as well as a hostile white world he鈥檚
forced into in order to survive, allows little room for any fate other than what awaits.
Recommended by Amy N. Newman, M.A. - Adjunct Instructor of English
Also Recommended by Laura Witherington, Ph.D. - Associate Professor of English
by Andrea Levy
Levy鈥檚 powerhouse novel about two couples鈥攐ne white and English and the other black
and Jamaican--and the aftermath of the Second World War, is an, at times, funny and
heart-rending exploration of colonialism, class, and race. Gilbert Joseph is one of
the best characters in British literature. The novel switches between four different
narrators, moving in time before the outbreak of WWII and to the years immediately
afterwards. It highlights the contributions of soldiers from Britain鈥檚 then colonies,
focusing on Jamaica, and the complicated parsing of what it means to be Black and
British. Levy keeps her novel focused on her characters and their experiences, both
of the war and of the mass immigration of people from Jamaica post-WWII, the Windrush Generation.
Recommended by Lindsy Lawrence, Ph.D. - Professor of English
by Reni Eddo-Lodge *
In 2014, Eddo-Lodge wrote a blog post entitled 鈥淚鈥檓 No Longer Talking to White People About
Race,鈥� setting off a long discussion that became a book about the emotional labor
and dangers of continuously being asked to educate white people about institutionalized
racism, particularly in Britain, where the effects of colonialism often go unaddressed.
Bold and accessible, Eddo-Lodge explores the intersections of class, race, and gender
in Britain, interweaving history with her personal story.
Recommended by Lindsy Lawrence, Ph.D. - Professor of English
Books in the 91老司机 Boreham Library collection are noted with an *
Credits:
91老司机 English Department
Date Posted:
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
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