Understanding Pedigree, The Perpetuation Of Whiteness, And How Systemic Racism Shapes All Of Us

by Marybeth Gasman
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5 books
This booklist features books that explain how Whiteness shapes our definitions of quality, who has opportunity and how it perpetuates systemic racism.
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Pedigree

How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs
Lauren A. Rivera, 2016
Rivera’s Pedigree is a masterpiece in explaining how elites – mainly wealthy white families – continue to benefit the most in the United States. She shows how we define quality in our own image and hold others to that standard. Moreover, she explains how when others begin to make progress elites will change the rules of the game so that progress is stymied. This book challenged my thinking and helped me to see how systems and individuals perpetuate privilege.

Stamped from the Beginning

The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
Ibram X. Kendi, 2016
Kendi’s work is controversial, but that means you should read it. Winner of the National Book Award, this history helps people to understand the undergirding of racism and racist ideas in the United States. Kendi has a powerful voice and knows how to explain ideas in a straightforward manner. He shows how the various systems in the country – from laws to money to education – play a part in upholding racism.

Faces at the Bottom of the Well

The Permanence of Racism
Derrick Bell, 2018
For me Bell’s Faces at the Bottom of the Well is one of the very best books written, period. Bell is a masterful storyteller, and uses stories to explain how racism manifests, and how Black people, in particular, suffer the most from this manifestation. Bell argues that racism is permanent and that African Americans, in particular, should abandon the idea that White people will change and embrace equity, which is hard for most people regardless of race to accept as a concept. Nonetheless, the book will force you to grapple with your own role in perpetuating racism.

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America

Richard Rothstein, 2017
Rothstein explains how pervasive and purposeful our nation has been in its effort to segregate communities, schools, and social interactions according to racial lines. He shows how the local, state, and the federal governments worked together to foster discriminatory laws and practices to ensure that African Americans (and others) were denied opportunities to live in residential neighborhoods that gave them access to good jobs, schools and equitable resources and services. In order to understand racism and educational disparities, this book is essential reading – without it, decision makers, as well as citizens, are operating in the dark and continuing to foster inequitable policies.

The State Must Provide

The Definitive History of Racial Inequality in American Higher Education
Adam Harris, 2021
If you care about higher education and equity in the United States, The State Must Provide is essential reading. Harris, with an engaging journalistic voice, explains how states have funneled money toward predominantly white colleges and universities and higher education efforts to support whites. Harris delineates the legal, social, economic, and political obstacles that have been put in place at the state level to ensure that Black people and the institutions that serve them are underfunded. He also makes it clear that states have an obligation to make things right.