11 thinkers, books, and ideas connected to this field.
Maya Angelou's 1969 memoir of childhood in the American South — covering racism, sexual abuse, and self-discovery — the first widely published memoir by an African-American woman and the model for the modern American memoir dealing with race.
American journalist and commentator — Wall Street Journal editorial board member — Manhattan Institute fellow — author of Please Stop Helping Us and False Black Power — the most prominent Black conservative critic of liberal social policy.
Ezra Edelman's 7.5-hour documentary essay on O.J. Simpson — treating the trial as a lens through which to examine race, celebrity, law enforcement, and American culture in the 20th century.
Shakespeare's 1604 tragedy following Othello — a Moorish general in the Venetian army — whose ensign Iago, passed over for promotion, manipulates him into believing his wife Desdemona is unfaithful, leading to his murder of her and subsequent suicide.
American author and diversity trainer — author of White Fragility — who created the 'white fragility' concept and whose work became central to corporate DEI training in the 2020s.
American author and Hoover Institution fellow — author of The Content of Our Character (1990 National Book Critics Circle Award), White Guilt, and Shame — the most psychologically sophisticated Black conservative writer on American race relations.
Malcolm X's 1965 autobiography as told to Alex Haley — covering his childhood poverty, criminal life, conversion to Islam in prison, rise in the Nation of Islam, break with Elijah Muhammad, pilgrimage to Mecca, and evolving views on race before his assassination.
American economist at Hoover Institution — former Marxist turned free-market conservative — author of over 30 books including A Conflict of Visions, The Vision of the Anointed, and Discrimination and Disparities — one of the most consequential public intellectuals of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Harper Lee's 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel — narrated by Scout Finch — following her father Atticus's defense of a Black man falsely accused of rape in 1930s Alabama — the most widely read American novel about racial injustice.
Robin DiAngelo's 2018 argument — that white people's defensive reactions to discussions of race (denial, anger, guilt) constitute 'white fragility' that sustains racial hierarchies — the central text of the 2020 DEI training wave.
Damon Young is an American author and cultural commentator, co-founder of Very Smart Brothas (VSB), a widely read blog and publication covering race, culture, and politics with a distinctly Black voice and sharp humor. He later became a writer at The Root and published the essay collection What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker.