Resources on Race
As a nonpartisan organization, we have historically shied away from taking a public stance on political and social issues. However, we cannot stay silent about the lives and well-being of people of color in our communities. This compilation of books, documentaries, and podcasts is a starting point for a multimedia series addressing and localizing issues that are part of the national conversation taking place.
While educating yourself is an important step to making Montana a better place for people to live and work, it must also be paired with action. Many of the resources compiled here provide excellent suggestions for tangible steps to work towards a better world.
We also invite you to join our team and Board of Directors as we read Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do by Jennifer L. Eberhardt together. We will be organizing a virtual discussion in the coming weeks. If you have feedback or anything to add to our resource list, please email director@mthightech.org.
Books
Links provided are through Fact & Fiction bookstore in Missoula, as well as House of Books in Billings and The Country Bookshelf in Bozeman. We encourage you to support local businesses, such as Bookworks of Whitefish.
Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do by Jennifer L. Eberhardt
From one of the world’s leading experts on unconscious racial bias come stories, science, and strategies to address one of the central controversies of our time.
How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
From the National Book Award–winning author of Stamped from the Beginning comes a “groundbreaking” (Time) approach to understanding and uprooting racism and inequality in our society—and in ourselves.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
Praised by Harvard Law professor Lani Guinier as "brave and bold," this book directly challenges the notion that the election of Barack Obama signals a new era of colorblindness. With dazzling candor, legal scholar Michelle Alexander argues that "we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it."
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo, PhD
Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. In this in-depth exploration, DiAngelo examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what we can do to engage more constructively.
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Coates writes about fear and its corrosive effects on our culture from a very personal perspective. He persuades us that we need a new way of understanding American history, a new story, and new names for ourselves and others in order for humanity to survive and thrive.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Angelou’s debut memoir. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right.
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
A powerful true story about the Equal Justice Initiative, the people we represent, and the importance of confronting injustice.
Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. Wilkerson compares this epic migration to the migrations of other peoples in history. She interviewed more than a thousand people, and gained access to new data and official records, to write this definitive and vividly dramatic account of how these American journeys unfolded, altering our cities, our country, and ourselves.
Killing Custer by James Welch and Paul Stekler
The classic account of Custer's Last Stand that shattered the myth of the Little Bighorn and rewrote history books.
Full-Court Quest: The Girls from Fort Shaw Indian School Basketball Champions of the World by Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith
Most fans of women's basketball would be startled to learn that girls' teams were making their mark more than a century ago--and that none was more prominent than a team from an isolated Indian boarding school in Montana.
Counting Coup: A True Story of Basketball and Honor on the Little Big Horn by Larry Colton
In this extraordinary work of journalism, Larry Colton journeys into the world of Montana's Crow Indians and follows the struggles of a talented, moody, charismatic young woman named Sharon LaForge, a gifted basketball player and a descendant of one of George Armstrong Custer's Indian scouts.
The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present by David Treuer
The received idea of Native American history—as promulgated by books like Dee Brown's mega-bestselling 1970 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee—has been that American Indian history essentially ended with the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee. Not only did one hundred fifty Sioux die at the hands of the U. S. Cavalry, the sense was, but Native civilization did as well.
Audiobooks
Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know by Malcom Gladwell
The central theme of Talking to Strangers is how we mis-read other people and their actions, often leading to conflict and miscarriage of justice. Gladwell begins and ends the book with the tragic death of Sandra Bland. Chapters are framed by musical clips from Janelle Monae's "Hell You Talmbout" - a protest song in which the lyrics are the names of black Americans killed by police and vigilantes.
There, There by Tommy Orange
Tommy Orange’s “groundbreaking, extraordinary” (The New York Times) There There is the “brilliant, propulsive” (People Magazine) story of twelve unforgettable characters, Urban Indians living in Oakland, California, who converge and collide on one fateful day.
Movies
Just Mercy (2019): Free to stream on most platforms through June
After graduating from Harvard, Bryan Stevenson (Michael B. Jordan) heads to Alabama to defend those wrongly condemned or those not afforded proper representation.
Hidden Figures (2016)
The story of a team of female African-American mathematicians who served a vital role in NASA during the early years of the U.S. space program. Starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monae.
Harriet (2019)
Directed by Kasi Lemmons, Harriet is a 2019 American biographical film about abolitionist Harriet Tubman (Cynthia Erivo).
Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013) by Jeff Barnaby
In 1976, a Mi'gMaq teenager (Devery Jacobs) plots revenge against the sadistic Indian agent (Mark Antony Krupa) who imprisoned her in a residential school.
Documentaries
“America to Me”: Series available on STARZ Network
Academy Award nominated filmmaker Steve James (Hoop Dreams, Life Itself) examines racial, economic and class issues in contemporary American education in the multipart unscripted documentary series "America to Me."
13th: Available on Netflix
Filmmaker Ava DuVernay explores the history of racial inequality in the United States, focusing on the fact that the nation's prisons are disproportionately filled with African-Americans.
Slavery by Another Name: PBS
Slavery by Another Name “resets” our national clock with a singular astonishing fact: Slavery in America didn’t end 150 years ago, with Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation. Based on Douglas A. Blackmon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, the film illuminates how in the years following the Civil War, insidious new forms of forced labor emerged in the American South, persisting until the onset of World War II.
Sisters Rising: Directed/Produced by Willow O’Feral and Brad Heck, Co-Produced by Tantoo Cardinal and Jaida Grey Eagle
Sisters Rising is the story of six Native American women reclaiming personal and tribal sovereignty in the face of ongoing sexual violence against Indigenous women in the United States.
King in the Wilderness: Available on Hulu, HBO, and rental on YouTube
Through personal stories of the people who were around him, this film follows Martin Luther King, Jr. during the last years of his life.
"The Bicycle Corps: America's Black Army On Wheels" (2000): YouTube, Montana PBS, The Montana Experience: Stories from Big Sky Country
The story of the 25th Infantry's bicycle trip from Missoula, Montana, to St. Louis, Missouri in 1897. The African American infantry took the trip to test a theory that the bicycle would replace the horse in transporting men for the army. The program also examines the life of the African American soldier at the turn of the century, in particular First Sergeant Mingo Sanders.
Podcasts
1619: Produced by the New York Times
An audio series on how slavery has transformed America, connecting past and present through the oldest form of storytelling.
Seeing White: Produced by Scene On Radio
Scene on Radio host and producer John Biewen took a deep dive into whiteness along with an array of leading scholars and regular guest Dr. Chenjerai Kumanyika, in this fourteen-part documentary series, released between February and August 2017.
Revisionist History hosted by Malcolm Gladwell
From Pushkin Industries, Revisionist History will go back and reinterpret something from the past: an event, a person, an idea. Something overlooked. Something misunderstood. Episodes we recommend:
Miss Buchanan's Period Of Adjustment examines the hidden consequences of the Brown v. Board of Education decision to desegregate the American school system.
The Hug Heard Round the World unpacks the story of the great black entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. hugging Richard Nixon and navigating a white entertainment industry.
With Friends Like These hosted by Ana Marie Cox
From Crooked Media, a podcast about, well, what divides us.
A Very Problematic Thanksgiving with Ed Schupman: This week Ed Schupman (manager of the Native Knowledge 360 Initiative and a citizen of the Muscogee Creek Nation of Oklahoma) joins Ana Marie Cox to discuss Thanksgiving and the surrounding myths.
Articles
Is This How Discrimination Ends? by Jessica Nordell for The Atlantic
Training and workshops geared toward eliminating people’s hidden prejudices are all the rage—but many don’t work. Now the psychologist who made the case for "implicit bias" wants to cure it.
Report: Indigenous voters face racism and suppression by Anna V. Smith for High Country News
“In 2018, Montana voters approved a law that was originally framed as a way to address election fraud. The Ballot Interference Prevention Act, introduced by state legislators, put tight restrictions on who can collect a voter’s ballot and on how many they can collect. It also added a “registry form” for each ballot and a $500 fine for violations. But voting rights advocates say the law is part of a nationwide pattern of disenfranchisement of Native voters.”
The Bias of ‘Professionalism’ Standards by the Stanford Social Innovation Review
This article summarizes work done by Tema Okun. Okun’s work on White Supremacy Culture was republished by the organization Dismantling Racism and explores professional practices and value systems that contribute to less equitable workplaces.
U.S. Businesses Must Take Meaningful Action Against Racism by Laura Morgan Roberts and Ella F. Washington for Harvard Business Review
Outlining common missteps and how to support Black and POC employees of your company.
Sarah Bickford: A Virginia City Account | Montana History via Visit Southwest Montana
A profile of Sarah Bickford, a black woman born as a plantation slave in 1852 who became a successful businesswoman in Montana after the Civil War, including owning and operating the Virginia City Water Company in the 1880s.
Other Resources
Your Kids Aren't Too Young to Talk About Race by Katrina Michie for Pretty Good Design
A resource roundup including studies, inclusive children’s toys, and media created to help you raise an anti-racist family.
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh
A beginner resource for white people looking to learn more about privilege. Also see McIntosh’s TEDx Talk How Studying Privilege Systems Can Strengthen Compassion.
Indian Country Today Weekly E-Newsletter
Indian Country Today is the largest news site that covers tribes and Native people throughout the Americas. Subscribe to the Indian Country Today mailing list and get the weekly newsletter and video news report delivered to your inbox.
Implementation
Go beyond a company statement and consider these action steps compiled by Diversity Best Practices:
In what ways are your organizations taking action to fight against racism?
What measures have you put in place to support your Black employees and the communities that you serve during these trying times?
How are you educating your workforce so that they can act as upstanders when witnessing acts of racism and bigotry?
How are you supporting anti-racist and social justice organizations whose work is needed now more than ever?
Consider a Donation
Montana Racial Equity Project
A non-profit and non-partisan organization that works with individuals, groups, organizations, educational institutions, and businesses to promote and create opportunities to build equity and justice in Montana.
ACLU of Montana
The ACLU is a civil rights and civil liberties organization.The ACLU of Montana is committed to pursuing racial justice in all parts of society, including in the criminal justice system, elections and in our schools and businesses.
NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund (Oracle Giving Campaign)
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as a bi-racial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington, Moorfield Storey and Ida B. Wells.
Black Lives Matter
#BlackLivesMatter was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. Black Lives Matter Foundation, Inc is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.
Missoula YWCA
YWCA Missoula’s Racial Justice Initiative is committed to being an educational community resource for people of color and white allies who are dedicated to addressing racism in our community.
EmpowerMT
EmpowerMT creates a more just and inclusive society by developing youth and adult leaders who work to end mistreatment, correct systemic inequalities and strengthen communities across Montana.