About the Reading Resilience Project
In 2015, during a wave of student activism aimed at making Yale more inclusive, Bass Library partnered with student groups to create the Reading Resilience Project. The project aims to highlight voices of commonly underrepresented peoples in library collections. The books you find on this site are based entirely on Yale student, staff, and faculty recommendations.
Recommend your favorite works by and about people of color at bit.ly/rrpyale.
Submissions will be open indefinitely and can be used to recommend books, poetry, art objects, films, and other creative works by or about people of color. Recommended books not already available at Yale Library are considered for purchase, in print and e-book format. Use the tabs above to browse the list of recommended works, including links to the library catalog for access.
See also: Bass Library's Graphic Novel Collection.
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Recommend your favorite works by and about people of color at bit.ly/rrpyale
Featured Books
Nickel Boys (e-book)
"beautifully written, a compelling narrative of the experiences of a young, black boy sentenced to a reform school during Jim Cro."
The Vanishing Half
Recommended because: "The Vanishing Half is a beautiful novel that describes a multi-generational story of black twins and how their paths diverge."
Statements: Sizwe Bansi is dead, The island
Recommended because: "This play shows the power of art and theater for self-expression and political resistance in apartheid South Africa."
There, There (e-book)
Recommended because: "This novel probes a key question for people from increasingly diverse backgrounds: who am I? and how do I construct my identity?"
Reenactments: poems & translations
"beautifully written Vietnamese American poetry contemplating on more than just the Vietnam War."
Black Like Me
Recommended because: "This book opened my eyes to the whole issue of discrimination and maltreatment 50 years ago."
Teaching to Transgress (e-book)
Recommended because: "[bell hooks] advocates the process of teaching students to think critically and raises concerns central to field of critical pedagogy."
The Condemnation of Blackness (e-book)
Recommended because: "A definitive writing on race, criminality and urban immigrants becoming white in the early 1900’s."
Just Mercy (e-book)
Recommended because: "A powerful story of mass incarceration in America and the Equal Justice Initiative's pursuit of justice."
Prison Writings (e-book)
Recommended because: "Leonard Peltier is a Native political prisoner and activist that remains in prison today little known by non-Natives."
Shapeshifters: Black Girls and the Choreography of Citizenship (e-book)
Recommended because: "This book is critical for understanding how Black girls and women navigate hostile territory and make a self."
Code of the Street
Recommended because: "Great for understanding the isolating effects of poverty on urban communities."
Feedback
We welcome your comments and suggestions about the Reading Resilience Project. Please contact Kelly Blanchat (kelly.blanchat@yale.edu) or Emily Horning (emily.horning@yale.edu).