Juneteenth: Connect the Dots Between Slavery, Segregation, and America Today With These Insightful Reads
By: Copper Books
Tags: Slavery, Juneteenth, Systemic Racism, Racism In America, Racism

Juneteenth: Connect the Dots Between Slavery, Segregation, and America Today With These Insightful Reads Copper Books Follow Jun 17 · 4 min read

Juneteenth marks the federal order to free slaves in Texas on June 19, 1865. Honoring the historic date (which is currently recognized by 45 states and the District of Columbia as a federal holiday) presents Americans with an opportunity to recognize where our nation has been and where we would like to go. Also known as Emancipation Day, Black Independence Day, or Jubilee Day, Juneteenth is a time for Americans to learn more about the history of slavery in the United States, the institutional structures of racism that came after slavery and the ongoing fight for justice.

In order to be the change we want to see, we must first grow in awareness and understanding of the true history of America and its injustices. Below are a few great books that convey the current state of racism in the U.S. and the systemic injustices that the Black community faces more than a century after slavery’s end.

1. “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” by Michelle Alexander

Author Michelle Alexander challenges the notion that the fight for racial justice is close to being over because Barack Obama, a Black man, took the nation’s highest office for two terms. She fervently argues that the American caste system has not been done away with but simply rewritten.

With millions of Black Americans locked behind bars, particularly men, as a result of the War on Drugs in the 1990s, Black communities have been decimated and Black people have been relegated as second-class citizens once again. Civil rights lawyer turned legal scholar Michelle Alexander proves that discrimination, which was made legal by Jim Crow Laws, very much still exists today, but under a new guise.

2. “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates

New York Times bestselling author Ta-Nehisi Coates shares an intimate, personal narrative that connects the dots between America’s history of racism and today’s current crisis of systemic racism. The novel is framed as a letter to his son as he shares his awakening to his status as a Black man in America in its racial hierarchy.

He shares his personal journey from the Southside of Chicago to Paris, from the halls of Howard University to the battlefields of the South. The exploratory nature of Coates’ work takes readers on a journey to understanding how the burden of America’s racial caste system is placed on Black men and women and offers hope on how to move forward.

3. “The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America” by Richard Rothstein

When you think about such a broad topic as systemic racism, it is important to understand that its pervasiveness affects every American institution: from healthcare to education to policing. In “The Color of Law,” author Richard Rothstein exposes how racism affects housing and how local, state, and federal governments intentionally enforced neighborhood segregation.

He debunks the myth that housing segregation was the result of personal bias or economic factors. Instead, he picks apart their covert strategies: racial zoning; segregated public housing; subsidies for builders to create whites-only suburbs; tax exemptions for institutions that enforced segregation; and support for violent resistance to Black residents moving into white neighborhoods.

4. “Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul” by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.

In his book “Democracy in Black,” author Eddie S. Glaude Jr. presents a bold claim: that in order for there to be real change in America, democracy must be rebuilt from the ground up. He touches on the current state of crisis from brutal police killings, racial profiling, and the economic effects of the Great Recession on the Black community. This book on race in America and today’s crisis in race relations proves to offer a bold way forward.

5. “Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America” by Michael Eric Dyson

A cry to reckon with our nation’s gruesome history of racism, author Michael Eric Dyson argues that the only way to progress in American race relations is by facing the truth and grappling with the history of brutality and the disenfranchisement of Black men and women.

The book is written as a sermon about the racial divide directed at an all-white congregation. Dyson challenges his readers to no longer deny the nation’s history but to live in the discomfort of the complicated present. He also encourages readers to acknowledge Black grievance, which for so many centuries has been dismissed, ignored, and overlooked.

What books help educate you about the state of race relations in America? Share them with us @meetcopper so we can continue to share them with our Copper Community.

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