Black History Month Exhibition

This summer, I asked staff in the Law School to come up with suggestions of books that influenced their thinking on race, especially with regard to the law. To make it a bit trickier, I asked them not to suggest academic books, as I didn’t want to make you feel like you were doing an extra module on race and the law.

I had some ideas of what books they might suggest, but I must confess that their selections were a much more eclectic mix of books, podcasts and even music than I had expected! I hope that their choices will inspire you and enable you to know some of your lecturers and professional services support staff much better. Each recommendation comes along with a short paragraph about why they chose it.

I have organised their selections into:

• ‘The Essentials’ – recommendations made by several colleagues;
• ‘Race and Place’ – focused on race in particular jurisdictions;
• ‘Injustice’ – focused on themes of race and justice;
• ‘Feminism and Race’ – locating women’s experiences of race; and
• ‘Towards antiracism’ – thinking about structural ways of dismantling racism in society.

Of course, some items don’t fit into just one of these categories, but I took my lead from the colleagues who recommended these books.

This list obviously leaves out many iconic books that you might think that we should have included. For instance, I am struck that Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning, D’Angelo’s White Fragility and Painter’s The History of White People didn’t make the list, but we are hoping that this is just the beginning of a conversation. Perhaps at some point you might wish to give staff members your recommendations.

During October, you will be able to browse or borrow any of these books from the Student Hub. We are trusting all of you to bring back any books that you may borrow.

I am extremely grateful to all my colleagues who generously contributed the recommendations in this booklet. I hope you enjoy reading them!