Part of being an ally means taking the time to educate yourself. Here are a few of the resources that I found to be impactful in educating myself on the experiences of various protected groups. Note that this is an evolving and ever-changing resource and that the protected groups listed in the below sections are not exhaustive. As I continue my allyship journey, I'll continue updating this list with resources to become a better ally to othe...
Sections
4
General Allyship
Asian Americans
Black Americans
LGBTQ+ Rights
General Allyship
ARTICLE - A good primer on racial allyship
How you can be an ally in the fight for racial justice
ARTICLE - Peggy McIntosh introduced the idea of “white privilege” as a women's studies scholar in the 80s. Read the paper she wrote about this concept here.
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Backpack
VIDEO - Listen to Peggy McIntosh speak about White Privilege here
How to recognize your white privilege — and use it to fight inequality
PODCAST - Racial scientists have sought to provide “evidence” proving the superiority of certain races. Learn more about the history of using pseudo-science to support racism.
Scene On Radio: Skulls and Skin
PODCAST - This series doesn't shy away from taking a deeper look at race in America. A great place to start if you're just getting into allyship.
Code Switch
Asian Americans
ARTICLE - Asian Americans have been here since the first Filipino Americans settled in Louisiana in the 1700s but history class often neglects to mention this group until we cover Manifest Destiny / westward expansion / railroads or WW2.
11 Asian American History Moments You Should Know
ARTICLE - Asian Americans have often borne the brunt of xenophobia in America
America’s long history of scapegoating its Asian citizens
ARTICLE - In Chinese culture (and many other Eastern Asian cultures), there's a concept of “eating bitterness” or enduring pain or suffering without showing it. For too long, that meant that racial transgressions against this group went unreported.
Swallowing Our Bitterness
PODCAST - This episode details the story of a 1920s Supreme Court case brought by Asian immigrants to gain American citizenship. At its crux lay the argument was that they weren't Black, therefore they were White.
Scene On Radio: Citizen Thind
PODCAST - A podcast for and by Asian Americans, hosted by my friend, Jerry Won. This particular episode is his talk with Vice President, Kamala Harris. Check out additional episodes with other famous (and less well-known) Asian Americans on Apple Pod...
Dear Asian Americans on Apple Podcasts
VIDEO - 5 episodes covering the impact of Asian Americans, the fastest-growing and incredibly diverse diaspora in the US. This series takes a look at the country’s past, present and future, told through individual lives and personal histories.
PBS Episode Guide - Asian Americans
VIDEO - A film about the first piece of legislation passed in the United States that limited entry of an ethnic group on the premise that it endangered the “good order” of certain localities. This 1882 law provides a historical lens through which to ...
The Chinese Exclusion Act | American Experience | PBS
BOOK - George Takei, of Star Trek fame, shares his personal experience with the Internment Camps for Japanese Americans during WW2. I had my doubts about the graphic novel format, but I found it to have an additive impact on my experience of reading ...
They Called Us Enemy: Expanded Edition
BOOK - A memoir following one woman's journey to reclaiming her heritage while grappling with her mother's terminal cancer diagnosis. Anyone who grew up an “other” can find parts to relate to in this book.
Crying in H Mart
BOOK - Part memoir, part reckoning with the minor feelings that occur when you start to believe the stereotypes about yourself and the resulting dissonance between American optimism and lived experience.
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning
Black Americans
ARTICLE - An essay by W.E.B. DuBois pulled from The Atlantic's archive
Strivings of the Negro People
ARTICLE - On April 30, 2015, author Ta-Nehisi Coates spoke at the inaugural Forum on Race in America. This forum was held at Johns Hopkins University in Coates's native city of Baltimore, a majority Black (63.7%) city as of the 2010 census. This arti...
Living With Everyday Violence in Black Baltimore
PODCAST - A podcast that explores the history of Black Americans
Listen to ‘1619,’ a Podcast From The New York Times (Published 2020)
PODCAST - Brene Brown's conversation with Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, known for his work and writings, including NYT Bestseller “How to be an Anti-Racist”
Brené with Ibram X. Kendi on How to Be an Antiracist
VIDEO - A documentary about the Black Panthers, their significance to the broader American culture, and the cultural and political awakening this group ushered in.
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution | Documentary about Black Panther Party | Independent Lens | PBS
BOOK - Written as a letter to his adolescent son, Ta-Nehisi Coates explores the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences.
Between the World and Me - Ta-Nehisi Coates
AUDIOBOOK - I actually recommend listening to this one rather than reading it. The words are more powerful when narrated by the author, himself.
How to Be an Antiracist
BOOK - Part history, part personal memoir, and part “self-help” book. Kendi asks himself and the reader to answer two questions: Am I a racist or an antiracist? Am I a participant in the systemic history of race denigration or an actor in its dismant...
How to Be an Antiracist
BOOK - A new perspective on the active role our government played in legislating segregation, even while claiming we were in a new era of equality. The origins of many of the generational issues we are facing today.
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
BOOK - There is no feminist movement without Black women, but America has typecast her anger as an “ugly and destructive force that threatens the civility and social fabric of American democracy”. In this book, Brittney Cooper shows how a Black woman...
Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower
LGBTQ+ Rights
VIDEO - A film that earned Sean Penn an Oscar for his portrayal of Harvey Milk, famed gay-rights activist and the first openly-gay man elected to public office in California.
Milk
BOOK - Read about the queer American history, state by state, celebrating significant people, places, and events. This book also highlights struggles, successes, and contributions of the LGBTQIA+ community in each state - gay history is American hist...
Our Gay History
BOOK - The queer, Muslim story of Samra Habib, who spent most of their life searching for the safety to be themself in both Pakistan and as an immigrant in Canada.