Black History Month Recommended Reading List

Written by Joanne Wohlmuth

Now is a good time to expand our reading list and open our minds and our hearts to much that has been written and or talked about regarding race, racism and the battle for greater inclusion and regard for all persons in society.  This cannot happen overnight or without raising awareness and educating ourselves better, on this extensive topic. 

Here is what we recommend for Black History Month 2023. 

BOOKS 

The first 5 books are about race/ racism and anti-racism work that are a good foundation for your anti-racism/racial justice toolkit.  

• My Grandmother’s Hands – Resmaa Menakem 

• Me and White Supremacy – Layla F. Saad 

• White Fragility – Robin DiAngelo 

• Between The World and Me - Ta-Nehisi Coates

• How to Be an Anti-Racist -  Ibram X. Kendi 

The next 6 books are about racism and racial justice work, and our Christian Faith. Once we have a foundation of what the issues are, these books allow us to narrow the focus to explore Christianity and the Christian church’s role (prior and going forward) in addressing racism and the Church. 

• Birth of Movement: Black Lives Matter and The Catholic Church – Olga Segura

• The Spiritual Work of Racial Justice – Patrick Saint-Jean, S.J. 

• Jesus and the Disinherited – Howard Thurman 

• A White Catholic’s Guide to Racism and Privilege – Daniel Horan, OFM

• Race and The Cosmos – Barbara Holmes

• Divine Variations: How Christian Thought Became Racial Science – Terence Keel

The final 3 books are on Yoga and Race/Racism and how yoga helps.

• Restorative Yoga for Ethnic and Race-Based Stress and Trauma - Gail Parker

• Black Women’s Yoga History: Memoirs of Inner Peace (SUNY Series in Black Women’s Wellness) - Stephanie Y. Evans

• Transforming Ethnic and Race-Based Traumatic Stress with Yoga - Gail Parker (thematic restorative yoga poses & journal prompts)

This list above is by no means an exhaustive one but is  meant to whet the appetite and procure greater interest and understanding of this subject matter so necessary for our understanding of ourselves in relation to our society today. Many other great books (authors) have been omitted and are worth your curiosity to explore. 

PODCAST

Seeing Whiteness - series  on Scene On Radio -  A two-time Peabody-nominated podcast that dares to ask “big questions”.   John Biewen, the producer and host of this podcast is also the head of the Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) at Duke University.  In this series with Dr. Chenjerai Kumaymika, he takes a “deep dive” into a number of questions about race/racism.  The 14-part docu-series was released in Feb. 2017, yet remains relevant (perhaps even more so) today. 

• Seeing Whiteness  

Articles

The Revealer, the NYU online magazine on Religion, that explores religion in its many roles in society and people’s lives.  It featured the following articles in early 2023.  

• In The News - Cameron Andersen   

Happy reading and listening! 

About the author

Joanne Wohlmuth has been a part of the CPY network since her attendance at Prayer of Heart and Body Teachers Retreats in 2005 and 2008. Joanne is the owner of Yoga on the Rock, a Yoga Alliance Registered Yoga School and Continuing Education provider in Bermuda. She offers a course in Racial Justice and Yoga and has contributed to the CPY blog, Yoga in Bermuda & Black Lives Matter.

Joanne is a 40 year veteran yoga teacher, and trainer. She commenced her study and practice of yoga under the guidance and direct discipleship of Yoga Master Sri Swami Satchidananda and The Integral Yoga Method.  She also has a BA degree in Journalism and a double Masters Degree in Management and Human Resources.  Much of her career life has been as a human rights investigator and diversity trainer and consultant for corporate Bermuda. 

Joanne  co-manages Bermuda's oldest yoga studio, The Yoga Centre, and is the founder of her own yoga studio Yoga on the Rock.   She is a E-RYT 500 yoga teacher and trainer and YACEP provider, under Yoga Alliance and  a certified yoga therapist with the International Association of Yoga Therapists.  She is a trained long-term teacher of meditation and is a graduate ( and ongoing student) of both Eastern and Western Mysticism, studied through the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

Joanne is is a devout Roman Catholic and chairs the Peace and Social Justice Ministry of the Roman Catholic Church in Bermuda. Many of the books she suggests here are from a Catholic/Christian perspective.

She brings all this training  to bear in her yoga work and hope for the world - a place where justice, peace, mindfulness living and prophetic witnessing continues to grow as we live, move and breathe.

The books on yoga, race/racism were recommended by Ame Kitchener, our CPY DEI coordinator while the bulk of the book recommendations came from the Racial Justice and Yoga recommended booklist. You can learn more about Ame on our Board and Staff page here and through her Facebook group.

Featured image by Nsey Benajah @nseylubangi via Unsplash.