Good morning Regenerative School community,
Black History and Black Futures Month is dedicated to recognizing and honoring the contributions and achievements of those with African or Caribbean heritage. This month provides an important opportunity to reflect on inclusion, confront racism, and forge a future of harmony and belonging for all. If you haven’t done so all ready, we encourage you to take an active step forward to ensure equity and uproot racism within our society and systems. Read. Listen. Support. Act. Repeat.
Black History and Black Futures Month is a reminder for the ongoing work of dismantling racism and elevating the well-being and equality of Black people. To uplift Blackness, we must tend relearn history and unlearn our biases—inherited, unconscious, and all.
We encourage you to incorporate discussions of African American history, achievements, and struggles into your conversations, curriculum, and communities throughout the year. By doing so, we can work towards a future that upholds the values of freedom, justice, and equality.
This Friday, we are offering up some of our favorite books, resources, and digital toolkits from Black authors.
Black culture, Black experience, and Black wisdom have shaped so much of the world around us. So here’s to Black futurism, Black joy, and collective liberation.
Let’s take care of one another.
Wishing you a nice weekend,
The Rē Team
BOOKS:
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander (NONFICTION)
The U.S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial control, even as it formally adheres to the principle of color blindness. The New Jim Crow challenges the civil rights community—and all of us—to place mass incarceration at the forefront of a new movement for racial justice in America.
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin (NONFICTION, ESSAYS)
This classic is a powerful evocation of James Baldwin’s early life in Harlem and a disturbing examination of the consequences of racial injustice, the book is an intensely personal and provocative document. It consists of two “letters,” written on the occasion of the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, that exhort Americans, both black and white, to attack the terrible legacy of racism.
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (NONFICTION, MEMOIR)
This non-fiction story, is written in the form of a letter to Coates’ then-teenage son about the feelings, symbolism, and realities associated with the Black “lived experience” in the United States.
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (FICTION)
This incredible novel traces three hundred years across Ghana and the United States, following generations as it paints an unforgettable portrait of the forces that shape families and nations.My Grandmother's Hands by Resma Menakem (NONFICTION)
This is not the first time we have recommended this book, and for good reason. We believe this workbook to be mandatory reading (or listening) for everyone. Here, Menakem breaks down the embodied trauma response of intergenerational, oppressive race-based biases and proposes a body-centered understanding of white supremacy—how it is literally in our blood and our nervous system.
Black Earth Wisdom by Leah Penniman (NONFICTION, ESSAYS)
“Ecological humility is part of the cultural heritage of Black people.” In this illuminating collection of essays, Leah Penniman (Co-founder of Soul Fire Farm) weaves together the voices of today’s most respected Black environmentalists on the lessons learned from contemporaries, ancestors, and the earth.Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson (NONFICTION)
From Pulitzer Prize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson, this book examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America and shows how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores the pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations.
ARTICLES:
“The Great Land Robbery” by Vann R. Newkirk II for The Atlantic. This important 2019 feature tells the story of one multi-generational family of Black farmers to illustrate how racist policy and actions forced one million Black families off of their land over decades through legal and illegal means. We read this back when it was published and often revisit it. Click here to read.
Esau McCaulley’s 2022 “Black History Month Is About Seeing America Clearly” for The New York Times. This opinion piece was published as debates around the need for Black History Month surged amidst book bans and avoidance of critical race theory in public school education. McCaulley argues that “Americans have not been taught enough about anti-Black racism in our past and present” and that we are poorer as a nation because of these omissions. Click here to read.
“10 Black-Led Food Justice Organizations You Should Know About.” Through a combination of interviews, local and federal data, and news reports, Stacker compiled a list of 10 organizations throughout the U.S. with missions connected to food justice or food sovereignty through direct food services and assistance, teaching and cultivating positive land stewardship, support of Black farmers, or food rescue efforts and initiatives. Click here to read the list.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture (MMAAHC) Black History Month’s Digital Toolkit. This year’s theme is the contribution of African Americans to art. NMAAHC has highlighted the “art of resistance” and the artists who have uplift the race, spoke truth to power and inspired a nation. They have modules available for students, teachers, and parents on “Art as a Platform of Social Justice” and “African American History.” Click here for more.
As a bonus, here are three other recent recommendations from this week:
Grist’s “Misplaced Trust” investigates how stolen Indigenous land is the foundation of the land-grant university system. Incredible reporting by Tristan Ahtone, Robert Lee, Amanda Tachine, An Garagiola, Audrianna Goodwin, Maria Parazo Rose, and Clayton Aldern. Check it out here.
“The Women Documenting Russia’s Eco-Crimes” by Anna Conkling for Atmos. Last year, Russian bombardment destroyed the Kakhovka Dam in southern Ukraine. In this article we are introduced to the brilliant, brave women risking their lives by publicizing and studying the devastating aftermath. Click here.
The ReMembering and ReEnchanting Podcast most recent podcast “The Stories in Our Bones: A Conversation with Osprey Oreille Lake.” Our dear friend, Rev. Sara Jolena Wolcott speaks with Osprey Oreille Lake about her work alongside many Indigenous leaders, learning to listen, showing up, and her newly released book The Story is in Our Bones: How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis. Listen here to be inspired.
That’s all for this week. We will see you on Friday, March 8th with some Rē School updates and offerings.
What have you been reading? What have you been listening to? Write to us at admin@regenerativeschool.org and let us know.
Stay grounded. Keep warm. Be well. Deep breaths.