Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Resources for Adults, February 2023
prepared by Alvin R. Blount
Diocese of East Tennessee
Costs of items may vary depending on where they are purchased.
Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism
-Derrick Bell
-Kindle, $12.99
-hardcover, $33.00
-paperback, $17.99
-304 pages
-Basic Books
-2018
-description: Bell, a noted civil rights activist presents a radical vision of persistence of racism in America. These essays, with a new foreword by Michelle Alexander, is a classic contribution to critical race theory scholarship, discusses affirmative action, temptation toward violent retaliation, and more.
Bell, D. (2018). Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism. Basic Books.
From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century
-William A. Darity
-A. Kirsten Mullen
-paperback, $19.25
-Kindle, $9.99
-448 pages
-The University of North Carolina Press
-2022
-description: Reconstruction, the New Deal, nor the civil rights movement have dramatically altered racial inequality. This inequality persists in forms of police brutality, housing discrimination, mass incarceration, employment discrimination, and more. This resource addresses economic injustices and makes a comprehensive case for economic reparations for descendants of slavery, and addresses latest developments on the local, state, and federal level for reparations program that is comprehensive.
Darity, W. A. & Mullen, A. K. (2022). From Here to Equality, Second Edition: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century. The University of North Carolina Press.
African Founders: How Enslaved People Expanded American Ideals
-David Hackett Fischer
-Kindle, $16.99
-hardcover, $26.31
-960 pages
-Simon & Schuster
-2022
-description: Fischer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian researched extensively to show how enslaved people from different parts of the continent of Africa interacted with colonists and created new regional cultures in the States. Africans brought with them many skills representing different disciplines that produced a new, distinctly American culture. This is a landmark work of history drawing on decades of research, some of it in western Africa.
Fischer, D. H. (2022). African Founders: How Enslaved People Expanded American Ideals. Simon & Schuster.
The Antiracist Deck: 100 Meaningful Conversations on Power, Equity, and Justice
-Ibram X. Kendi
-cards, $20.97
-100 pages
-One World
-2022
-description: New York Times best-selling author of How to Be an Antiracist, Ibram Kendi, has raised awareness of persistent, antiracist work. He is Director of the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University and has designed these 100 conversation starters to help us engage, learn, and inspire. I must-have for reading and discussion groups!
Kendi, I. X. (2022). The Antiracist Deck: 100 Meaningful Conversations on Power, Equity, and Justice. One World.
Dancing In the Darkness: Spiritual Lessons for Thriving in Turbulent Times
-Otis Moss III
-Michael Eric Dyson, narrator
-Kindle, $12.99
-hardcover, $19.99
-122 pages
-Simon & Schuster, Inc.
-2023
-description: Rev. Moss is the Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago, a civil rights leader, and professor in the McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University. Due to current times of division and violence, Dancing in the Darkness serves as a life-affirming guide to the political and spiritual challenges with help from the teachings of Howard Thurman, Martin Luther King, Jr., sacred scripture, scriptural traditions, justice, love, personal experiences, and practical spiritual resistance.
Moss, III, O. (2023). Dancing In the Darkness: Spiritual Lessons for Thriving in Turbulent Times. Simon & Schuster, Inc.
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
-Richard Rothstein
-Kindle, $7.99
-hardcover, $19.89
-paperback, $12.53
-spiral-bound, $26.99
-368 pages
-Liveright
-2017
-description: The Color of Law is one of Publishers Weekly’s 10 Best Books of 2017. Rothstein, a leading authority on housing policy, exposes the American government’s disturbing history of imposed racial segregation on metropolitan areas all over the country. He expands our understanding of the history of flawed urban planning that created impoverished neighborhoods that we know of today. Federal subsidies for builders were placed on the condition that homes not be sold to African Americans, in addition to prosecutors supporting violent resistance to Black families in White neighborhoods.
Rothstein, R. (2017). The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America. Liveright.
Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership (Justice, Power, and Politics)
-Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
-Kindle, $9.99
-hardcover, $23.99
-paperback, $20.00
-368 pages
-The University of North Carolina Press
-2019
-description: Politicians finally worked to end the practice of redlining around the late 1960s by passing the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 and established policies for mortgage lenders and the real estate industry to treat Black homebuyers equally. It has been revealed that racist exclusion remains intact, and Race for Profit uncovers how these practices have continued after housing discrimination was banned.
Taylor, K-Y. (2019). Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership (Justice, Power, and Politics). The University Of North Carolina Press.
John Hervey Wheeler, Black Banking, and the Economic Struggle for Civil Rights
-Brandon K. Winford
-Kindle, $28.45
-hardcover, $40.00 (U of K Press)
-paperback, $29.95
-354 pages
-University of Kentucky Press
-2019
-description: Written by Brandon Winford, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, history professor, this Lillian Smith Book Award winner tells the story of the life and work of John Hervey Wheeler, one of the civil rights movement’s most influential leaders known for urging White financial advisors to steer toward the end of Jim Crow segregation for economic concerns. Wheeler was a banker and lawyer and played a key role in the fight for racial and economic equality throughout his home state of North Carolina. He was also one of the first African Americans to attain a high-ranking position in the state’s Democratic Party and later became its treasurer.
Winford, B. K. (2019). John Hervey Wheeler, Black Banking, and the Economic Struggle for Civil Rights. University of Kentucky Press.
Podcasts and Videocasts
Hinojosa, M. & Varela, J. R. (Co-hosted). (n.d.). The Legacy of Redlining [Audio podcast]. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-legacy-of-redlining/id1083701291?i=1000430216257
Hinojosa, M. & Varela, J. R. (Co-hosted). (2023, January 20). A Civil Rights History Lesson [Audio podcast]. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-civil-rights-history-lesson/id1083701291?1=1000595052724
Muzzio, D. (Host). (2012, March 14). City Talk: Derrick Bell, Professor of Constitutional Law at New York University School of Law [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7zYD1q8B30
Who’s Who in East Tennessee
Stay tuned for more features of present and former East Tennesseans in subsequent BBC newsletters.
Jefferson City, TN, native, inventor, computer scientist, and engineer, Dr. Mark Dean,received undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Florida Atlantic University, and Stanford University, respectively. A computer scientist and engineer, he has developed landmark technologies for IBM, including the color PC monitor and the first gigahertz chip. He is married to the lovely Ms. Denise Dean, Executive Director, East Tennessee Freedom Schools.
To learn more about Dr. Dean, visit:
Biography.com Editors. (2021, January 13). Mark Dean Biography. The Biography.com website. https://www.biography.com/inventor/mark-dean
Mark Dean. (2022, February 18). Mark Edward Dean [Video]. YouTube/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1GJsijOba4