Anti-Racism Resource from Trexler Library: The Power of Fiction

While antiracism nonfiction books top the best-seller charts, author Jasmine Guillory urges readers not to forget the power of fiction books in her Time article “Reading Anti-Racist Nonfiction Is a Start. But Don’t Underestimate the Power of Black Fiction.” Guillory writes about the importance of empathy in antiracism work, and notes that studies have shown reading fiction can increase the reader’s empathy for others: 

“To find that kind of empathy for Black people—for Black lives of all kinds—we need look no further than fiction…But when we say Black Lives Matter, we mean the whole of Black lives—not just when we die at the hands of the police and not just when our lives intersect with white lives to our detriment. Racism is not the only thing to know about what it means to be Black.”

Trexler Library has a selection of fiction and poetry ebooks available on our Anti-Racism guide. We encourage our community to explore these resources in addition to the nonfiction ones provided on the guide.