Some recommendations to learn more about race

“The Cross and the Lynching Tree,” by James H. Cone “They put him to death by hanging him on a tree.” That I had read that verse in the Book of Acts dozens, perhaps hundreds, of times without once thinking that Jesus had been “lynched” is the point of Cone, a theologian.

Black and white Christians are too often living in separate realities. It is long overdue for that to change.

The book is a righteous condemnation of white supremacy and a hopeful call to reconciliation.

“We were made brothers and sisters by the blood of the lynching tree, the blood of sexual union, and the blood of the cross of Jesus,” Cone writes. “No gulf between black and whites is too great to overcome, for our beauty is more enduring than our brutality. What God joined together, no one can tear apart.”

Gospel truth.

Tim Morris

“Uncivil” podcast by Gimlet Media.

Myths from the Confederacy still pervade conversations about the Civil War. Stories about black Confederate soldiers or the unprofitability of slavery have perpetuated the Lost Cause narrative. But where did these stories come from? “Uncivil,” a podcast hosted by Jack Hitt and Chenjerai Kumanyika, debunks many of the common misperceptions about the Confederacy and its attempt to create a slaveholding republic.

I discovered the series on a road trip home to Tallahassee, Fla., from Boston. As I drove down the Shenandoah Valley and through South Carolina, I wavered between shock and disappointment. Why did I not learn the truth in school? Slavery and the Civil War are foundational to present-day race relations in the United States. Instead of mourning the removal of “Gone with the Wind,” press play on the first episode of “Uncivil.”

Ana Goñi-Lessan

“Contempt of Court: The Turn-of-the-Century Lynching That Launched a Hundred Years of Federalism,” by Mark Curriden and Leroy Phillips

I lived in Chattanooga, Tenn., for years before I heard of how Ed Johnson, an innocent black man accused of raping a white woman, was lynched from the Walnut Street Bridge in 1906. I learned about this bit of history during a downtown ghost tour. A death that should haunt the community had been relegated to tourist kitsch.

What sets apart Johnson’s killing at the hands of a white mob from the countless others in the South after Reconstruction, is how his case led to a series of legal firsts in the United States — including the only criminal trial ever held by the Supreme Court — that set the stage for federal oversight of civil rights issues. The book does an excellent job of capturing the story, but it is Johnson’s last words that will stay with you: “God bless you all. I am an innocent man.”

Luis Carrasco

“Devil in the Grove,” by Gilbert King

Long before Thurgood Marshall sat on the Supreme Court, he was a pioneering and fearless defense attorney working to free African Americans caught up in the racist criminal justice systems so critical to maintaining the Jim Crow era of white power in the South. King’s book tells the terrifying tale of Marshall’s efforts to save the lives of the Groveland Boys, teens who had been accused — falsely — of raping a 17-year-old white girl in Lake County, Fla., then under the murderous control of the KKK and Sheriff Willis

V. McCall. The case will turn your stomach, but will also help bring into context the roots of the rage over police violence. It left me better-informed and not a little angry.

Michael Lindenberger

“Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools,” by Monique W. Morris

Black girls don’t misbehave more, but they are disciplined more harshly and more often in schools than their white peers. They are often treated as adults at a young age and viewed through the lens of negative social stereotypes. Those policies and biases conspire to push girls out of school and into a pathway that too often leads to confinement and unstable futures. In her book, Morris interviews black girls about their experiences and examines how they are failed by the institutions meant to protect them.

As a teacher, I saw these dynamics play out in schools and the damage inflicted on black girls by racist policies and practices. Morris’ book was also an invaluable resource for a project I did for USA TODAY about the criminalization of black girls. A film based on the book is available for streaming on PBS.

Monica Rhor

“The Book of Delights,” by Ross Gay

This book of mini-essays by an award-winning poet offers a hard-earned optimism. Gay weaves our racialized existence into a world of stubborn beauty, and thereby shows us a way forward. After reading all my life about the history of racism, and dealing with it myself, I’m slowly making my way through this book, finding solace and hope.

Raj Mankad