Book Club
We’ve partnered with the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library to bring you this unique program. Come for the books, stay for the discussion, and leave with the skills to take action!
Please note our new format!
Starting in September of 2024, we will meet on the fourth Monday of every month at 7:00 p.m. (subject to change due to holidays) following a two-month topic cycle. In the first month of our meeting cycle, we will have presentations, activities, and other related items on the agenda. For our second month of the cycle, we will meet to discuss our selected book. Join us at the library or on Zoom for these hybrid discussions and presentations. Make sure you’re on the email list so you get updates on our meeting location and Zoom link! You can also follow the library events page for details.
Book club picks feature books written by Black, Indigenous, and people of color. All are invited to participate in monthly meetings to discuss the books and relevant social issues within our community.
What we’re reading:
For September and October our topic of focus is voting.
Join us September 23rd for a presentation from the Topeka Voter Collaborative and the League of Women Voters of Topeka and Shawnee County. We’ll cover all the FAQ’s about voting, and make a voting plan!
On October 28, join us for a book discussion on Say it Louder! by Tiffany Cross.
About the book:
In Say it Louder!, author Tiffany Cross goes beyond media narrative to present a factual account of the role African Americans play in the American Democracy. The right to vote is a basic American tenet, yet throughout history Black individuals have been denied this right and continue to face oppressive forces when attempting to exercise it. As the demographics in America change, so does the electoral power construct, a factor which is of ever-growing importance.
Upcoming Dates and Topics
Previous Reads:
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Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng (January)
The Learning Tree, by Gordon Parks February)
Beautiful Country, by Qian Julie Wang (March)
Racial Justice Challenge (April)
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My Grandmother's Hands, by Resmaa Menakem (January & February)
Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, by Dr. Joy DeGruy (March)
Indian Horse, by Richard Wagamese (April)
The Sum of Us, by Heather McGhee (May)
The YWCA Racial Justice Challenge (June)
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum (July)
The Displaced: Refugee Writers on Refugee Lives, Ed. by Viet Thanh Nguyen (August)
Three Girls from Bronzeville, by Dawn Turner (September)
Once I Was You, by Maria Hinojosa (October)
There, There, by Tommy Orange (November)
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Stamped from the Beginning, by Ibram X. Kendi (January)
How the Word is Passed, by Clint Smith (February)
First and Only, by Jennifer Farmer (March)
Stand Against Racism Challenge (April)
The Vanishing Half, by Brit Bennett (May)
The Distance Between Us, by Reyna Grande (June)
The Pride of Park Avenue, by Toriano Porter (July)
Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah (August)
Dear White Woman: Please Come Home, by Kimberlee Yolanda Williams (September)
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, by Erika Sanchez (October)
Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer (November)
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"Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together In The Cafeteria?" by Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum (January)
"Mediocre, The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America" by Ijeoma Oluo (February)
"Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent" by Isabel Wilkerson (April)
"The Displaced: Refugee Writers on Refugee Lives" edited by Viet Thanh Nguyen (May)
"As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock" by Dina Gilio-Whitaker (June)
"The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together" by Heather McGhee (July)
"Rising Out of Hatred" by Eli Saslow (August)
"The Whiteness of Wealth:" by Dorothy Brown (September)
"Say It Louder: Black Voters, White Narratives, and Saving our Democracy" by Tiffany Cross (October)
"Once I Was You: A Memoir of Love and Hate in a Torn America" by Maria Hinojosa (November/December)
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"White Fragility" by Robin DeAngelo
"How to Be Antiracist" by Ibram X. Kendi
"Chokehold: Policing Black Men" by Paul Butler
"When They Call You a Terrorist: a Black Lives Matter Memoir" by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele
"An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
"Healing Politics" by Dr. Abdul El-Sayed
"The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” by Michelle Alexander
"Stamped from the Beginning" by Ibram X. Kendi
"A Perilous Path: Talking Race, Inequality, and the Law" by Sherrilyn Ifill, Loretta Lynch, Bryan Stevenson, and Anthony C. Thompson
"Citizen" by Claudia Rankine
"We Were Eight Years in Power" by Ta-Nehisi Coates