Social justice is the pursuit of fairness in society based on the belief that all people deserve equal opportunities and rights. We curated the following study guide collection (including books for middle-grade and young adult readers) to help readers get the most out of books that cover contemporary issues and topics in social justice.
Publication year 2019
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Emotions/Behavior: Shame & Pride, Identity: Gender
Tags Gender / Feminism, Women's Studies (Nonfiction), Mystery / Crime Fiction, Journalism, History: World, Social Justice, Politics / Government
Publication year 1984
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Hate & Anger, Relationships: Mothers, Values/Ideas: Equality, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Identity: Sexuality, Identity: Race, Society: Community
Tags Race / Racism, LGBTQ, Social Justice, Gender / Feminism, Women's Studies (Nonfiction), Classic Fiction, Politics / Government
Publication year 2020
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Identity: Femininity, Identity: Disability, Self Discovery, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Values/Ideas: Equality, Emotions/Behavior: Shame & Pride
Tags Disability, Social Justice, Gender / Feminism, Biography
Publication year 1933
Genre Short Story, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Shame & Pride, Identity: Race, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice
Tags Realistic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Race / Racism, Black Lives Matter, Civil Rights / Jim Crow, Social Justice, African American Literature
“Slave on the Block” is a short story by Langston Hughes that originally appeared in the September 1933 issue of Scribner's Magazine. The story was later published in The Ways of White Folks, a 1934 collection of Hughes’s short stories.This study guide, based on the 1990 Vintage Classics print edition, quotes and obscures the author’s use of the n-word.Anne and Michael Carraway are affluent white bohemians who live in Greenwich Village—and often visit Harlem—during the... Read Slave on the Block Summary
Publication year 2008
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Tags History: U.S., Race / Racism, Sociology, History: World, Social Justice, Politics / Government
Written by American journalist Douglas Blackmon, Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II (2008) is a thorough account of the forms of slavery perpetuated by economic disempowerment in the South after the Civil War up to World War II. The book addresses themes like The Intentional Revival of Slavery, The Toxic Mix of White Mythology and Naïve Racism, and Challenges of Confronting the Past. Slavery... Read Slavery by Another Name Summary
Publication year 2019
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Identity: Race, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Values/Ideas: Good & Evil
Tags Incarceration, Race / Racism, Black Lives Matter, Social Justice, African American Literature, History: World, Politics / Government, Biography
Solitary (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2019) is a memoir by the activist Albert Woodfox that recounts more than four decades in solitary confinement, largely at the notorious Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. It was nominated for the 2019 National Book Award for Nonfiction and the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Woodfox describes how the poverty and racism he endured growing up led him into crime, how the racism of individuals and institutions turned his initial... Read Solitary Summary
Publication year 2022
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Emotions/Behavior: Hope, Society: Immigration, Relationships: Family
Tags Immigration / Refugee, Race / Racism, Biography, Social Justice
Publication year 2015
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Identity: Race
Tags Journalism, Black Lives Matter, Race / Racism, Education, Education, History: U.S., Sociology, History: World, Social Justice, Politics / Government
Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County is a 2015 nonfiction book by Kristen Green about the closing of public schools in Prince Edward County, Virginia from 1959 to 1964, following the 1954 United States Supreme Court ruling that school segregation is unconstitutional. During the five years the public schools were closed, black students in Prince Edward County largely went uneducated while a new private school for whites, Prince Edward Academy, opened. The book... Read Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County Summary
Publication year 2020
Genre Biography, Nonfiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Hope, Society: Immigration, Society: War, Relationships: Family, Society: Community
Tags Immigration / Refugee, Social Justice, History: World
Publication year 1909
Genre Short Story, Fiction
Themes Society: Class, Self Discovery, Identity: Gender, Natural World: Nurture v. Nature
Tags Social Justice, Naturalism, Education, Education
Publication year 2022
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Society: Colonialism, Society: Nation, Identity: Race
Tags History: U.S., Race / Racism, Social Justice, Southern Literature, Immigration / Refugee, History: World, Travel Literature, Politics / Government
Publication year 2018
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice
Tags Race / Racism, Black Lives Matter, Gender / Feminism, Sociology, Social Justice, Politics / Government
So You Want to Talk About Race is a 2018 non-fiction book written by Ijeoma Oluo, an American author of Nigerian descent whose columns and news articles on race have appeared in The Guardian, The Stranger, and Jezebel, among other places. This guide refers to the first edition published in 2018 by Seal Press. The title gestures to the discourse that is necessary to combat racial oppression in the United States. The book made Bustle’s... Read So You Want to Talk About Race Summary
Publication year 2022
Genre Short Story Collection, Fiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Win & Lose, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Relationships: Siblings, Relationships: Teams, Society: Class, Society: Politics & Government
Tags Mystery / Crime Fiction, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Crime / Legal, Incarceration, Social Justice, Finance / Money / Wealth
Publication year 2020
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Society: Nation, Society: Class, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice
Tags Race / Racism, Social Justice, Politics / Government, History: U.S., African American Literature, Sociology, History: World
Publication year 2016
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Music
Tags African American Literature, History: U.S., Civil Rights / Jim Crow, Black Lives Matter, Race / Racism, Sociology, History: World, Social Justice, Politics / Government
Ibrahim Kendi’s comprehensive history of racial thought in the US, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, was published in 2016 and won the National Book Award for Nonfiction. Kendi has also collaborated author Jason Reynolds (Long Way Down, Ain't Burned All the Bright) on a young adult "remix" of Stamped from the Beginning titled Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You, and is well known for his 2019 book, How to... Read Stamped From the Beginning Summary
Publication year 2020
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Identity: Race, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice
Tags Black Lives Matter, Civil Rights / Jim Crow, Race / Racism, Children's Literature, History: World, Social Justice, Politics / Government
Jason Reynolds’s Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You (2020) is a nonfiction book by the American authors Jason Reynolds and Dr. Ibram X. Kendi. It is a self-described “remix” of Kendi’s 2016 National Book Award winner Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. An award-winning writer of young adult fiction and poetry, Reynolds frames America’s history of racist ideas for an audience of middle school and high school readers. Reynolds’s remix... Read Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You Summary
Publication year 2022
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Natural World: Space & The Universe, Society: Education, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies, Values/Ideas: Science & Technology, Values/Ideas: Order & Chaos, Society: Community, Identity: Gender
Tags Science / Nature, Philosophy, History: World, Politics / Government, Animals, Education, Diversity, Disability, Food, Health / Medicine, Internet Culture / Social Media, Military / War, Race / Racism, Religion / Spirituality, Social Justice, Technology, Philosophy
Publication year 2019
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Identity: Race, Values/Ideas: Equality, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice
Tags History: U.S., Race / Racism, Politics / Government, Social Justice, History: World
Publication year 1953
Genre Essay / Speech, Nonfiction
Themes Identity: Race, Society: Nation, Emotions/Behavior: Hate & Anger
Tags Race / Racism, History: U.S., Social Justice
Publication year 2016
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Shame & Pride, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Natural World: Climate, Natural World: Environment, Natural World: Place, Society: Class, Society: Community, Society: Economics, Society: Nation, Society: Politics & Government, Values/Ideas: Equality
Tags Sociology, Politics / Government, History: U.S., American Literature, Social Science, Business / Economics, History: World, Social Justice
Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right (2016) is an in-depth exploration of the rise of the Tea Party movement in Louisiana by sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild. In an effort to understand the Tea Party and bolster her empathy for political opinions oppositional to her own, Hochschild spent five years getting to know residents and conducting interviews in and around Lake Charles, Louisiana. Hochschild argues that by understanding one another’s... Read Strangers in Their Own Land Summary