In response to the continued acts of racial violence in the U.S. committed by law enforcement and the worldwide protests in response to it, CMA staff has compiled this collection of resources to help advance anti-racist work in our community and beyond. We recognize that this is a small sample of the numerous comprehensive resources currently available on these issues. We invite you to begin here and to never stop learning.
CMA Board of Directors: Statement of Solidarity, June 2020
Please purchase books from a Black-owned or local bookstore.
Literature by living authors has been marked with a caret (^).
Updated: 1/29/2021, 4:43 PM ET
Black Contributions to Chamber Music
Black Music Matters (earsense)
Creative Black Music at the Walker (Walker Art Center)
Institute for Composer Diversity
Blues People Amiri Baraka
A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music George E. Lewis^
Racism in Music
Take the "Mapping Virtual Access in Cultural Institutions" Survey Administered by the Museum Art and Culture Access Consortium (MAC)
Centering the Picture: The role of race & ethnicity in cultural engagement Sloverlinett Audience Research
Black Scholars Confront White Supremacy Alex Ross^
Opera Can No Longer Ignore Its Race Problem Joshua Barone^
Black Artists on How to Change Classical Music Interviews by Zachary Woolfe^ and Joshua Barone^
Lifting the Cone of Silence From Black Composers George E. Lewis^
A Small Act of Curation George E. Lewis^
On Racial Justice A Letter from Billie Holiday Theatre Artistic Director Indira Etwaroo^
Color Blind: Anna Netrebko and Blackface Olivia Giovetti^ (VAN Magazine)
Why is American Classical Music so White? Tom Huizenga^ (NPR)
How the Beatles Destroyed Rock & Roll Elijah Wald^
Anti-Racism Resources
Guides
Anti-Racism Resources (compiled by Sarah Sophie Flicker and Alyssa Klein)
A Guide to Allyship (compiled anonymously; sources cited within)
In Solidarity (Park Avenue Armory)
Short Reads
Denial Is the Heartbeat of America Ibram X. Kendi^
Talking About Race (National Museum of African American History and Culture)
Long Reads
White Fragility Robin DiAngelo^
How to Be An Antiracist Ibram X. Kendi^
Me and White Supremacy Layla F. Saad^
Understanding and Dismantling Systemic Racism
Short Reads/Websites
The 1619 Project (The New York Times Magazine)
The BREATHE Act Summary(Movement for Black Lives [M4BL])
Carceral Tech Resistance Network
Defunding The Police: What Would It Mean For The U.S.? (NPR)
Freedom to Thrive: Reimagining Safety & Security in our Communities (by the Center for Popular Democracy, Law for Black Lives, and Black Youth Project 100)
Protecting Communities from Gentrification (Institute for Local Self-Reliance)
Democracy Now!: Articles on Police Brutality | Articles on the Black Lives Matter Movement
Long Reads
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness Michelle Alexander^
Are Prisons Obsolete?, Abolition Democracy, and Freedom is a Constant Struggle Angela Davis ^
Necropolitics Achille Mbembe^
The End of Policing Alex Vitale^
Documentaries and Videos
13th (2016, Ava DuVernay) | (Also on Netflix)
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (2015, Stanley Nelson) | (Amazon Prime, iTunes, YouTube)
I Am Not Your Negro (2016, Raoul Peck) | (Amazon Prime, iTunes, YouTube)
Angela Davis on Abolition, Calls to Defund Police, Toppled Racist Statues & Voting in 2020 Election (from Democracy Now!)
Claudia Rankine: On Whiteness (PBS)
"Systemic Racism Explained" (act.tv)
Robin DiAngelo on "White Fragility" (PBS)
Cornel West on Music, Race, and Compassion (WNYC)
A Conversation on Race and Privilege with Angela Davis and Jane Elliott (University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work)
Podcasts
1619 (New York Times)
About Race (Panoply)
Code Switch (NPR)
Intersectionality Matters! (hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw)
Momentum A Race Forward Podcast
Nice White Parents (New York Times)
Pod for the Cause (from the Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights)
Pod Save the People (Crooked Media)
Take Action
Financial Support
National Bail Fund Network Directory
Black Trans Femmes in the Arts
Justice for Breonna Taylor Fund
Other Ways to Support
Bail Payer Volunteer Sign-Up (NYC only)
Extensive Guides
For those who are prepared to spend a considerable amount of time learning about and taking action for anti-racist causes, please take time to review these large databases.
PFW.GUIDE (Created by Patia Borja)
The Radical Database (Created by Angela Ruiz)
Further Reading
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou
Notes of a Native Son James Baldwin
Between the World and Me Ta-Nehisi Coates^
"What to a Slave is the Fourth of July" Frederick Douglass
The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches W.E.B. Du Bois
Bad Feminist: Essays Roxane Gay^
Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America Melissa Harris-Perry^
Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black bell hooks^
Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of This Nation John Lewis
"Letter from a Birmingham Jail" Martin Luther King Jr.
Zami: A New Spelling of My Name Audre Lorde
Beloved Toni Morrison
The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison
Revolutionary Suicide Huey P. Newton
To Die For The People Huey P. Newton
Citizen: An American Lyric Claudia Rankine^
Assata: An Autobiography Assata Shakur^
The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race Jesmyn Ward^, editor
The Autobiography of Malcom X Malcom X and Alex Haley
NYPL Schomburg Center Black Liberation Reading List
