Five books that help readers understand and tackle racism are To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin, Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi and The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. Together they cover fiction, history and lived experience.
This list was first put together after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020, which led to protests across the world. Former police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder in April 2021. The conversation those events started has not ended, and books remain one of the simplest ways to understand prejudice beyond news headlines.
- Why read about racism in India
- 1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- 2. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
- 3. If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
- 4. Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi
- 5. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
- Two more books worth adding
- Quick comparison
- How to get more from these books
- Frequently asked questions
Why read about racism in India
Racism is not only an American problem. In India, people from the Northeast have reported discrimination in big cities for years. After the death of Arunachal Pradesh student Nido Taniam in Delhi in 2014, the Centre set up the Bezbaruah Committee to look into such complaints. Discrimination by skin colour, region and caste also shows up in jobs, housing and marriage advertisements.
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Reading about how racism works elsewhere helps readers notice similar patterns closer to home. Find more reading lists in our education section.
1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Published in 1960, this novel is set in a small town in 1930s Alabama. Scout Finch, a young girl, watches her lawyer father Atticus defend Tom Robinson, a Black man falsely accused of assaulting a white woman. The story shows how a whole community can accept injustice as normal.
The book won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961 and is still taught in schools in many countries. It is a good first read for teenagers because it sees prejudice through a child’s eyes.
2. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Written as letters, this 1982 novel follows Celie, a Black woman in the rural American South in the early 1900s. She faces abuse at home and racism outside it, and slowly finds her voice through friendships with other women.
Alice Walker won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1983 for the book. It was adapted into a film by Steven Spielberg in 1985 and into a musical film in 2023. The novel is useful for understanding how race and gender discrimination work together.
3. If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
Baldwin’s 1974 novel is a love story set in New York. Tish, who is 19 and pregnant, and her family fight to free her fiance Fonny, who has been wrongly jailed. The book shows how a biased justice system can damage ordinary families.
Barry Jenkins adapted it into a film in 2018, and Regina King won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role. Baldwin’s essays, especially The Fire Next Time, are also worth reading next.
4. Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi
This is non-fiction. Kendi traces racist ideas in the United States from the early days of the slave trade to the 21st century, through the lives of five figures, including Thomas Jefferson and Angela Davis. His central argument is that racist policies came first and racist ideas were then built to justify them.
The book won the US National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2016. It is dense, so readers new to the subject may prefer Stamped, a shorter version that Kendi wrote with Jason Reynolds for young readers. A Netflix documentary based on the book released in 2023.
5. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Cora, an enslaved young woman, escapes a cotton plantation in Georgia and is chased across several states by a slave catcher. Whitehead imagines the Underground Railroad, the real network that helped people escape slavery, as an actual railway under the ground.
The novel won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2016 and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2017. Barry Jenkins also turned it into a limited series for Prime Video in 2021.
Two more books worth adding
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Written as a letter to his teenage son, this short 2015 book explains what it means to grow up Black in America. It won the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2015 and can be read in a day or two.
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
Published in 2020, this book argues that racism in the United States works like a caste system, and compares it with caste in India and with Nazi Germany. Indian readers often find it a useful bridge between the two subjects. Ava DuVernay’s 2023 film Origin is based on Wilkerson’s work on the book.
Quick comparison
| Book | Type | Year | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| To Kill a Mockingbird | Novel | 1960 | First-time readers, teens |
| The Color Purple | Novel | 1982 | Race and gender together |
| If Beale Street Could Talk | Novel | 1974 | Justice system bias |
| Stamped from the Beginning | History | 2016 | Deep background |
| The Underground Railroad | Novel | 2016 | History of slavery |
How to get more from these books
- Start with a novel, then move to history. Stories make the facts easier to follow.
- Read with a friend or a book club and discuss how the same patterns appear in India.
- Most of these titles have Indian paperback and e-book editions, and many public and college libraries stock them.
For more on books and ideas, browse our infotainment section.
Frequently asked questions
Which book should I read first to understand racism?
To Kill a Mockingbird is the easiest starting point. It is a short, readable novel that shows prejudice through a child’s view.
Is Stamped from the Beginning hard to read?
It is a detailed history book and can feel heavy. Kendi and Jason Reynolds wrote a shorter young readers’ version called Stamped.
Are any of these books available as films or shows?
Yes. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), The Color Purple (1985 and 2023) and If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) are films. The Underground Railroad is a 2021 Prime Video series.
Is there a book that connects racism with caste?
Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste compares racial hierarchy in the United States with the caste system in India.
Sources: The Underground Railroad, Wikipedia, National Book Foundation, Murder of George Floyd, Wikipedia.
