BMB Anti-Racism Reading Club
About Us
The BMB Anti-Racism Reading Club (ARC) is intended as a forum where members of the UMass Chan Medical School community can educate themselves about systemic racism and other inequalities. This group is explicitly inclusive of all racial, gender, sexual and socioeconomic identities and we will strive to make all our members feel welcome and supported.
The ARC is a supplement to the Diversity & Inclusion Office’s Diversity Campus Read. Our intention in hosting a department-specific ARC is to build community and make sure these conversations and opportunities for growth are brought to our own department.
Meeting dates and times will vary, but we will generally meet on the second Tuesday at 4pm in ASC5.2072 and Zoom. If holidays or other events interfere, we will adjust accordingly. Everyone is free to attend any meeting that fits their schedule, skip a month if they don’t have time or attend the discussion without having read the book.
Everyone in the BMB is welcome to attend these discussions. At the discussion, people will have the opportunity to share their thoughts and impressions on the book or ask questions. We hope we can dig into some of the issues raised in the book together. The discussion is informal, and no one will be asked to speak or share if they do not want to.
You are welcome to attend, even if you haven’t read the book, but are interested in listening to the discussion.
Upcoming books:
Previous books:
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Social Justice for the Senstive Soul: How to Change the World in Quiet Ways by Dorcas Cheng-Tozun
2024
2024/1: Heads of the Colored People by Nafissa Thompson Spires
2024/2: Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop by Danyel Smith
2024/3: The Book of Ramallah edited by Maya Abu al-Hayat
2024/4: The Unlikely Thru-Hiker by Derick Lugo
2024/5: Wondrous Journeys in Strange Lands by Sonia Nimr
2024/6: Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World by Christian Cooper
2024/7: Root Magic by Eden Royce
2023
2023/1: Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar
2023/2: On Juneteenth, by Annette Gordon-Reed
2023/3: Recitatif by Toni Morrison
2023/4: How to Read Now: Essays by Elaine Castillo
2023/5: Sorry for My Familiar by Tekka Yaguraba
2023/6: Evolution's Rainbow by Joan Roughgarden
2023/7: The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb
2023/8: Black Women Will Save the World by April Ryan
2023/9: Rust in the Root by Justina Ireland
2023/10: An Immense World by Ed Yong
2023/11: When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb
2023/12: The Man Who Could Move Clouds by Ingrid Rojas Contreras
2022
2022/01: Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
2022/02: The Privileged Poor by Anthony Abraham Jack
2022/03: Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord
2022/04: How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith
2022/05: A Death in Harlem by Karla F.C. Holloway
2022/06: Lessons from Plants by Beronda L Montgomery
2022/07: The Black Tides of Heaven by J.Y. Yang
2022/08: Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
2022/09: The Deep by Rivers Solomon
2022/10: World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
2022/11: A Dead Djinn in Cairo by P. Djeli Clark
2022/12: How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective edited by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
2021
2021/01: Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
2021/02: Superior: The Return of Race Science by Angela Saini
2021/03: The Fifth Season/How long ‘til Black Futures Month by N.K. Jemison
2021/04: Race After Technology by Ruha Benjamin
2021/05: Daughters of Nri by Reni K. Amayo
2021/06: The Disordered Cosmos by Chanda Prescon-Weinstein
2021/07: Murder in G Major by Alexia Gordon
2021/08: Social Life of DNA by Alondra Nelson
2021/09: Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
2021/10: Black Girl Dangerous by Mia McKenzi
2021/11: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
2021/12: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
2020
2020/12: How to be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
