Anti-racism Justice Equity Inclusion: Book Club - The New Jim Crow

This curriculum provides a range of lesson plans, activities and audiovisual resources for teachers of language arts, social studies and American history, anchored by manageable excerpts from The New Jim Crow. All of the lessons are fully aligned to the Common Core. The Teacher Preparation Guide that precedes the lessons provides strategies for teachers to help them engage productively and honestly with their students, recognizing that sometimes discussions of race, ethnicity, power and privilege can evoke strong reactions.

The New Jim Crow is a stunning account of the rebirth of a caste-like system in the United States, one that has resulted in millions of African Americans locked behind bars and then relegated to a permanent second-class status—denied the very rights supposedly won in the Civil Rights Movement. Since its publication in 2010, the book has appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for more than a year; been dubbed the “secular bible of a new social movement” by numerous commentators, including Cornel West; and has led to consciousness-raising efforts in universities, churches, community centers, re-entry centers, and prisons nationwide. The New Jim Crow tells a truth our nation has been reluctant to face.

Interlaced with the words and thoughts of Martin Luther King Jr., the Study Guide and Call to Action’s narrative sections, discussion topics and questions steer readers beyond the four corners of The New Jim Crow, challenging us to discover what is required of us at this critical moment in our nation’s history. Prepared over the course of 2012, this Veterans of Hope Project publication is playing a key role in the growing movement to end one of the most pressing human rights crises of our time.

A project of the Riverside Church Prison Ministry. “No to Prisons, Yes to Caring Communities”

To understand our present, we must understand our past. These programs will give you a closer look at the history of racism and injustice against black Americans that lead us to this moment.