“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.” -Martin Luther King, Jr.

In his 1999 bestseller ‘Why Weren’t We Told’ Australian historian Henry Reynolds wrote frankly about his personal journey to understand the dark truths of Australia’s history. Like many of us, Reynolds was taught an idealised version of history, one which neglected to mention the many horrific massacres, the forced removal of children and the intentional destruction of Indigenous culture.

Since it’s publication some 21 years ago some things have improved for Indigenous Australians. But many things have not. We all know it and we can all do something about it.

We have compiled the following list of books for readers who seek to journey into a deeper understanding of the Black Lives Matter movement, both in Australia and abroad. Browse an extended list, including titles suitable for a younger audience at bookoccino.com.au

Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion.

Behrendt interrogates how Aboriginal people – and indigenous people of other countries – have been portrayed in their colonisers' stories.

From one of the world’s leading experts on unconscious racial bias come stories, science, and strategies to address one of the central controversies of our time

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History, the definitive biography of Malcolm X.

Fire Front is a ground-breaking anthology of First Nations poetry showcasing some of the brightest new stars, as well as leading Aboriginal writers and poets including Bruce Pascoe, Ali Cobby Eckermann and Tony Birch.

The great African American poet’s award-winning first novel, about a black boy’s coming-of-age in a largely white Kansas town.

The 2010 winner of the National Book Award in poetry, Terrance Hayes is the author of five poetry collections.

A personal, passionate and powerful response to racism in Australia and the sorrow, shame, anger and hardship of being an indigenous man. ‘We are the detritus of the brutality of the Australian frontier’

Groundbreaking essays and poems about race—collected by National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward and written by the most important voices of her generation—are “thoughtful, searing, and at times, hopeful.