The Architecture of American Inequality —
History, Literature, and Liberation
72 books. 12 sets. 6 themes running simultaneously. No deadline. This is a self-designed curriculum in history, Black literature, feminism, Latino heritage, Indigenous studies, and the literacy crisis — one set at a time.
72
Total Books
12
Sets
6
Themes
The 6 Themes
Theme 1 – Law & History
How the United States was deliberately built to produce racial inequality
Theme 2 – Black Literature
Novels, voice, and storytelling from Hurston to Morrison to Everett
Theme 3 – Black Feminism
Essays, memoirs, and manifestos from hooks, Lorde, Shakur, and Fanon
Theme 4 – Latino Heritage
From Harvest of Empire to Open Veins to Love in the Time of Cholera
Theme 5 – Indigenous History
Land, removal, genocide, alliance, and the Columbian Exchange
Theme 6 – Literacy & Resistance
Systemic barriers to literacy through Orwell, Wright, Petry, and more
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All 12 Sets
| THEME | WHOLE BOOK |
| Theme 1 · Law/History | Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent – Isabel Wilkerson |
| Theme 2 · Black Lit | Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston |
| Theme 3 · Feminism | Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women White Feminists Forgot – Mikki Kendall |
| Theme 4 · Latino | Harvest of Empire – Juan Gonzalez |
| Theme 5 · Indigenous | 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus – Charles C. Mann |
| Theme 6 · Literacy | 1984 – George Orwell |
| THEME | WHOLE BOOK |
| Theme 1 · Law/History | The New Jim Crow – Michelle Alexander |
| Theme 2 · Black Lit | I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou |
| Theme 3 · Feminism | Assata – Assata Shakur |
| Theme 4 · Latino | Puerto Rico: A National History – Jorell A. Meléndez-Badillo |
| Theme 5 · Indigenous | 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created – Charles C. Mann |
| Theme 6 · Literacy | Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury |
| THEME | WHOLE BOOK |
| Theme 1 · Law/History | The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America – Richard Rothstein |
| Theme 2 · Black Lit | Parable of the Sower – Octavia E. Butler |
| Theme 3 · Feminism | All About Love – bell hooks |
| Theme 4 · Latino | Black in Latin America – Henry Louis Gates, Jr. |
| Theme 5 · Indigenous | An Indigenous Peoples’ History – Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz |
| Theme 6 · Literacy | The Street – Ann Petry |
| THEME | WHOLE BOOK |
| Theme 1 · Law/History | The Warmth of Other Suns – Isabel Wilkerson |
| Theme 2 · Black Lit | Parable of the Talents – Octavia E. Butler |
| Theme 3 · Feminism | Killing Rage – bell hooks |
| Theme 4 · Latino | A Black Women’s History of the United States – Berry & Gross |
| Theme 5 · Indigenous | There There – Tommy Orange |
| Theme 6 · Literacy | Black Boy – Richard Wright |
| THEME | WHOLE BOOK |
| Theme 1 · Law/History | The 1619 Project – Nikole Hannah-Jones |
| Theme 2 · Black Lit | The Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison |
| Theme 3 · Feminism | The Source of Self Regard – Toni Morrison |
| Theme 4 · Latino | An African American and Latinx History of the United States – Paul Ortiz |
| Theme 5 · Indigenous | An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States – Kyle T. Mays |
| Theme 6 · Literacy | The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois – Honoree Fanonne Jeffers |
| THEME | WHOLE BOOK |
| Theme 1 · Law/History | Stamped From the Beginning – Ibram X. Kendi |
| Theme 2 · Black Lit | Beloved – Toni Morrison |
| Theme 3 · Feminism | The Wretched of the Earth – Frantz Fanon |
| Theme 4 · Latino | Open Veins of Latin America – Eduardo Galeano |
| Theme 5 · Indigenous | Wandering Stars – Tommy Orange |
| Theme 6 · Literacy | The Great Believers – Rebecca Makkai |
| THEME | WHOLE BOOK |
| Theme 1 · Law/History | The Souls of Black Folk – W. E. B. Du Bois |
| Theme 2 · Black Lit | Native Son – Richard Wright |
| Theme 3 · Feminism | Women, Race & Class – Angela Davis |
| Theme 4 · Latino | We Refuse – Kellie Carter Jackson |
| Theme 5 · Indigenous | Ceremony – Leslie Marmon Silko |
| Theme 6 · Literacy | Reading Lolita In Tehran – Azar Nafisi |
| THEME | WHOLE BOOK |
| Theme 1 · Law/History | A People’s History of the United States – Howard Zinn |
| Theme 2 · Black Lit | Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison |
| Theme 3 · Feminism | Sister Outsider – Audre Lorde |
| Theme 4 · Latino | Her Body and Other Parties – Carmen Maria Machado |
| Theme 5 · Indigenous | Killers of the Flower Moon – David Grann |
| Theme 6 · Literacy | How the Word Is Passed – Clint Smith |
| THEME | WHOLE BOOK |
| Theme 1 · Law/History | We Were Eight Years in Power – Ta-Nehisi Coates |
| Theme 2 · Black Lit | Black No More – George Schuyler |
| Theme 3 · Feminism | The Message – Ta-Nehisi Coates |
| Theme 4 · Latino | The Book of Unknown Americans – Cristina Henríquez |
| Theme 5 · Indigenous | The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee – David Treuer |
| Theme 6 · Literacy | Rest Is Resistance – Tricia Hersey |
| THEME | WHOLE BOOK |
| Theme 1 · Law/History | Between the World and Me – Ta-Nehisi Coates |
| Theme 2 · Black Lit | James – Percival Everett |
| Theme 3 · Feminism | Malcolm X Speaks – George Breitman (ed.) |
| Theme 4 · Latino | The Man Who Could Move Clouds – Ingrid Rojas Contreras |
| Theme 5 · Indigenous | Braiding Sweetgrass – Robin Wall Kimmerer |
| Theme 6 · Literacy | Black In Blues – Imani Perry |
| THEME | WHOLE BOOK |
| Theme 1 · Law/History | The Light of Truth – Ida B. Wells |
| Theme 2 · Black Lit | The Sellout – Paul Beatty |
| Theme 3 · Feminism | We Should All Be Feminists – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie |
| Theme 4 · Latino | The Great Divide – Cristina Henríquez |
| Theme 5 · Indigenous | By the Fire We Carry – Rebecca Nagle |
| Theme 6 · Literacy | The Portable Frederick Douglass – Henry Louis Gates, Jr. |
| THEME | WHOLE BOOK |
| Theme 1 · Law/History | The Nickel Boys – Colson Whitehead |
| Theme 2 · Black Lit | The Underground Railroad – Colson Whitehead |
| Theme 3 · Feminism | Freedom Is a Constant Struggle – Angela Davis |
| Theme 4 · Latino | Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel García Márquez |
| Theme 5 · Indigenous | Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee – Dee Brown |
| Theme 6 · Literacy | Autobiography of Malcolm X – Malcolm X (as told by Alex Haley) |