# Books about racism assigned in US schools

**5** books in the US-school assigned-reading canon explore _racism_. Sourced from state ELA standards, AP/IB syllabi, and Common Core exemplar lists.

**Lexile range:** 600L–1070L
**Grade span:** 5–12
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/theme/racism
**Wikipedia (entity):** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## Authors who explore racism

- [Christopher Paul Curtis](https://readinglist.school/author/christopher-paul-curtis)
- [William Shakespeare](https://readinglist.school/author/william-shakespeare)

## racism canon

- [I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings](https://readinglist.school/book/i-know-why-the-caged-bird-sings) by Maya Angelou _(1070L · Grades 10–12)_
- [Othello](https://readinglist.school/book/othello) by William Shakespeare _(Grades 10–12)_
- [The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian](https://readinglist.school/book/the-absolutely-true-diary-of-a-part-time-indian) by Sherman Alexie _(600L · Grades 7–10)_
- [The Color Purple](https://readinglist.school/book/the-color-purple) by Alice Walker _(670L · Grades 9–12)_
- [The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963](https://readinglist.school/book/the-watsons-go-to-birmingham-1963) by Christopher Paul Curtis _(1000L · Grades 5–8)_

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_Generated from primary-source citations indexed on ReadingList.school. JSON API: https://readinglist.school/api/theme/racism · HTML view: https://readinglist.school/theme/racism._