Glossary

This glossary is a collection of common social justice, diversity, equity and inclusion terminology. While this is not an exhaustive list, the terminology can be used to build shared language, understanding and provide guidance for open and honest dialogue about these important topics. Because of the way language works especially around these concepts, many of these words and terms will continue to evolve.

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  • 50 Queers Who Changed the World: A Celebration of LGBTQ+ Icons by Dan Jones
  • A Darker Shade of Crimson: Odyssey of a Harvard Chicano by Ruben Navarrette 
  • A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America by Ronald Takaki
  • A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves: One Family and Migration in the 21st Century by Jason DeParle
  • A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
  • A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirzax
  • Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  • An African American and LatinX History of the United States by Paul Ortiz
  • An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo
  • Bad Feminist: Essays by Roxane Gay
  • Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
  • Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
  • Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas
  • Counternarratives from Women of Color Academics: Bravery, Vulnerability, and Resistance by Manya Whitaker and Eric Anthony Grollman
  • Dare to Lead by Brené Brown
  • Daring Greatly: How The Courage to Be VulnerableTransforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown 
  • Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas
  • Diary of a Reluctant Dreamer by Alberto Ledesma
  • Do Better: Spiritual Activism for Fighting and Healing from White Supremacy by Rachel Ricketts
  • Eloquent Rage by Brittany Cooper
  • Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario
  • Excluded: Making Feminist and Queer Movements More Inclusive by Julia Serano
  • Fading Scars: My Queer Disability History by Corbett Joan O'Toole, Elizabeth Grace and Karen Nakamura
  • For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts: A Love Letter to Women of Color by Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez
  • Four Hundred Souls: A community History of African America, 1619-2019 by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain
  • Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
  • From #Blacklivesmatter to Black Liberation by Keeanga-Yamahtt Taylor
  • From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: Expanding Practitioner Knowledge for Racial Justice in Higher Education by Tia Brown McNair and Estela Mara Bensimon
  • Good Kings Bad Kings: A Novel by Susan Nussbaum
  • Half and Half: Writers on Growing up Biracial and Bicultural by Claudine O’Hearn
  • Heavy by Kiese Laymon 
  • Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D.Vance
  • Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar
  • Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall
  • How to be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
  • How to Be less Stupid About Race: On Racism, White Supremacy, and HTe Racial Divide by Crystal Marie Fleming
  • How We Fight White Supremacy: A Field Guide to Black Resistance by Akiba Solomon and Kenrya Rankin
  • Hunger: A Memoir of (my) Body by Roxane Gay
  • If the Oceans Were Ink: An Unlikely Friendship and a Journey to the Heart of the Qurʼan by Carla Power
  • I Thought It Was Just Me: Women Reclaiming Power and Courage in a Culture of Shame by Brené Brown
  • I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
  • In the Country: Stories by Mia Alvar
  • Is It a Choice? Answers to 300 of the Most Frequently Asked Questions About Gays and Lesbian People by Eric Marcus
  • Islam without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty by Mustafa Akyol 
  • Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
  • Life of the Mind Interrupted: Essays on Mental Health and Disability in Higher Education by Katie Rose Guest Pryal
  • Making Face, Making Soul edited by Gloria Anzaldua 
  • March by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell
  • Modern HERstory: Stories of Women and Nonbinary PeopleRewriting History by Blair Imani and Moniqur Le
  • My Life on The Road by Gloria Steinem
  • My Sister: How One Sibling’s Transition Changed Us Both by Selenis Leyva and Marizol Leyva
  • Nice Racism: How Progressive White People Perpetuate Racial Harm by Dr. Robin DiAngelo
  • Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
  • No Pity: People with Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement by Joseph Shapiro
  • One More Theory About Happiness: A Memoir by Paul Guest
  • Outside the Xy: A Bklyn Boihood Anthology by Morgan Mann Willis
  • Overcoming Bias: Building Authentic Relationships across Differences by Tiffany Jana and Matthew Freeman
  • Parable of the Brown Girl: The Sacred Lives of Girls of Color by Khristi Lauren Adams
  • Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire and Donaldo Macedo
  • Privilege, Power, and Difference by Allan Johnson
  • Pussy Prayers: Sacred and Sensual Rituals for Wild Women of Color by Black Girl Bliss
  • Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race by Derald Wing Sue
  • Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America by Dr. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
  • Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More by Janet Mock
  • Rising Strong: The Reckoning. The Rumble. The Revolution. By Brené Brown
  • Salt Houses by Hala Alyan
  • So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
  • Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg
  • Stories from the Front of the Room: How Higher Education Faculty of Color Overcome Challenges and Thrive in the Academy by Michelle Harris, Sherrill L. Sellers, Orly Clerge and Frederick W. Gooding Jr.
  • Straddling Class in the Academy: 26 Stories of Students, Administrators, and Faculty From Poor and Working-Class Backgrounds and Their Compelling Lessons for Higher Education Policy and Practice by Sonja Ardoin and becky martinez
  • Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Eric Michael Dyson
  • Telling to Live edited by the Latina Feminist Group
  • Thank You for Your Service by David Finkel
  • The 1619 Project: A New Origin Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones
  • The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson
  • The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir by Thi Bui
  • The Body Is Not An Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love by Sonya Renee Taylor
  • The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays by Esmé Weijun Wang
  • The Drone Eats With Me: A Gaza Diary by Āṭif Abū Sayf
  • The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are by Brené Brown
  • The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
  • The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities Through Mindfulness by Rhona V. Magee and Jon Kabat-Zinn
  • The Good Immigrant: 26 Writers Reflect on America by Nikesh Shukla and Chimene Suleyman
  • The Making of Asian America: A History by Erika Lee
  • The Possessive Investment in Whiteness by George Lipsitz
  • The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee
  • The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
  • There There. by Tommy Orange
  • Thick: And Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom
  • This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa
  • Threading My Prayer Rug: One Woman's Journey from Pakistani Muslim to American Muslim by Sabeeha Rehman
  • Thriving in the Fight: A Survival Manual for latinas on the Front Lines of Change by Denise Collazo and Stacy Dr. Blake-Beard
  • Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man by Emmanuel Acho
  • Unequal City: Race, Schools and Perceptions of Injustice by Carla Shedd 
  • Waking Up White by Debby Irving
  • Waking up White: And Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving
  • We Are Not Dreamers: Undocumented Scholars Theorize Undocumented Life in the United States by Leisy Abrego and Genevieve Negron-Gonzales
  • We Should ALL Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  • We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom by Bettina Love
  • What Is an American Muslim?: Embracing Faith and Citizenship by Abd Allāh Aḥmad Naʻīm
  • When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors
  • White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
  • White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son by Tim Wise
  • White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color by Ruby Hamad
  • Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria by Beverly Daniel Tatum
  • Women of Resistance: Poems for a New Feminism by Danielle Barnhart and Iris Mahan
  • You Are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience by tarana Burke and Brené Brown