How to Raise an Antiracist

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The book that every parent, caregiver, and teacher needs to raise the next generation of antiracist thinkers, from the author of How to Be an Antiracist and recipient of the MacArthur “Genius” Grant.

“Kendi’s latest . . . combines his personal experience as a parent with his scholarly expertise in showing how racism affects every step of a child’s life. . . . Like all his books, this one is accessible to everyone regardless of race or class.”—Los Angeles Times (Book Club Pick)

The tragedies and reckonings around racism that are rocking the country have created a specific crisis for parents, educators, and other caregivers: How do we talk to our children about racism? How are racist structures impacting children? How can we inspire our children to avoid our mistakes, to be better, to make the world better? 

These are the questions Ibram X. Kendi found himself avoiding as he anticipated the birth of his first child. Like most parents-to-be, he felt the reflex to not talk to his child about racism, which he feared would upend her innocence and steal her joy. But research and experience changed his mind, and he realized that raising his child to be antiracist and teaching the reality of racism and the myth of race provides a protective education in our diverse and unequal world.

Following the accessible genre of his internationally bestselling How to Be an Antiracist, Kendi combines a century of scientific research with a vulnerable and compelling personal narrative of his own journey as a parent and as a child in school. The chapters follow the stages of child development from pregnancy to toddler to schoolkid to teenager. It is never too early or late to start raising young people to be antiracist.

Story Locale:New York; United States

About the Author

Dr. Ibram X. Kendi is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University and the founding director of the BU Center for Antiracist Research. He is the author of many highly acclaimed books including Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction; and the #1 New York Times bestsellers How to Be an Antiracist and Antiracist Baby, illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky. He was awarded a 2021 MacArthur Fellowship, popularly known as the Genius Grant.

Author Residence: Boston, MA

Author Hometown: New York City