Digital Library of Insightful Resources

2 book shelves full of books. Under one there is a father and a child reading on the floor. Under the other one a woman reads alone. she has red hair with yellow starts on her hair.

We have asked our Jacobs School community to share resources that have been stimulating and helpful in learning about cultural awareness, equity, inclusion and social Justice. In this “Digital Library of Insightful Resources” we are sharing your
recommendations to encourage more engagement in these topics that are impactful in creating an inclusive learning environment.

We want to hear from you!

If you want to contribute with a resource for this digital library ...

click here for Black History Month suggestions

click here for Women’s History Month suggestions

click here for Diversity Month suggestions

Thank you for your contributions. Let’s keep building together this virtual space for a more compassionate and competent learning community!

Insightful Diversity Resources By Theme

From Black History Month Recommendations

Books

Michelle Alexander

Learning Impact: This book illuminates how slavery is the foundation of the majority of current systems within the United States.

Heather Ann Thompson

Learning Impact: History of the Attica uprising outside of Buffalo in 1971. This was one additional transformative moment in my adult life when I (again) realized how little I know about the impacts of racism all around me.

Jesmyn Ward

Learning Impact: Memoir centered on the tragic deaths of five Black young men in the author’s life, between 2000 and 2004.

Michael Marmot

Learning Impact: Made me understand what we are doing wrong.

Emmanuel Acho

Learning Impact: Helps me understand the experiences of the author.

Sabrina Strings

Learning Impact: It is informative about the racial biases ingrained in beauty standards.

Harriet A. Washington

Learning Impact: How much of medicine and medical knowledge was/is founded on racism. 

Mahzarin Banaji and Anthony Greenwald

Learning Impact: Exposes our biases like no other book!

Ijeoma Oluo

Learning Impact: An easy guide on how to have uncomfortable conversations.

Isabel Wilkerson

Learning Impact: This helped me to understand the discrimination dynamics that African Americans and other Black people face in their daily lives.

Articles

Racism in Medicine

Learning Impact: This interview had so much treasure that our students and the Black community in Buffalo could learn from. In 1959, Marion Hood, MD, got denied admission to medical school at Emory University because of his race. In 1966, he earned his medical degree at Loyola University of Chicago's Stritch School of Medicine. This is the inspiring story of Dr. Hood.

Streaming

Netflix

Learning Impact: A timely reminder of what African American doctors go through while practicing — a lot to learn from this movie.

Hulu

Learning Impact: The 1619 Project is a book and now a TV series that highlights all the different ways that Black people have shaped American history and culture. It provides Black history that has often been erased from the history that we learn in school.

Podcast

Learning Impact: A conversation about inclusive cultures and everything in the diversity, equity and inclusion space.

Other Resources and Initiatives

United Way

Learning Impact: For 21 days, you do a reading and an exercise that opens your mind to different perspectives and experiences in order to understand your own bias and perspective. 

From Women’s History Month Recommendations

Books

Dorothy Roberts

Killing the Black Body Cover Book by Dorothy Roberts. Red background with black letters.
Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty

Learning Impact: Understanding the need for reproductive justice for Black Women

Dr. Meera Shah

Learning Impact: Goes beyond duty of physicians to demonstrate the need for comprehensive reproductive care.

Elinor Cleghorn

Learning Impact: A fantastic and frustrating book about constant misdiagnosis and misrepresentation in women’s health since the beginning of its time. This book really opened my eyes to how systemic the problems within women’s health are!

Lori Arviso Alvord and Elizabeth Cohen Van Pelt

Learning Impact: I had this book as required reading for my undergraduate course on medical anthropology and it tells the story of the first Navajo woman surgeon. I recommend it to everyone, but especially women going into health care as it demonstrates Dr. Alvord’s struggles of entering a male-dominated field. It teaches about combining western medicine with the traditional healing methods of Native American culture.

Christina Lamb

Learning Impact: Women's bodies have been used as war weapons throughout war histories, but in many cases, we have normalized it and many perpetrators are never brought to justice. The victims are blamed for the crimes done to them and society expects them to move on. As Buffalo has resettled many refugees in past years, it is important to learn which open wounds many are carrying.

Caroline Criado Perez

Learning Impact: An incredible book and resource that documents the erasure and exclusion of women from data collection, product and service design, so much more.

Joyce Green

Learning Impact: Teach us about the importance of giving space to intersectionality and amplify the voices of indigenous woman that, in my opinion, have a lot of wisdom to share with the world.

Lola Olufemi

Learning Impact: It made me believe that we can actually change the world as we know it.

Kati Marton

Learning Impact: Is incredibly insightful, learning about this powerful leader is just impressive.

Emily Nagoski

Learning  Impact: Emily’s approach to explaining gender as it relates to anatomy has helped me give language to what I know to be true about bodies, gender identity and sexuality.

Katty Kay and Claire Shipman.

Katty Kay & Claire Shipman with JillEllyn Riley

Learning Impact: This is for kids and young teens, and what it wants to achieve is to inspire young women to be fearless and brave. 

Leslie Feinberg

Learning Impact: This book boasts two major accomplishments: 1.) a brief, palatable overview of transgenderism/gender-queerness through human history. The major impact of this point is an illustration that trans people are not a contemporary blip only seen in modern history — but have always existed and persisted through millennia of targeted bigotry. 2.) The book at its core is autobiographical and the author spent a large portion of her early life here in Buffalo, NY. Due to this, she speaks at length about her own experience with Buffalo’s local history of anti-LGBT legislature, providing critical context for our city’s own experience with gender equality and LGBT justice.

Streaming

By Sharon Shattuck and Ian Cheney

Learning Impact: Women scientists describe their experience with harassment, discrimination and mistreatment at their workplaces and the impact on their careers.

Netflix

Learning Impact: Women + Aging + Dignity + Sex = great commentary on the current issues & culture.

Articles

Learning Impact: It’s written from my own personal experience as part of the Migraine Mavens Writing Consortium.

Resources

On the Web

Learning Impact: Helping to educate about the different forms of contraception.

Learning Impact: Not-for-profit educational and professional organization dedicated to enhancing the interaction and exchange of information between women surgeons. 

Learning Impact: Highlighted stories, problems, history of women in science.

Learning Impact: Delivers vital reproductive health care and sex education.

Learning Impact: They advocate for equality, education and an end to child marriage and gender-based violence.

Learning Impact: This is a national-state partnership focused on lifting up the voices of Black women leaders at the national and regional levels in our fight to secure Reproductive Justice for all women, femmes, and girls

In Buffalo

Learning Impact: Books on the topics of reproductive health, gender equality and feminist history can be found here!

From Diversity Month Recommendations

History

“Beds are Burning” by Midnight Oil

Learning Impact: I learned that it was about indigenous displacement and colonial land possession in Australia, which I didn’t know when I heard that song in the late ’80s.  

Culture/Language

Meaningful words in Japanese Language

Learning Impact: I find Japanese language deep in thought and meaning. Feels like there is so much wisdom put in a concept, that can change your life forever.

Ikigai: Discover your purpose in life. Determine the reason you wake up each morning. Choose something that aligns with your strenghts, passions, and the need of the world. This is what gives life meaning.

Shikata ga nai: Let go of what you cannot change. Recognize that there are some things which are out of your contol, and that's okay. Let go and focus on what you can actually change.

Wabi-sabi: Find peace in imperfection. Recognize that nothing in life is perfect, including yourself and others. Instead of striving for flawlessnessm find joy in the imperfections that make life unique.

Gaman: Preserve your dignity during tough times. Show emotional maturity and self-control, even when faced with challenges. Remember to be patient, resilisent and understanding. 

Kaizen: Always seek to improve in all areas of your life. Even small changes can add up and make a big impact over time.

Countries

Making a difference in Zanzibar: The Panje Project

Learning Impact: I love water.  But I just learned and realized that swimming is a fundamental lifesaving skill for the people that live near the ocean or any body of water. This story is heart warming. It is such a small project that makes an enourmous impact in the community.

Digital Library of Insightful Resources

General Websites of Interest