Resources on civil rights and racism

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To provide context to the protests in the United States - and all over the world - against racism, discrimination, and injustice, several publishers have shared relevant books and articles on their websites. Below is a non-exhaustive list of resources that are available through the library or freely available online.

Cambridge University Press provides free access to resources on their page Protests, Policing, and Race. It is a collection of journal articles and book chapters that give insight in protests and racism from various disciplines. Complete e-books are also freely available for a limited time (until 12 July 2020).

Oxford University Press has published a reading list with books that provide context to the current protests and civil rights. Four of these books are freely available until 10 July 2020. OUP also provides a collection of free articles and book chapters on race and diversity.

In a blog post called Researching the Facts About Police Brutality and Racial Disparity HeinOnline explains how to conduct your own research into topics like Black Lives Matter, racial profiling, and police brutality using the HeinOnline database.

Westlaw has compiled a list of sources on police conduct, unwarranted criminal prosecution and the right to protest on a dedicated page: Civil Rights Legal Materials & News.

JSTOR - a digital library that provides access to many academic journals - has published a syllabus on institutionalized racism. The syllabus links to articles on JSTOR Daily. These articles as well as the underlying scholarship are freely available for all readers.

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) is the Council of Europe’s human rights monitoring body. The commission specialises in questions relating to the fight against racism, discrimination, xenophobia, antisemitism and intolerance in Europe. Its country reports and other publications are available on the website.

The United Nations website Let’s fight racism provides links to relevant treaties and declarations as well as UN resources to learn more about racism and human rights. UNRIC (UN Regional Information Centre) published a Library Backgrounder: Racism and Racial Discrimination, an overview of relevant UN Entities, treaties, publications, and more.

The Diversity Commission of the Amsterdam Law School compiled an awareness list of literature, movies and documentaries to make everyone more aware of racism and exclusion in general.

The Law Library also has some relevant books in its collection, both in print and online.
A selection of titles:
- Racism and the law / P. Von Blum (2012)
- Roadblocks to freedom: slavery and manumission in the United States South / A. Fede (2011)
- The development of legal instruments to combat racism in a diverse Europe / J. Niessen (2004)
- Mirrors of justice law and power in the post-Cold War era / K.M. Clarke; M. Goodale (2010, e-book)
- Routledge international handbook of contemporary racisms / J. Solomos, ed. (2020, e-book)