History of race and racism

Educate yourself on the history of race and racism in the economy and in economics itself.

On June 5, 2020, the AEA Executive Committee issued a statement encouraging all economists to seek out existing scholarship on race, stratification economics, and related topics and to develop new research on racism and how to end its impact on the economy.

The officers and governance committees of the American Economic Association are deeply saddened by the killings of Black men and women by police officers, and we condemn those acts in the strongest possible terms. We acknowledge the pain of our colleagues and students—and especially our Black colleagues and students—who must once again bear witness to evidence that violent racism has not yet been eradicated from our society…

We encourage all economists to seek out existing scholarship on race, stratification economics, and related topics. To get us started, our AEASP and CSMGEP colleagues and students are compiling a reading list on racism and the experience of Black Americans…We look forward to the development of new scholarship by economists to better understand racism, a word that rarely appears in our professional journals, and how to end its impact on our economy.

Statement from the AEA Executive Committee (June 5, 2020)

A day earlier, the NEA (June 4, 2020) called for “concerted, forceful, engaged action aimed at fostering structural change through policies and practices to improve the lives of Black people in the United States and around the world. NEA members, as part of a research and policy-oriented community, have been engaged in creating blueprints for these policies and we call on policymakers, stakeholders and allies to commit to enacting these plans.”

Works suggested by AEASP and CSMGEP colleagues and students on the history of race, racism, and the experience of Black Americans
Books
Articles and reports
Podcasts
Films
  • I Am Not Your Negro, a 2016 documentary film directed by Raoul Peck and based on James Baldwin’s unfinished manuscript Remember This House
  • Just Mercy, a 2019 American legal drama film directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, based on the memoir and work by Bryan Stevenson
  • Selma, a 2014 historical drama film directed by Ava DuVernay and written by Paul Webb
  • 13th, a 2016 documentary by director Ava DuVernay tracing the history of race, slavery, and incarceration in the United States
Other
AEA resources on race in the economics profession
Addendum: Academic articles on the history of race and racism in the field of economics