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Join the Conversation!

Open to all students, faculty, staff, and administrators.

Our annual Diversity Reading Groups offer a range of great reading opportunities in the month of October designed to invite every member of the Loyola community into shared conversations about diversity and inclusion. In this way, the Diversity Reading Groups support and sustain ongoing conversations around racial justice, gender equality, higher education and slavery, restorative justice, religion, and how to take action against oppression鈥攐n our campus and beyond.  Last year we had over 100 participants Can you help us deepen the conversation by joining and bringing a few friends??

This year, we have groups that will meet virtually, in-person, or in a hybrid format (i.e., your choice: you can attend in person or online at your discretion).

The Office of Equity and Inclusion will provide complimentary books. We are offering participants two options:

• Kindle version (e-book)
• Hard Copy (in-person pick up only)

To make sure all participants receive their books on time, we encourage participants to sign up for a group by Monday, Sept. 23. 

To sign up, please choose one of the groups below and . 

Mondays

The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee 

Heather McGhee's specialty is the American economy--and the mystery of why it so often fails the American public. is not only a brilliant analysis of how we arrived here but also a heartfelt message, delivered with startling empathy, from a black woman to a multiracial America. From the financial crisis of 2008 to rising student debt to collapsing public infrastructure, she found a root problem: racism in our politics and policymaking. McGhee embarks on a deeply personal journey across the country from Maine to Mississippi to California, tallying what we lose when we buy into the zero-sum paradigm--the idea that progress for some of us must come at the expense of others. But in unlikely places of worship and work, McGhee finds proof of what she calls the Solidarity Dividend: the benefits we gain when people come together across race to accomplish what we simply can't do on our own. The Sum of Us is not only a brilliant analysis of how we arrived here but also a heartfelt message, delivered with startling empathy, from a black woman to a multiracial America. It leaves us with a new vision for a future in which we finally realize that life can be more than a zero-sum game. 

Moderated by Oghenetoja Okoh
 1 - 2 p.m.
Sept. 30, Oct. 7, 14, and 21
Hybrid: College Center Conference Room 114 & Zoom

The Future Is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Notes, and Mourning Songs by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha  

In , Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha asks some provocative questions: What if, in the near future, the majority of people will be disabled--and what if that's not a bad thing? And what if disability justice and disabled wisdom are crucial to creating a future in which it's possible to survive fascism, climate change, and pandemics and to bring about liberation? Piepzna-Samarasinha writes about disability justice at the end of the world, documenting the many ways disabled people kept and are keeping each other--and the rest of the world鈥攁live. Written over the course of two years of disabled isolation during the pandemic, this is a book of love letters to other disabled QTBIPOC (and those concerned about disability justice, the care crisis, and surviving the apocalypse); honor songs for kin who are gone; recipes for survival; questions and real talk about care, organizing, disabled families, and kin networks and communities; and wild brown disabled femme joy in the face of death. 

Moderated by Donna Pitts & Salima Clark 
1 - 2 p.m.
Sept. 30, Oct. 7, 14, and 21
In- person: Fernandez 333

Tuesdays

An Indigenous Peoples鈥� History of the United States: Revisioning History by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz 

In , Dunbar-Ortiz adroitly challenges the founding myth of the United States and shows how policy against the Indigenous peoples was colonialist and designed to seize the territories of the original inhabitants, displacing, or eliminating them. And as Dunbar-Ortiz reveals, this policy was praised in popular culture, through writers like James Fenimore Cooper and Walt Whitman, and in the highest offices of government and the military. Shockingly, as the genocidal policy reached its zenith under President Andrew Jackson, its ruthlessness was best articulated by US Army general Thomas S. Jesup, who, in 1836, wrote of the Seminoles: "The country can be rid of them only by exterminating them." Spanning more than four hundred years, this classic bottom-up peoples' history radically reframes US history and explodes the silences that have haunted our national narrative. 

Moderated by Barry Dalrymple  
1 - 2 p.m.
Oct. 1, 8, 22, 29
Hybrid

Wednesdays

Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of 鈥淟atino鈥� by H茅ctor Tobar 

In , the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer H茅ctor Tobar delivers a definitive and personal exploration of what it means to be Latino in the United States right now. "Latino" is the most open-ended and loosely defined of the major race categories in the United States, and one of the most rapidly growing. Taking on the impacts of colonialism, public policy, immigration, media, and pop culture, Our Migrant Souls decodes the meaning of "Latino" as a racial and ethnic identity in the modern United States, and gives voice to the anger and the hopes of young Latino people who have seen Latinidad transformed into hateful tropes and who have faced insult and division--a story as old as this country itself. Tobar translates his experience as not only a journalist and novelist but also a mentor, a leader, and an educator. He interweaves his own story, and that of his parents' migration to the United States from Guatemala, into his account of his journey across the country to uncover something expansive, inspiring, true, and alive about the meaning of "Latino" in the twenty-first century. 

Moderated by Stephanie Flores-Koulish & Marina Lambrinou 
Noon 鈥� 1 p.m.
Oct. 2, 9, 23, 30
Virtual

Thursdays 

From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: Expanding Practitioner Knowledge for Racial Justice in Higher Education  by Tia Brown McNair 

offers practical guidance on the design and application of campus change strategies for achieving equitable outcomes. Drawing from campus-based research projects sponsored by the Association of American Colleges and Universities and the Center for Urban Education at the University of Southern California, this invaluable resource provides real-world steps that reinforce primary elements for examining equity in student achievement, while challenging educators to specifically focus on racial equity as a critical lens for institutional and systemic change. This indispensable guide presents academic administrators and staff with advice on building an equity-minded campus culture, aligning strategic priorities and institutional missions to advance equity, understanding equity-minded data analysis, developing campus strategies for making excellence inclusive, and moving from a first-generation equity educator to an equity-minded practitioner.

Moderated by Kristina Collins & Karen Terrell 
Noon 鈥� 1 p.m.
Oct. 3, 10, 17, 24
Hybrid

What鈥檚 Mine and Yours by Naima Coster 

From the author of Halsey Street, is a sweeping novel of legacy, identity, the American family-and the ways that race affects even our most intimate relationships. A community in the Piedmont of North Carolina rises in outrage as a county initiative draws students from the largely Black east side of town into predominantly white high schools on the west. For two students, Gee and Noelle, the integration sets off a chain of events that will tie their two families together in unexpected ways over the span of the next twenty years. On one side of the integration debate is Jade, Gee's steely, ambitious mother. In the aftermath of a harrowing loss, she is determined to give her son the tools he'll need to survive in America as a sensitive, anxious, young Black man. On the other side is Noelle's headstrong mother, Lacey May, a white woman who refuses to see her half-Latina daughters as anything but white. She strives to protect them as she couldn't protect herself from the influence of their charming but unreliable father, Robbie. What's Mine and Yours is an expansive, vibrant tapestry that explores the unique organism that is every family: what breaks them apart and how they come back together. 

Moderated by Saima Sitwat 
Noon 鈥� 1 p.m.
Oct. 3, 10, 17, 24
In-person: College Center Conference Room 113

Untold Truths: Exposing Slavery and Its Legacies at Loyola 

brings together scholars, students, staff, and descendants to explore 91暗网 Maryland's historical connections to slavery, Jim Crow, and racial injustice. They do so through a variety of forms, including historical narratives, analysis of newly uncovered archival sources, and creative works inspired by this history. Privileging the voices of descendants of the men, women, and children Jesuits enslaved and sold, this collection of essays explores Loyola's connections to slavery and its ongoing reverberations for the university and all those connected to it. This diverse and rich volume contributes to ongoing efforts to gain a fuller understanding of Loyola's past in hopes of finding pathways towards racial justice and inclusion on its campus-and on all campuses that seek to address historical injustices. 

Moderated by David Carey, Jenny Kinniff and Brandon Nefferdorf 
Noon 鈥� 1 p.m.
Oct. 3, 10, 17, 24
In-person: Maryland Hall 240

Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez  

Data is fundamental to the modern world. But because so much data fails to take into account gender, and women pay tremendous costs for this insidious bias: in time, in money, and often with their lives.  Examining the home, the workplace, the public square, the doctor's office, and more, unearths a dangerous pattern in data and its consequences on women's lives. Product designers use a "one-size-fits-all" approach to everything from pianos to cell phones to voice recognition software, when in fact this approach is designed to fit men. Cities prioritize men's needs when designing public transportation, roads, and even snow removal, neglecting to consider women's safety or unique responsibilities and travel patterns. And in medical research, women have largely been excluded from studies and textbooks, leaving them chronically misunderstood, mistreated, and misdiagnosed. Built on hundreds of studies in the United States, in the United Kingdom, and around the world, and written with energy, wit, and sparkling intelligence, this is a groundbreaking, highly readable expos茅 that will change the way you look at the world. 

Moderated by Christina Spearman & Melissa Lees 
1 - 2 p.m.
Oct. 3, 10, 24, 31
Virtual

You Are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience by Tarana Burke & Bren茅 Brown  

Tarana Burke and Bren茅 Brown bring together a dynamic group of Black writers, organizers, artists, academics, and cultural figures to discuss the topics the two have dedicated their lives to understanding and teaching: vulnerability and shame resilience. is a space to recognize and process the trauma of white supremacy, a space to be vulnerable and affirm the fullness of Black life and Black possibility, a space that gives Black humanity breathing room.  * BIPOC/ ALANA Affinity Group*

Moderated by Jason Summers & Tiffany Parker Kinnard
1 - 2 p.m.
Oct. 3, 10, 17, 24
In- person:  College Center, 3rd Floor Center for Intercultural Engagement (CIE)

* This book was written to provide a safe space for people of color to process and heal from racial harm experienced in every day life. As a result, this Diversity Reading Group was specifically created to serve as a context and container for that healing. While all members of the Loyola community are welcome to attend any Diversity Reading Group, we thought it was important for individuals considering whether or not to join this reading group to know that the goal is to provide a safe space for processing and healing from racial trauma, and that doing that in community can have powerful effects. Thus, we respectfully ask that if you are not a member of the BIPOC/ ALANA community that you strongly consider one of the other excellent books we have curated for this year鈥檚 Diversity Reading Groups.