Celebrating U.S. Black History Month

February is Black History Month here in the U.S. It is an annual celebration that honors the past, appreciates the present and encourages all of us to work towards a more just future. Black Atlassians everywhere, we see and appreciate you. One of the ways we’re encouraging our employees to engage with Black History Month is providing every Atlassian a stipend to purchase a book by a Black author from a Black-owned bookstore. It’s also a great way to help sustain Black-owned bookstores, which make up only 6% of independent bookstore ownership in the U.S.

Growing up in India, I didn’t have to contend with the same experience of racism as a Black person in the U.S. would, but being a woman of color in the tech industry has definitely made me think harder about intersectionality over a 18 year career.

I truly believe that education begets empathy and will sustain the movement well beyond this month. I want to share a few of my favorite books from Black thinkers and leaders, with links to buy them from Marcus Books, the oldest Black-owned independent bookstore in the U.S., located in Oakland, California. You can find other Black-owned bookstores located in the U.S. here.

I would love to hear about the Black thinkers who have moved and inspired you too.

• Maya Angelou - Letter to My Daughter: Maya Angelou's voice is warm and wise, delivering deep truths in her own compassionate and earthy stories. Reading this book was like listening to your spunky grandmother while curled up by the fire.
• John Lewis - March series: John Lewis is one of those rare giants among humans that reaffirm your faith in humanity. He not only lived his values but inspired an entire nation and multiple generations to do the same. The use of the graphic novel format for narrating his life story is intimate and accessible. 
• Ibram X. Kendi - How to Be an Antiracist: Ibram X. Kendi’s stance is that changing minds and hearts is one path to change, but an equally necessary and impactful path is policy change. This is a great primer to deconstruct the basics of an active attitude towards combatting racism and you can use the same building blocks to combat sexism too.
• Ross Gay - The Book of Delights: Ross Gay is the master of observation and a wizard with words. Reading this book was like deeply inhaling fresh air, strolling down a wonderful orchard on a lazy Sunday afternoon. I read an essay or two just as I woke up or right before I slept, enjoying it bite by bite. I did not want it to end 🌷
• Stacey Abrams - Lead from the Outside - How to Build Your Future and Make Real Change: Stacey Abrams is a fiery leader who is multi-talented (did you know she has published many romance novels!?)  She offers great actionable advice of how to lead while being an outsider.

To end on my favorite quote from Stacey’s autobiography: 

“As outsiders, we are expected to continue as the system commands, just to preserve our ability to participate. My problem is I don’t like this system. I want to fix it. Not just by dismantling what has carefully been constructed by centuries of patriarchy, racism, classism and bigotry - no one has that kind of time. Instead we have to hack it. Figure out its flaws, identify back doors and overwhelm the system. Consider this my call to arms.” 

Amen to that.