Candis Watts Smith
Professor | Scholar| Writer | Dreamer of a More Equitable Society
Written for average folks, academics, and activists, Stay Woke is an essential companion for those who are looking for guidance on their anti-racist journey, words for their thoughts, or instruction to help develop a more equitable society.
You can hear about Stay Woke on a number of podcasts and shows, including Top of Mind. You can also check out reviews at the Library Journal, Ms. Magazine and Good Reads.
Get your very own copy at NYU Press, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or request it at your local library! You can also listen to as an audio book.
The History of Politics and Race in America, 1968-Present
Professor Smith presents some of the key political debates and policy dynamics that have arisen between the tail end of the Civil Rights Movement through the Black Lives Matter and Post-Trump era. This audio book is presented as ten 30-minute lectures, revealing the ways in which race and racism influence matters such as the shape of the two dominant American political parties, immigration, wealth and debt, and the criminal legal system.
In partnership with The Great Courses, you can access this lecture series through Audible.
Racial attitudes appeared to be on a steady march toward progressivism, but trends in symbolic racial attitudes reveal stagnation. Racial Stasis interrogates the countervailing forces that hinder racial progress, with a special focus on the role of the Millennial Generation.
By taking a deep dive into three decades of data on white Americans' racial attitudes, Racial Stasis outlines barriers in progress in racial attitudes and provides a new, more nuanced assessment and measure of racial attitudes.
University of Chicago Press is publishing this book, and you can also purchase it at other places on the wonderful internet.
Black Politics in Transition is a readable, jargon-free edited volume and collection of works that interrogates the geography of opportunity for Blacks in America given challenges presented by shifts in demographic profiles at the state and local level.
As outlined by the title, scholars of political science, sociology, and Black studies interrogate the shape of 21st century Black politics given the incorporation of Black immigrants to the US; the promise and perils of multi-racial and majority-minority cities; the politics that arise in suburban neighborhoods; and the outcomes of attempts to move on up to wealthier neighborhoods or out to other regions of the country all together.
Routledge published Black Politics in Transition in 2018.
Published in 2014 by NYU Press, Black Mosaic is Smith's first book. Black Mosaic is an exploration of the influence dynamic demographic change has had on Black politics--both historically and contemporarily. Specifically, the book examines the influence of Black immigrants from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa on Black politics in the 21st century. With the help of face-to-face interviews with Black folks from across the diaspora and nationally representative data, Black Mosaic highlights the complexity of Black identity and Black politics in the face of increasing ethnic diversity.