Branch, Taylor, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63, Simon and Schuster, 1988.

This Pulitzer Prize-winning history narrates the intensification of civil rights initiatives and the advent of a national movement that spanned across the North and South.

Ellison, Ralph, Invisible Man, Random House, 1952.

The complete novel develops themes laid out in the short story. The plot follows the narrator to college and then to New York City where much of the novel takes place.

Kozol, Jonathan, Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools, HarperPerennial, 1991.

This book offers accounts of the state of public education in the United States, demonstrating that racial segregation has endured since 1954, perpetuating inequalities in social and economic opportunity. The book blends insightful interviews of teachers and students with analysis of the current logic behind public policy.

Sundquist, Eric J., ed., Cultural Contexts for Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man": A Bedford Documentary Companion, St. Martin's...