HB5817 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB101 21874 CMG 72835 b

101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2019 and 2020
HB5817

Introduced 11/10/2020, by Rep. Mary E. Flowers

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

105 ILCS 5/27-23.15 new

Amends the School Code. Sets forth a list of nonfiction, fiction, and children's books about racism that shall be required reading for students in every public elementary and secondary school beginning with the 2021-2022 school year. Requires that the instruction in the material presented by each book be age appropriate and taught at the appropriate grade level. Effectively immediately.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

STATE MANDATES ACT MAY REQUIRE REIMBURSEMENT

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning education.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The School Code is amended by adding Section 27-23.15 as follows:

(105 ILCS 5/27-23.15 new)

Sec. 27-23.15. Books about racism; required reading.

(a) Beginning with the 2021-2022 school year, every public elementary and secondary school shall include as required reading in its appropriate grade-level curriculum the following books about racism:

(1) Nonfiction books:

(A) "Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism" by bell hooks.

(B) "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates.

(C) "Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do" by Jennifer L. Eberhardt, Ph.D.

(D) "The Black and the Blue: A Cop Reveals the Crimes, Racism, and Injustice in America's Law Enforcement" by Matthew Horace and Ron Harris.

(E) "Brown Girl Dreaming" by Jacqueline Woodson.

(F) "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin.

(G) "From Slavery To Freedom: A History of African Americans" by John Hope Franklin and Alfred A. Moss, Jr.

(H) "Hood Feminism: Notes From The Women That The Movement Forgot" by Mikki Kendall.

(I) "How to Be an Antiracist" by Ibram X. Kendi.

(J) "Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption" by Bryan Stevenson.

(K) "Me and White Supremacy" by Layla F. Saad.

(L) "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" by Michelle Alexander.

(M) "Open Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored People" by Ben Crump.

(N) "Raising White Kids" by Jennifer Harvey.

(O) "So You Want to Talk About Race" by Ijeoma Oluo.

(P) "Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You" by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi.

(Q) "They Can't Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, And A New Era In America's Racial Justice Movement" by Wesley Lowery.

(R) "This Book Is Anti-Racist" by Tiffany Jewell and Aurelia Durand.

(S) "White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism" by Robin DiAngelo.

(T) "Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race" by Reni Eddo-Lodge.

(2) Fiction books.

(A) "An American Marriage" by Tayari Jones.

(B) "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison.

(C) "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker.

(D) "Dear White People" by Justin Simien.

(E) "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf" by Ntozake Shange.

(F) "Harbor Me" by Jacqueline Woodson.

(G) "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas.

(H) "The Mothers" by Brit Bennett.

(I) "Passing" by Nella Larsen.

(J) "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston.

(K) "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe.

(L) "The Underground Railroad" by Colson Whitehead.

(M) "White Teeth" by Zadie Smith.

(3) Children's books:

(A) "The Colors of Us" by Karen Katz.

(B) "Happy in Our Skin" by Fran Manushkin.

(C) "I Am Enough" by Grace Byers.

(D) "Let's Talk About Race" by Julius Lester.

(E) "The Skin I'm In: A First Look at Racism" by Pat Thomas.

(F) "Something Happened in Our Town" by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins, and Ann Hazzard.

(G) "A Terrible Thing Happened" by Margaret M. Holmes.

(H) "Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement" by Carole Boston Weatherford and Ekua Holmes.

(I) "We're Different, We're the Same (and We're Wonderful)" by Bobbi Jane Kates.

(b) Instruction in the material presented in each book listed in subsection (a) shall be age appropriate and taught at the appropriate grade level.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.