Book recommendations sought: black history and racism

I'm interested in book recommendations on the above mentioned topics.  To
expand, I'm interested in finding books covering the following topics:

- What racism is.  How it is perpetuated.  What is structural/instutional
racism?  The relationship between racism and class.

- Black history.  I'm interested in the period from the end of the civil
war to the present day.

- Books on related topics.  Jonathan Kozol's _Savage Inequalities_ comes
to mind as an example.  Its not a book about what racism is, but rather
the _effects_ of racism and classism.  Anything in this vein would also be
of interest.

These books will be read by a non-native speaker/reader (plus myself) so
clarity in the writing is important.  I'm looking for books that aren't in
a highly academic style, though if that's the only thing that covers a
particular topic well I'd like to hear about it.


Thanks,

-dave

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