Diversity Training Through Story: University Professionals Explore Narratives of the Black Experience by Reading Coretta Scott King Book Award Titles

From the public murders of unarmed Black men and women at the hands of police officers to racially insensitive and race-baiting remarks from the 45th president of the United States of America, there has been a renewed interest in academia in social justice for Black Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC)—in particular Black Americans. This renewed interest has led to a rise in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training across college campuses—many of them in the form of common reads or book clubs. This ethnographic and phenomenological single case study with roots in active research explored the effectiveness of book clubs as a diversity training tool by using Black children’s literature books—Coretta Scott King (CSK) book award winners—as the text to enlighten white faculty about the varied narratives of the Black experience. Values coding, a qualitative coding method used to explore the cultural values, belief systems, and/or the identity of the participants (Saldana, 2016) was used to draw a correlation between the content analysis of the responses to the reading guide questions, the Black experiences featured in the CSK narratives, and the participants responses during the face-to-face book club meeting. After reviewing the findings, the researcher recommends: a) Assessment of one’s level of cultural awareness before engaging in a diversity training book club needs to be measured; b) Tangible post-study strategies need to be developed and provided for participants to as they move forward; and, c) Institutions may want to consider requiring campus wide diversity training programs over a longer period of time instead of once a year. Keywords Black experience, Coretta Scott King (CSK) Book Award Title, common read, cultural awareness, diversity training, narrative theory, white university professional