White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism

Robin DiAngelo is an award-winning professor and author who has worked for social justice and anti-racist causes for decades. DiAngelo earned tenure at Westfield State University and is currently an Affiliate Associate Professor of Education at the University of Washington.

DiAngelo’s academic focus is whiteness studies and critical discourse analysis: investigating how whiteness happens in day-to-day social interactions and narratives. These themes are present in her three published books: Is Everybody Really Equal? (co-written with Özlem Sensoy), What Does it Mean to Be White, and White Fragility. Released in 2018, the last became a New York Times Bestseller, garnering critical acclaim and a wide readership.

DiAngelo has become a relatively well-known figure in anti-racist studies and movements in the United States. She is a popular public speaker and workshop trainer all over the country. White Fragility represents some of her core academic ideas and her wide range of expertise in facilitating workshops about racism for white people. She frequently weaves this field experience into the book, demonstrating her lifelong pursuit of analyzing and understanding white supremacy from academic and social lenses.