Institutional Equity and Belonging (IEB) is delighted to announce that this semester’s Antiracist Book Club (ABC) selection is Wandering Stars (2024) by Tommy Orange.
Orange’s second novel brings readers deeper into the lives of characters introduced in his New York Times bestselling debut, There There, while also standing powerfully on its own. Spanning generations, Wandering Stars explores the enduring legacies of colonization in the U.S. alongside Indigenous perseverance, resistance, family, and community.
Orange, an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma and a 2025 MacArthur Fellow, will visit CC on Monday, Nov. 9, for an evening event in Kathryn Mohrman Theatre. If you are teaching Wandering Stars in Block 3 and are interested in participating in a convergence class with Orange, please contact Nancy Ríos at nrios@coloradocollege.edu.
We encourage faculty, staff, and students to form reading circles and engage with the book throughout the semester. The ABC MS Team offers a space to share resources and connect with others, and IEB will also host several opportunities for shared learning and reflection.
In Block 2, Professor Amy Kohout will lead a Sand Creek Massacre Teach-In focused on the 1864 attack on a peaceful village of Cheyenne and Arapaho people at Big Sandy Creek in southeastern Colorado. The following week, students, staff, and faculty are invited to participate in Truth and Remembrance: The Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site, a day of learning, reflection, and prayer in Eads, Colorado.
As you read, we encourage care for yourself and one another. Wandering Stars addresses American Indian genocide, imprisonment, forced assimilation, erasure, U.S. Indian boarding school policy, generational trauma, and addiction. It is also a story of perseverance, resistance, hope, and futures.
Complimentary copies of Wandering Stars are available at the CC Bookstore with a CC ID, while supplies last.
