A longtime educator and activist explores how the study of Black history challenges our understanding of race, nation, and the stories we tell about who we are.
Black history is under attack from powerful right-wing forces that seek to excise it from classrooms and libraries. Its opponents fail to understand a simple truth: the best education challenges our assumptions and demands we keep at it. It makes us uncomfortable, helps us see larger forces at work, and gives us glimpses of alternate futures.
In Black History Is for Everyone, award-winning educator and scholar Brian Jones offers a meditation on the power of Black history, using his own experiences as a life-long learner and classroom teacher to question everything from the meaning of race and nation to the radicalism of the American Revolution. We see that "race" took centuries to get defined; we follow Frederick Douglass as he grapples with how to relate to the US and, later, to Haiti; we compare the American, French, and Haitian revolutions; and we learn why the study of Black history has always been threatened.
In these pages, Jones offers a persuasive case for Black history and a celebration of the rewards of education. With warmth, immersive storytelling, and good cheer, Jones encourages us to delve deeper into our collective history, explores how curiosity about our world is essential—and reminds us that with stakes so high, the effort is worth it.
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Praise for The Tuskegee Student Uprising
"A diligent historian who provides important cultural and social context throughout the text, Jones reminds readers that... It was at Black schools that the most state violence was exercised. A well-researched and written addition to the history of the tumultuous 1960s."
―Kirkus Reviews
"A thought-provoking, compelling, nuanced, and highly accessible reading for all levels."
―Choice
"Featuring impressive archival research and interviews with those who were present at the uprising, Jones deftly brings to life an important historical event within the Black Power movement. An inspiring book."
―Stefan M. Bradley, author of Upending the Ivory Tower
"The Tuskegee Student Uprising is a tremendous contribution to our understanding of the history of Black education, the Black Power movement on campus, and the role of students in defining the terms of their education.”
–Jesse Hagopian, co-editor of Teaching for Black Lives
"This story needs to be told. The complexities and intentions that Jones so eloquently and rigorously exposes are breathtaking. The Tuskegee Student Uprising is a page turner through a long forgotten history. A black history must-read."
―Bettina Love, author of We Want to Do More Than Survive
Other books of interest
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Education and Capitalism
Edited by Jeff Bale and Sarah Knopp -
101 Changemakers
Edited by Michele Bollinger and Dao X Tran -
More Than a Score
Edited by Jesse Hagopian -
Black Lives Matter at School
by Jesse Hagopian and Denisha Jones -
Our History Has Always Been Contraband
Edited by Colin Kaepernick, Robin D. G. Kelley, et al.