Black children have always carried adult burdens. From their contributions to the Abolitionist movement to their efforts to change our educational system, they have played a crucial role in the fight for Black lives. This Black History Month, our authors put their experiences into context and advocate for a world where Black kids can finally be kids.
Black Age
Oceanic Lifespans and the Time of Black Life
by Habiba Ibrahim
Although more than fifty years apart, the murders of Emmett Till and Trayvon Martin share a commonality: Black children are not seen as children. In this award-winning book, Habiba Ibrahim reveals how Black age has been divorced from common understandings of time and development, instead becoming contingent, malleable, and suited for the needs of enslavement.
Like Children
Black Prodigy and the Measure of the Human in America
by Camille Owens
Declared “a tour de force” by Kabria Baumgartner, Like Children is a 鈥渟pellbinding showcase of interdisciplinarity” that explores the role of talented Black children in a country shaped by white men. Camille Owens reshapes the narrative to focus on Black children and the ways they have performed outside the restrictions of white containment since America’s early days.
Young Abolitionists
Children of the Antislavery Movement
by Micha毛l Roy
Young Abolitionists is the first book to center children鈥檚 participation in the campaign to eradicate slavery in the United States. Children gave speeches at school, enrolled in antislavery societies, and aided fugitive slaves, uniting with parents and teachers to act in concrete ways against slavery. This book is a reminder of their critical role in invoking societal change.
The Digital Edge
How Black and Latino Youth Navigate Digital Inequality
by S. Craig Watkins and Alexander Cho
The rapid development of new technologies has created an increasingly complex digital divide for Black and Latino youth. The Digital Edge extensively analyzes how low-income youth have been impacted by access to technology and what they鈥檙e doing to adapt. Supported by nearly 300 interviews with students, teachers, and parents, the book drives home the importance of schools in supporting children who are remaking the way we learn in a digital world.
Suspended Education
School Punishment and the Legacy of Racial Injustice
by Aaron Kupchik
Called “timely and terribly important” by Jonathan Kozol, Suspended Education shows how resistance to desegregation created new, lasting forms of punishment. Aaron Kupchik sheds light on school suspensions and the way this form of punishment has been disproportionately used to remove Black students from the classroom.
The Racist History Behind School Suspensions: An Interview with Aaron Kupchik, author of “Suspended Education”