At a time when race and inequality dominate national debates, the story of West Charlotte High School illuminates the possibilities and challenges of using racial and economic desegregation to foster educational equality. West Charlotte opened in 1938 as a segregated school that embodied the aspirations of the growing African American population of Charlotte, North Carolina. In the 1970s, when Charlotte began court-ordered busing, black and white families made West Charlotte the celebrated flagship of the most integrated major school system in the nation. But as the twentieth century neared its close and a new court order eliminated race-based busing, Charlotte schools resegregated along lines of class as well as race. West Charlotte became the city's poorest, lowest-performing high school—a striking reminder of the people and places that Charlotte's rapid growth had left behind. While dedicated teachers continue to educate children, the school's challenges underscore the painful consequences of resegregation. Drawing on nearly two decades of interviews with students, educators, and alumni, Pamela Grundy uses the history of a community's beloved school to tell a broader American story of education, community, democracy, and race—all while raising questions about present-day strategies for school reform.

The beloved and award-winning novel now available in a new format with a great new cover! When Wesley Boone writes a poem for his high school English class, some of his classmates clamor to read their poems aloud too. Soon they're having weekly poetry sessions and, one by one, the eighteen students are opening up and taking on the risky challenge of self-revelation. There's Lupe Alvarin, desperate to have a baby so she will feel loved. Raynard Patterson, hiding a secret behind his silence. Porscha Johnson, needing an outlet for her anger after her mother OD's. Through the poetry they share and narratives in which they reveal their most intimate thoughts about themselves and one another, their words and lives show what lies beneath the skin, behind the eyes, beyond the masquerade.

After growing up during the civil rights movement, Glen Feigman has always found pride in judging people not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. As a gay man living in Chicago, he openly celebrated the election of President Barack Obama, and strives to stand for social justice in any way he can. But despite his upbringing in a liberal Jewish family, Glen's relationship with race is more complicated than it seems. Disturbed by a recent string of violent crimes in his hometown, he finds himself reflecting on earlier events in his life and the changing tone of his relationships with black childhood friends going back to junior high in the 1970s. The result is a candid look at social issues that still affect America today--ones that bring into question issues of political correctness and the complexities of race relations.

Helps children identify their own personality traits by showing that there are as many different character qualities as there are colors.

From Character to Color was written to explore Critical Race Theory from logical, moral, and educational standpoints, as these relate to history, people and racial groups. This book is also written to explain reasons why it is a bad choice to allow the Critical Race Theory to grow unabated and continue to infect the nation.