An unprecedented, no-holds-barred set of dialogues about race and education from two of the country’s best-known educators

In this powerful and deeply personal volume, two luminary educators, generations apart but united by a shared commitment to transformative education, compare notes for the first time. An early recipient of a MacArthur “genius” Award, Lisa Delpit gave us the classic Other People’s Children and has been called “a visionary scholar and reformer” by the Harvard Education School, which awarded her an outstanding alumni award. Christopher Emdin is an award-winning educator whose book For White People Who Teach in the Hood . . . and the Rest of Y’all Too was a national bestseller. He is the creator of the HipHopEd social media movement and has been named one of Root’s 100 Most Influential African Americans and one of twenty-seven people bridging divides in the U.S. by Time magazine.

Readers are treated to candid exchanges on topics including the role of art in education, students and politics, how educators of color can navigate the academy, specific approaches to pedagogy, the role of rap in education, and how spirituality informs these two education eminences’ work. With honesty, humor, and hard-won wisdom, they reflect on their own journeys into education, the challenges they’ve faced, and the strategies they’ve developed to uphold equity and justice in a system too often resistant to both. These conversations are not only intellectually rich but emotionally resonant, offering a model of mentorship, mutual respect, and the power of dialogue across difference.

A gift to teachers, scholars, and anyone passionate about reimagining public education, this book is a lasting contribution to the field—one that will inspire readers for generations to come.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

MacArthur Award winner Lisa Delpit is the retired Felton G. Clark Professor of Education at Southern University. The author of the bestselling Other People’s Children and “Multiplication Is for White People,” co-editor (with Joanne Kilgour Dowdy) of The Skin That We Speak, co-editor (with Theresa Perry) of The Real Ebonics Debate, and editor of Teaching When the World Is on Fire (all published by The New Press), she lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Christopher Emdin is the author of numerous award-winning works, including The New York Times bestseller For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood . . . And the Rest of Y’all Too and Ratchetdemic: Reimagining Academic Success. He lives in New York City.