Eve L. Ewing: "Original Sins" (IN PERSON)

Acclaimed writer and scholar Eve L. Ewing visits the American Writers Museum for the launch of her new book Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism, a historical tour-de-force that approaches the confounding question of why our schools aren’t working from a new and revelatory angle: what if American public schools are doing exactly what they were built to do? She argues that instead of being the great equalizer, America's classrooms were designed to do the opposite: to maintain our inequalities. It’s a task at which they excel.

Books will be available for purchase by Semicolon Books and Ewing will sign them following the program. If you pre-purchase a book, you are guaranteed a copy. Additional copies will be for sale while supplies last. Educators must present a valid school ID at check-in for free admission.

This is an in person program at the American Writers Museum. This program will also be livestreamed, and you can .

More about Original Sins:

Informed by her years as an educator, in Original Sins, Ewing argues that instead of being what Horace Mann called "the great equalizer," America's classrooms were designed to do the opposite: to create and maintain racial hierarchies. This riveting, beautifully written book takes us through the scope of this enterprise, and demonstrates how it forms the foundation for today’s classrooms in multiple areas.

In Original Sins, Ewing demonstrates that our schools were designed to propagate the idea of white intellectual superiority, to "civilize" Native students and to prepare Black students for menial labor. Education was not an afterthought for the Founding Fathers; it was envisioned by Thomas Jefferson as an institution that would fortify the country’s racial hierarchy. Ewing argues that these dynamics persist in a curriculum that continues to minimize the horrors of American history. The most insidious aspects of this system fall below the radar in the forms of standardized testing, academic tracking, disciplinary policies, and uneven access to resources.

By delving into what is at the root of our current predicament for our most vulnerable and disenfranchised youth — in fact, for all of us — Ewing exposes the lies that poison their places of learning, offering all stakeholders — parents, policymakers, educators, any citizen concerned with the future of education — an opportunity to look at past missteps and work to correct the path we’re on.

Praise for Original Sins:

"Original Sins will transform the way you see this country. With a clear, unflinching voice, Ewing challenges us to ask new questions about our own educational experience and our children’s, starting with the pledge of allegiance first thing in the morning." —Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow

"Eve L. Ewing, one of the twenty-first century's greatest intellectuals, proves that racism, colonialism, and carcerality started in the school. By reckoning with the violent, dehumanizing history of Black and Indigenous schooling, Ewing finds in the resistance of students and renegade teachers a path toward a life-affirming education." —Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams

"Reimagining schools through a communal practice of braiding, Ewing invites readers to consider the power of education toward liberation—schools as collective sites where we can dream and grow our knowledge to building new worlds based on ethical relationships of care." —Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, author of As We Have Always Done

"Eve L. Ewing lays the bare the core project of dispossession and race-making in American education and statecraft...an extraordinary contribution to political history, studies in education and shared futures. The book is a must-read." —Audra Simpson, author of Mohawk Interruptus

EVE L. EWING is a writer, scholar, and cultural organizer from Chicago. She is the award-winning author of four books: the poetry collections Electric Arches and 1919, the nonfiction work Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago's South Side, and a novel for young readers, Maya and the Robot. She is the co-author (with Nate Marshall) of the play No Blue Memories: The Life of Gwendolyn Brooks. She has written several projects for Marvel Comics, most notably the Ironheart series, and is currently writing Black Panther. Ewing is an associate professor in the Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity at the University of Chicago. Her work has been published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and many other venues.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

American Writers Museum, 180 N. Michigan Avenue, 2nd Floor, Chicago, United States