Author Description

<b><b>The story of Madeline Morgan, the activist educator who brought Black history to one of the nation’s largest and most segregated school systems</b></b><br><br><i>A Worthy Piece of Work</i> tells the story of Madeline Morgan (later Madeline Stratton Morris), a teacher and an activist in WWII-era Chicago, who fought her own battle on the home front, authoring curricula that bolstered Black claims for recognition and equal citizenship.<br><br>During the Second World War, as Black Americans both fought to save democracy abroad and demanded full citizenship at home, Morgan’s work gained national attention and widespread praise, and became a model for teachers, schools, districts, and cities across the country. Scholar Michael Hines unveils this history for the first time, providing a rich understanding of the ways in which Black educators have created counternarratives to challenge the anti-Black racism found in school textbooks and curricula.<br><br>At a moment when Black history is under attack in school districts and state legislatures across the country, <i>A Worthy Piece of Work</i> reminds us that struggles over history, representation, and race are far from a new phenomenon.