Original Sins

“Eve L. Ewing is not only a remarkable writer, she is also a singular educator. In Original Sins, she makes clear how our country’s schools have intentionally configured the contemporary landscape of inequality. Exhaustively researched and exquisitely written, Original Sins is breathtaking.”—Clint Smith, author of How the Word Is Passed “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 “A summons to collective struggle and imagining where dreams, memories, and care are woven together as the building blocks of a new vision of ‘schools for us.’”—Sandy Grande, author of Red Pedagogy “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 “Original Sins is a commitment to being true about the past in order to truly have a future. Fiercely hopeful, this is a book you will read, and then want everyone in your life to read—a book to be read in community.”—Eve Tuck, co-editor of Indigenous and Decolonizing Studies in Education “Original Sins is a meticulously written invitation to gather alongside Ewing as she excavates the historical record to reveal how schools are instrumental in upholding racial hierarchy and diminishing the futures of Black and Indigenous communities. 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. Original Sins is a brilliant must read for educators and all those concerned with Black and Indigenous futures.”—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. This book’s careful attention to the distinct but shared trajectories of Black and Indigenous education forms the center of this project and is an extraordinary contribution to political history, studies in education and shared futures. The book is a must-read.”—Audra Simpson, author of Mohawk Interruptus “Poet, sociologist, and cultural organizer Ewing again turns her incisive, scholarly eye to education, racism, and American society. In this skillfully presented, searing critique, Ewing reveals the role that institutions of formal education have played in creating and reinforcing racial hierarchies in the U.S. . . . . Ewing’s prose style is intellectual yet accessible, and she cites a wealth of historical and contemporary sources. . . . A brightly intelligent, uncompromising, timely, and deeply clarifying investigation.”—Booklist, starred review “The American education system for centuries developed on two parallel tracks, according to this brilliant history from sociologist and poet Ewing. One track, Ewing writes, was for white and European immigrant children, and on it great strides in education theory were made that emphasized how cooperation through play made for engaged citizens. . . . Meanwhile, the other track, for Indigenous and Black children, aimed to ‘annihilate’ their cultural identity and train them as ‘subservient laborers,’ according to Ewing. She brings to light plenty of harrowing evidence to this effect, not just as a broad strokes theory but in the minutiae of teacher-training manuals and educators’ writings. . . . A troubling and eye-opening examination of the foundational role educators played in developing America’s racial hierarchy.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review