NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A fascinating and eye-opening look at how American schools have
helped build and reinforce an infrastructure of racial inequality . . . a must-read for every
American parent and educator.”— Esquire “Though the argument of this book is bleak it
illuminates a path for a more just future that is nothing short of dazzling.”— Oprah Daily
“This book will transform the way you see this country.”—Michelle Alexander author of The New
Jim Crow If all children could just get an education the logic goes they would have the
same opportunities later in life. But this historical tour de force makes it clear that the
opposite is true: The U.S. school system has played an instrumental role in creating and
upholding racial hierarchies preparing children to expect unequal treatment throughout their
lives. 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 demonstrating that it’s in the DNA of American schools to serve as an
effective and underacknowledged mechanism maintaining inequality in this country today Ewing
makes the case that we need a profound reevaluation of what schools are supposed to do and for
whom. This book will change the way people understand the place we send our children for eight
hours a day.
