Original Sins Book Talk

This program will be held in-person at the Newberry. Please register below.

Eve L. Ewing and Meredith McCoy will discuss how 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. Eve L. Ewing’s latest book, Original Sins: The (Mis)Education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism, 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.

Original Sins: The (Mis)Education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism, will be available to purchase in the Newberry Bookshop, and the author will sign copies after the talk.

“Conversations at the Newberry” are generously funded by Sue and Melvin Gray.

Speakers

Dr. Eve L. Ewing is a writer, scholar, and cultural organizer from Chicago. She is the award-winning author, most recently, of Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism, an instant New York Times and USA Today bestseller. She has also published 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 Black Panther, and is currently writing Exceptional X-Men. 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.

Meredith McCoy is an Assistant Professor in American Studies and History at Carleton College, where she teaches classes about Indigenous research methods and Indigenous education histories. She has previously worked as a public school teacher, a Policy Assistant at the White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education, and an instructor at Turtle Mountain Community College and Freedom University. Her research examines how Indigenous families, educators, and community leaders have long repurposed tools of settler violence into tools for Indigenous life.

Cost and Registration

This program is free and open to all. Advance registration required.

Registration opens July 1.

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Past Public Programs

Check out video recordings of past Newberry public programs on our YouTube channel.