May 7, 2021

Lawrence Blum

Harvard Book Store's virtual event series and the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics welcome LAWRENCE BLUM—noted philosopher and the Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Education at the University of Massachusetts Boston—for a discussion of his latest book, Integrations: The Struggle for Racial Equality and Civic Renewal in Public Education. He will be joined in conversation by WINSTON C. THOMPSON, an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Studies at The Ohio State University.

Details

The promise of a free, high-quality public education is supposed to guarantee every child a shot at the American dream. But our widely segregated schools mean that many children of color do not have access to educational opportunities equal to those of their white peers. In Integrations, historian Zoë Burkholder and philosopher Lawrence Blum investigate what this country’s long history of school segregation means for achieving just and equitable educational opportunities in the United States.

Integrations focuses on multiple marginalized groups in American schooling: African Americans, Native Americans, Latinxs, and Asian Americans. The authors show that in order to grapple with integration in a meaningful way, we must think of integration in the plural, both in its multiple histories and in the many possible definitions of and courses of action for integration. Ultimately, the authors show, integration cannot guarantee educational equality and justice, but it is an essential component of civic education that prepares students for life in our multiracial democracy.

About Author(s)

Lawrence Blum is Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Education and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He works in philosophy of race, philosophy of education, social philosophy, and moral philosophy. Blum is the author of High Schools, Race, and America’s Future, an account of a course and the students in it, on race and racism he taught four times at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School to very ethnically and racially diverse classes of seniors; and of "I’m Not a Racist, But…": The Moral Quandary of Race, which was selected as best social philosophy book of the year by the North American Society of Social Philosophy.

Winston C. Thompson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Studies and Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy (by courtesy) at The Ohio State University. A former Fellow-in-Residence at the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University, Thompson's scholarship explores ethical and political dimensions of educational policy and practice.