Six years ago…

Here we are with Dr. John Lucas Sr—our principal at Hillside High School— just prior to the publication of Going to School in Black and White. He helped sponsor our official launch a few weeks later. Now as adults we understand the role his leadership played in our high school experience.

Going to School in Black and White was published six years ago today! We are so grateful to our publishers Torchflame Books/Light Messages Publishers for giving us the opportunity to put this story out into the world. The gift it has given us is the many, many conversations in diverse spaces about integration and racial equity in education. As we shared our story, people generously shared theirs with us, and we hope will continue to do so. We are so grateful for all the ways we have felt supported by so many communities of family, friends, and readers.

 The time has gone by both fast and slow for us. The first two years after publication we were invited to speak with book clubs, social justice organizations, at libraries, bookstores, a museum, a literary festival, churches, and on radio and television. Covid threw a spike in our momentum, as it did for so many other projects, but at the same time, we saw a thirst for racial justice erupt that created interest in diversity, equity, and inclusion in new places. As public gatherings re-emerge, we are finding ourselves now part of this larger conversation on racial equity, and we are thrilled that this is so.

New events are being planned that we will tell you about when more details are worked out. In the meantime, we have polished up our website a bit and added photos from the past six years of conversations that you can see here. We want to continue our engagement with you and others—and look forward to the next six years!!!