A Worthy Piece of Work

The story of Madeline Morgan, the black activist educator that created the first Black History curriculum in a major U.S. public school system.

A Worthy Piece of Work brings the history of Black history to the home front, telling the story of how Madeline Morgan, a Black social studies teacher in WWII-era Chicago, wrote a Black history curriculum that bolstered the claim for recognition and full citizenship. During the Second World War, as Black Americans reasserted demands for democracy at home, even as they fought to save it abroad, Morgan's work gained national attention, widespread praise, and became a model for individual teachers, schools, and school districts across the country.

Scholar Michael Hines outlines how Morgan's curriculum gained momentum through the convergence of interests between Black educators and white policy makers which ultimately lead to the adoption of the first Black history curriculum in the country. He unveils this history for the first time, providing a rich understanding of the ways in which Black people have created counter-narratives to challenge the lack of racial discourse found in school textbooks.

With fears of CRT education escalating from the political right, A Worthy Piece of Work is a vital and necessary corrective that shows how the fight against fascism and the fight for integrative education have always been one in the same and what that means for our future.