Critical Race Theory in Education: A Scholar's Journey

This important volume brings together key writings from one of the most influential education scholars of our time. In this collection of her seminal essays on critical race theory (CRT), Gloria Ladson-Billings seeks to clear up some of the confusion and misconceptions that education researchers have around race and inequality. Beginning with her groundbreaking work with William Tate in the mid-1990s up to the present day, this book discloses both a personal and intellectual history of CRT in education. The essays are divided into three areas: Critical Race Theory, Issues of Inequality, and Epistemology and Methodologies. Ladson-Billings ends with a postscript that looks back at her journey and considers what is on the horizon for other scholars of education. Having these widely cited essays in one volume will be invaluable to everyone interested in understanding how inequality operates in our society and how race affects educational outcomes.

Featured Essays:

1. Toward a Critical Race Theory of Education with William F. Tate IV

2. Critical Race Theory: What It Is Not!

3. From the Achievement Gap to the Education Debt: Understanding Inequality in U.S. Schools

4. Through a Glass Darkly: The Persistence of Race in Education Research and Scholarship

5. New Directions in Multicultural Education: Complexities, Boundaries, and Critical Race Theory

6. Landing on the Wrong Note: The Price We Paid for Brown

7. Racialized Discourses and Ethnic Epistemologies

8. Critical Race Theory and the Post-Racial Imaginary with Jamel K. Donner


About the Author

Gloria Ladson-Billings is professor emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and president of the National Academy of Education (2018-2021). Her books include Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: Asking a Different Question and Teacher Educators as Critical Storytellers: Effective Teachers as Windows and Mirrors.