‘Black History Is for Everyone’ with Brian Jones

Longtime educator Brian Jones explores how the study of Black history challenges our understanding of race, nation, and the stories we tell about who we are. In Black History Is for Everyone, Jones offers a meditation on the power of Black history, using his own experiences as a lifelong learner and classroom teacher to question everything — from the radicalism of the American Revolution to the meaning of “race” and “nation.” With warmth and immersive storytelling, Jones encourages us to delve deeper into our collective history, explores how curiosity about our world is essential—and reminds us that with stakes so high, the effort is worth it.

Brian Jones has taught many ages and grades in New York City’s public schools and the City University of New York. He served as the inaugural director of the Center for Educators and Schools at the New York Public Library and was the associate director of education at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The author of The Tuskegee Student Uprising: A History, his writing has also appeared in The New York Times, the Guardian, and Jacobin.