In 1970, a working-class, Jewish man from New York City married an African American woman from rural, segregated North Carolina. From their union, Michael Wenger has three children, four grandchildren, and one great grandchild. Years later, Mr. Wenger served as Deputy Director for Outreach and Program Development for President Clintons Initiative on Race, an opportunity that confirmed for him the conscious and unconscious bias that people of color confront daily in the United States. Both personally and professionally, Mr. Wenger has peered into a world far beyond the comprehension of most white people in our society. His book, deeply moving and tenderly written, shares the discoveries hes made. He masterfully weaves his personal and professional journeys and helps readers of all races to become more aware of the pain that well-meaning white Americans inflict on people of color, often without knowing it, and to recognize the richness that awaits those with the courage to embrace our nations growing diversity. Mr. Wengers remarkable and inspirational story will, at times, move you to tears while occasionally triggering a knowing laugh as he recounts the struggles and triumphs of his journey. It will awaken you to the stark realities of life for some in America today, while fostering hope for and a commitment to a more racially equitable and harmonious future for all.

The New York Times best-selling book exploring the counterproductive reactions white people have when their assumptions about race are challenged, and how these reactions maintain racial inequality. In this “vital, necessary, and beautiful book” (Michael Eric Dyson), antiracist educator Robin DiAngelo deftly illuminates the phenomenon of white fragility and “allows us to understand racism as a practice not restricted to ‘bad people’ (Claudia Rankine). Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. In this in-depth exploration, DiAngelo examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what we can do to engage more constructively.

In 1970, a working-class, Jewish man from New York City married an African American woman from rural, segregated North Carolina. From their union, Michael Wenger has three children, four grandchildren, and one great grandchild. Years later, Mr. Wenger served as Deputy Director for Outreach and Program Development for President Clinton's Initiative on Race, an opportunity that confirmed for him the conscious and unconscious bias that people of color confront daily in the United States. Both personally and professionally, Mr. Wenger has peered into a world far beyond the comprehension of most white people in our society. His book, deeply moving and tenderly written, shares the discoveries he's made. He masterfully weaves his personal and professional journeys and helps readers of all races to become more aware of the pain that well-meaning white Americans inflict on people of color, often without knowing it, and to recognize the richness that awaits those with the courage to embrace our nation's growing diversity. Mr. Wenger's remarkable and inspirational story will, at times, move you to tears while occasionally triggering a knowing laugh as he recounts the struggles and triumphs of his journey. It will awaken you to the stark realities of life for some in America today, while fostering hope for and a commitment to a more racially equitable and harmonious future for all.

Life in the old South has always fascinated Americans--whether in the mythical portrayals of the planter elite from fiction such as Gone With the Wind or in historical studies that look inside the slave cabin. Now Brenda E. Stevenson presents a reality far more gripping than popular legend, even as she challenges the conventional wisdom of academic historians. Life in Black and White provides a panoramic portrait of family and community life in and around Loudoun County, Virginia--weaving the fascinating personal stories of planters and slaves, of free blacks and poor-to-middling whites, into a powerful portrait of southern society from the mid-eighteenth century to the Civil War. Loudoun County and its vicinity encapsulated the full sweep of southern life. Here the region's most illustrious families--the Lees, Masons, Carters, Monroes, and Peytons--helped forge southern traditions and attitudes that became characteristic of the entire region while mingling with yeoman farmers of German, Scotch-Irish, and Irish descent, and free black families who lived alongside abolitionist Quakers and thousands of slaves. Stevenson brilliantly recounts their stories as she builds the complex picture of their intertwined lives, revealing how their combined histories guaranteed Loudon's role in important state, regional, and national events and controversies. Both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, for example, were hidden at a local plantation during the War of 1812. James Monroe wrote his famous "Doctrine" at his Loudon estate. The area also was the birthplace of celebrated fugitive slave Daniel Dangerfield, the home of John Janney, chairman of the Virginia secession convention, a center for Underground Railroad activities, and the location of John Brown's infamous 1859 raid at Harpers Ferry. In exploring the central role of the family, Brenda Stevenson offers a wealth of insight: we look into the lives of upper class women, who bore the oppressive weight of marriage and motherhood as practiced in the South and the equally burdensome roles of their husbands whose honor was tied to their ability to support and lead regardless of their personal preference; the yeoman farm family's struggle for respectability; and the marginal economic existence of free blacks and its undermining influence on their family life. Most important, Stevenson breaks new ground in her depiction of slave family life. Following the lead of historian Herbert Gutman, most scholars have accepted the idea that, like white, slaves embraced the nuclear family, both as a living reality and an ideal. Stevenson destroys this notion, showing that the harsh realities of slavery, even for those who belonged to such attentive masters as George Washington, allowed little possibility of a nuclear family. Far more important were extended kin networks and female headed households. Meticulously researched, insightful, and moving, Life in Black and White offers our most detailed portrait yet of the reality of southern life. It forever changes our understanding of family and race relations during the reign of the peculiar institution in the American South.

Author's memoir and history of her family spanning six generations, chronicling what it is like to be racially mixed.

Our choice is simple. Do we focus our conversation on the sins of the past? Or do we learn from them and take meaningful action to fix what is broken today? This book makes the case that the latter, combined with actions and not just headlines, will result in future generations of African Americans having the opportunity to achieve equality and a better life.?Education?Safe neighborhoods?Jobs/capital?Criminal justice reform?A culture that respects the Black community and familyA focus on these five pillars will help to mitigate Black Disadvantage. Talk of White privilege is sixty years old and has failed. Let's not fail again. Instead, let us put aside fear, greed and ignorance. Let us apply our time, talent, and treasure to address these five structural challenges, with the determination and resources that built the most powerful and prosperous country the world has ever seen.