Worthy Piece of Work: The Untold Story of Madeline Morgan and the Fight for Black History in Schools

"This book follows the little-known story of Madeline Morgan (later Madeline Stratton Morris), a Black social studies teacher in migration era Chicago, who fought for and won the first inclusion of Black history in the curriculum of the Chicago schools adecade before the height of Civil Rights Movement educational activism"--
The story of a teacher and an activist in World War II-era Chicago whose efforts to teach Black History in schools became a model for teachers, schools, districts and cities across the country.
The story of Madeline Morgan, the activist educator who brought Black history to one of the nation’s largest and most segregated school systemsA Worthy Piece of Work tells the story of Madeline Morgan (later Madeline Stratton Morris), a teacher and an activist in WWII-era Chicago, who fought her own battle on the home front, authoring curricula that bolstered Black claims for recognition and equal citizenship.During the Second World War, as Black Americans both fought to save democracy abroad and demanded full citizenship at home, Morgan’s work gained national attention and widespread praise, and became a model for teachers, schools, districts, and cities across the country. Scholar Michael Hines unveils this history for the first time, providing a rich understanding of the ways in which Black educators have created counternarratives to challenge the anti-Black racism found in school textbooks and curricula.At a moment when Black history is under attack in school districts and state legislatures across the country, A Worthy Piece of Work reminds us that struggles over history, representation, and race are far from a new phenomenon.