About this item
"The Zora Neale Hurston of her generation." -- Studio 360"A truly rare cultural phenomenon: an artist who not only holds up a mirror to society, but makes herself a catalyst to change it." -- Chicago TribuneThe Chicago Race Riot of 1919, the most intense of the riots that comprised the "Red Summer" of violence across the nation's cities, is an event that has shaped the last century but is widely unknown. In 1919, award-winning poet Eve L. Ewing explores the story of this event -- which lasted eight days and resulted in thirty-eight deaths and almost 500 injuries -- through poems recounting the stories of everyday people trying to survive and thrive in the city. Ewing uses speculative and Afrofuturist lenses to recast history, and illuminates the thin line between the past and the present.
About the Author
Dr. Eve Louise Ewing is a sociologist of education whose research is focused on racism, social inequality, and urban policy, and the impact of these forces on American public schools and the lives of young people. She often uses public platforms to discuss these social issues, particularly Twitter, where she is a well-recognized commentator with over 160,000 followers and 15-30 million views each month. She is an assistant professor at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration.Eve is also an essayist and poet. Her work has been published in many venues, including The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Nation, The Washington Post, The New Republic, Poetry Magazine, The Indiana Review, and many other venues. She co-directs Crescendo Literary, a partnership that develops community-engaged arts events and educational resources as a form of cultural organizing. Eve is one-half of the writing collective Echo Hotel, alongside Hanif Abdurraqib. Eve has been an educator in both traditional and community-based settings, including Chicago Public Schools, After School Matters, Harvard University, and Wellesley College. She is the current President of the Board of Directors of MassLEAP, a non-profit organization dedicated to building and supporting spaces for youth, artist-educators, and organizers to foster positive youth development through spoken word poetry forums throughout Massachusetts.Born and raised in the Logan Square community of Chicago, Eve is a proud alumna of Chicago Public Schools. She completed her doctorate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Prior to that, she received an undergraduate degree with honors in English Language & Literature from the University of Chicago, with a focus on African-American literature of the twentieth century. She also holds an MAT in Elementary Education from Dominican University and an M.Ed in Education Policy and Management from Harvard.
