On Wednesday, February 25, educator Brian Jones, in conversation with Dave Zirin, will discuss his latest book Black History Is for Everyone, a look at how the study of Black history challenges our understanding of race, nation, and the stories we tell about who we are.
This FREE event is part of the Beyond Heroes & Holidays Series is hosted by Busboys and Poets and Teaching for Change. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing. Attendees may purchase food and drinks throughout the event.
Amid widespread political censorship and attacks, Black History Is for Everyone pulses with love, insight, and possibility. Brian Jones shares how Black history has challenged and energized his own thinking, inviting each of us to reflect on what we learn, why we learn it, and how it shapes our understanding of the nation and our place in the world. From Bacon’s Rebellion to the Haitian Revolution, this book reveals how those who came before us resisted oppression — and reminds us that study and struggle have always gone hand in hand. — Ruha Benjamin, author of Imagination: A Manifesto
This event is co-sponsored by Haymarket Books. It is also in support of the Black Lives Matter at School Year of Purpose principle of collective value and the national demand to mandate Black history and ethnic studies.
Dave Zirin, The Nation’s sports editor, is one of UTNE Reader’s “50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Our World” and is the author of ten books (including A People’s History of Sports in the United States) on the politics of sports — none more important than The Kaepernick Effect for helping educators understand how young people can change the world.
Black History Is for Everyone with Brian Jones
On Wednesday, February 25, educator Brian Jones, in conversation with Dave Zirin, will discuss his latest book Black History Is for Everyone, a look at how the study of Black history challenges our understanding of race, nation, and the stories we tell about who we are.
This FREE event is part of the Beyond Heroes & Holidays Series is hosted by Busboys and Poets and Teaching for Change. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing. Attendees may purchase food and drinks throughout the event.
This event is co-sponsored by Haymarket Books. It is also in support of the Black Lives Matter at School Year of Purpose principle of collective value and the national demand to mandate Black history and ethnic studies.
Speakers
Brian Jones is the inaugural director of the Center for Educators and Schools of the New York Public Library, and formerly the associate director of Education at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Jones was an elementary school teacher for nine years and earned a PhD in Urban Education at the CUNY Graduate Center. He has contributed to numerous publications, including Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice and is the author of The Tuskegee Student Uprising: A History.
Dave Zirin, The Nation’s sports editor, is one of UTNE Reader’s “50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Our World” and is the author of ten books (including A People’s History of Sports in the United States) on the politics of sports — none more important than The Kaepernick Effect for helping educators understand how young people can change the world.
Posted: November 18, 2025