Jonathan Kozol
American writer and educator, born 1936, known for books on inequality in US schools.
At a glance
Main ideas
Funding inequality, Resegregation, Homeless families
See all 3Books to start with
Death at an Early Age, Rachel and Her Children, Savage Inequalities …
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- Kozol is a writer, activist and educator best known for his books on American public education.
- He was fired as a Boston public school teacher for teaching a Langston Hughes poem, and wrote about that year in Death at an Early Age, which won the National Book Award.
- His later books documented school funding inequalities, homelessness and the resegregation of schools.
Why it matters
- His books are standard reading on how poverty and segregation shape American children's schooling.
Key facts
- Born
- 5 Sep 1936, Boston, Massachusetts1
- Education
- Noble and Greenough School (1954); BA in English literature, Harvard (1958, summa cum laude); Rhodes Scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford, not completed1
- Teaching
- Boston Public Schools, fired for teaching a Langston Hughes poem; then Newton Public Schools1
- Awards
- National Book Award (1968) for Death at an Early Age; Anisfield-Wolf Book Award (1996) for Amazing Grace1
- Fellowships
- Guggenheim (1970 and 1980); Rockefeller (1978 and 1983); Field Foundation (1972 and 1974)1
Main ideas
Books to start with
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Connections
Writes
Links
Sources
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