When journalist Courtney Martin learned that white families in her gentrifying neighborhood in Oakland largely avoided the majority-Black, poorly-rated public school down the street, she began asking why. In Learning in Public: Lessons For a Racially Divided America From My Daughter’s School, Martin examines her own fears, assumptions, and conversations with other parents as they navigate school choice.  The book is part memoir, part investigation into the persistence of school segregation in the United States. It’s a vivid portrait of integration’s virtues and complexities.

Courtney E. Martin is the author of five books, including Do It Anyway: The New Generation of Activists and The New Better Off: Reinventing the American Dream, as well as the popular newsletter Examined Family. She is the co-founder of the Solutions Journalism Network, FRESH Speakers, and the Bay Area chapter of Integrated Schools, as well as the Storyteller-in-Residence at The Holding Co.  On August 11, 2021, Courtney Martin spoke with Anna Sale, host of the podcast “Death, Sex, and Money”.