Local Author Event: Alison Stewart, "First Class"

Perfect discussion fodder for Black History Month!

Alison Stewart, award-winning broadcast journalist, Glen Ridge native and author of First Class: The Legacy of Dunbar, America’s First Black Public High School (Lawrence Hill Books, August 2013), is going to be at [Words] Bookstore on Sunday, February 9th, 2pm, to discuss her book.

About the book: Dunbar High School began in a church basement shortly after the Civil War and grew into an academic powerhouse that rivaled white public and private institutions at its height in the 1940s and 50s. Dunbar alumni include the first black Presidential Cabinet member, the first black General in the U.S. Army, the first black federal judge and the current Mayor of  Washington, D.C. Combining a fascinating history of the first U.S. public high school for African-Americans with an unflinching analysis of education reform in urban public schools today, First Class explores an underrepresented and largely unknown aspect of black history while widening the discussion on what it takes to make a public school successful. 

About the author: Alison Stewart grew up in Glen Ridge, NJ. Her mother, Carol Stewart was a teacher at Columbia High School in Maplewood for 35 years. Both of Alison’s parents graduated from Dunbar High School. Today, Alison is an award-winning journalist whose 20-year career includes anchoring and reporting for MTV, PBS, NBC News, ABC News, and CBS News. Most recently she was the host of the NPR program, The TED Radio Hour