Central City's Joy and Pain

Jerome E. Morris’s voice is at once beautiful and inspiring, one from the scholar-activist tradition of Black America. This work powerfully illustrates how Black People—even as we have been consigned to and ghettoized in indecent ‘public housing’—found ways to survive oppressive, systemic racism and poverty—and, in the case of Dr. Morris, even carve out a pathway to a decent life. Central City’s Joy and Pain reminds us, however, of the need for revolutionary change, toward the freedom of all oppressed people.

Morris provides readers with a powerful historical and personal journey through Central City that is captivating reading. He does a phenomenal job of not only highlighting the depths of structural racism and the accumulation of disadvantage but also of documenting the sheer will, determination, strength, and resolve of a people to survive and thrive. Central City’s Joy and Pain is a page turner that is informative and inspiring.

Central City’s Joy and Pain is not just a story about events that took place several decades ago but is also well connected to the systems that remain in place for the perpetuation of Black oppression. Jerome E. Morris has done a great job of sharing his experiences with the broader community, and readers—in not only Birmingham and the South, but well beyond—will be enriched by the experiences and insights conveyed here.

Jerome E. Morris is the E. Desmond Lee Endowed Professor of Urban Education at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. He is the author of Troubling the Waters: Fulfilling the Promise of Quality Public Schooling for Black Children. An award-winning researcher, Morris has published extensively in leading research journals such as the American Educational Research Journal, Teachers College Record, Educational Researcher, Review of Research in Education, Anthropology and Education Quarterly, Educational Policy, Urban Education, and Kappan.