"Pedagogy and race! Not since the eighties has the reality of race in the classroom been so comprehensively addressed, dissected, and productively discussed. For these confusing and challenging times, Race in the College Classroom speaks poignantly to the seasoned professor and the struggling assistant professor as well as the idealistic graduate student, and serves as a microcosm of everyday life for administrators, public officials, and the public who so often accept the ivy tower version of higher education."Johnnella E. Butler, editor and contributor to Color-Line to Borderlands: The Matrix of American Ethnic Studies

Did affirmative action programs solve the problem of race on American college campuses, as several recent books would have us believe? If so, why does talking about race in anything more than a superficial way make so many students uncomfortable? Written by college instructors from the humanities, social sciences, sciences, and education, these essays take a bold first step toward a nationwide conversation. Each of the twenty-nine contributors addresses the central question, What are the challenges facing a college professor who believes that teaching responsibly requires an honest and searching examination of race?

The professors consider topics such as how the classroom environment is structured by race, the temptation to retreat from challenging students when faced with possible reprisals in the form of complaints or negative evaluations, and the varying ways in which white faculty and faculty of color are impacted by teaching about race. This book is essential reading for anyone concerned with higher education today.

Bonnie TuSmith is an associate professor of English at Northeastern University. She is the author of All My Relatives: Community in Contemporary Ethnic American Literatures, Colorizing Literary Theory, and American Family Album: 28 Contemporary Ethnic Stories. Maureen T. Reddy is a professor of English and womens studies at Rhode Island College. Her other books include Crossing the Color Line: Race, Parenting, and Culture, Traces, Codes, and Clues: Reading Race in Crime Fiction (both Rutgers University Press), and the edited collection Everyday Acts Against Racism.