Art by Anne-Marie Herrera
About the author and the inspiration behind What Is Your Race?
Joan Ferrante has worked in the field of education for her entire career. A decade ago, she founded The Mourning the Creation of Racial Categories Project (MCRC) to tell the story of how the racial categories came to be and how that story has carried through to the present.
She has dedicated her professional life to presenting ideas with clarity. She has written many textbooks, and has always tried to make complex ideas accessible without watering them down. Dr. Ferrante’s philosophy is to seek honest input so she can tell the history of racial categories in a way where readers can see themselves as part of it.
For What Is Your Race? Joan Ferrante interviewed and spoke with hundreds of people she met in classrooms and other community settings where she learned their stories about race. Many were hesitant at first. That hesitation was a key thing to unravel. The stories they shared with her serve as the foundation of What Is Your Race?
