Jonathan Kozol

2025-09-15T23:30:43Z

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{{short description|American activist and educator}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2014}}
{{Infobox writer 
| name = Jonathan Kozol
| image = Jonathan Kozol (5991655898).jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = Kozol in 2011
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1936|9|5}}
| birth_place = [[Boston, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = Writer
| period =
| genre =
| subject = [[Multicultural education]], [[Critical theory]], [[Education reform]]
| movement =
| debut_works =
| website =
| education = [[Harvard University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|AB]])<br />[[Magdalen College, Oxford]]
}}

'''Jonathan Kozol''' (born September 5, 1936) is an American writer, [[progressivism in the United States|progressive]] activist, and educator, best known for his books on [[public education in the United States]].

==Education and experience==

Born to [[Harry Kozol]] and Ruth (Massell) Kozol, Jonathan graduated from [[Noble and Greenough School]] in 1954,<ref>Leaders from the 1960s: A Biographical Sourcebook of American Activism, By David De Leon</ref> and [[Harvard University]] ''[[Latin honors|summa cum laude]]'' in 1958 with an [[Bachelor of Arts|A.B.]] in [[English Literature|English literature]]. He was awarded a [[Rhodes Scholarship]] to [[Magdalen College, Oxford]]. He did not, however, complete his scholarship, deciding instead to go to [[Paris, France|Paris]] to learn to write fiction and nonfiction from experienced authors such as [[William Styron]], [[Richard Wright (author)|Richard Wright]], and others who were living in Paris at the time. It was upon his return that he began to tutor children in [[Roxbury, Massachusetts]], and soon became a teacher in the [[Boston Public Schools]]. He was fired for teaching a [[Langston Hughes]] poem, as described in ''[[Death at an Early Age]]'', and then became deeply involved in the [[civil rights]] movement. After being fired from Boston Public Schools, he was offered a position to teach at [[Newton Public Schools]], the school district he attended as a child, and taught there for several years before becoming more deeply involved in social justice work and dedicating more time to writing. Kozol is Jewish.<ref>{{Cite web|date=1995-11-08|title=No Surrender : Jonathan Kozol is one of America's last uncompromising voices. His latest cause: the South Bronx.|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-11-08-ls-689-story.html|access-date=2021-10-25|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}</ref>

Kozol has since held two [[Guggenheim Fellowships]], has twice been a fellow of the [[Rockefeller Foundation]], and has also received fellowships from the [[Marshall Field III#Philanthropy|Field]] and [[Ford Foundation|Ford]] Foundations.{{cn|date=June 2024}}

Kozol also has worked in the field of [[social psychology]]. He has been working with children in inner-city schools for more than forty years.<ref>Kozol, Jonathan (2007). "Letters to a Young Teacher", p. 289. Three Rivers Press, New York. {{ISBN|978-0-307-39372-2}}.</ref> Kozol is currently on the editorial board of ''Greater Good Magazine'', published by the [[Greater Good Science Center]] at the [[University of California, Berkeley]]. Kozol's contributions include the interpretation of scientific research into the roots of compassion, altruism, and peaceful human relationships.{{cn|date=June 2024}}

==Writing career==
[[File:Jonathan Kozol at Pomona College 17 April 2003.jpg|thumb|Kozol at [[Pomona College]], 2003]]
''[[Death at an Early Age]]'', his first non-fiction book, is a description of his first year as a teacher in the Boston Public Schools. It was published in 1967 and won the [[National Book Award]] [[National Book Award for Philosophy and Religion|in Science, Philosophy and Religion]].<ref name=nba1968>
[https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1968 "National Book Awards – 1968"]. [[National Book Foundation]]. Retrieved 2012-03-05.</ref> It has sold more than two million copies in the United States and Europe.

Among the other books by Kozol are ''Rachel and Her Children: Homeless Families in America'', which received the [[Robert F. Kennedy]] Book award for 1989 and the [[Conscience-in-Media Award]] of the [[American Society of Journalists and Authors]], and ''[[Savage Inequalities|Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools]]'', which won the New England Book Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1992.

His 1995 book, ''Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation'', described his visits to the [[South Bronx]] of New York City, the poorest congressional district in the United States. It received the [[Anisfield-Wolf Book Award]] in 1996.

He published ''Ordinary Resurrections: Children in the Years of Hope'' in 2000 and ''[[The Shame of the Nation]]: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America'' was released September 13, 2005. Kozol documents the continuing and often worsening segregation in public schools in the United States, and the increasing influence of neoconservative ideology on the way children, particularly children of color and poor children of urban areas, are educated.<ref>[http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2005/American-Apartheid-Education1sep05.htm Kozol, "Still Separate, Still Unequal: America's Educational Apartheid" published in ''Harper's Magazine'' (v.311, n.1864, September 1, 2005), essay adapted from ''The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America''.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070629092537/http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2005/American-Apartheid-Education1sep05.htm |date=June 29, 2007 }}</ref>

==Awards and honors==

*1968 [[National Book Award]] for ''Death at an Early Age''.<ref name=nba1968/>
*1970 and 1980 [[List of Guggenheim Fellowships awarded in 1970|Guggenheim Fellowship]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/jonathan-kozol/|title=Jonathan Kozol|publisher=Guggenheim Memorial foundation|access-date= 22 December 2018}}</ref>
*1972 Field Foundation Fellowship<ref name="Coastal" />
*1974 [[Field Foundation]] Fellowship<ref name="Coastal" />
*1978 and 1983 Rockefeller Fellowship<ref name="Coastal" />
*1988 [[Conscience-in-Media Award|Conscience in Media Award]] from the American Society of Journalists and Authors<ref name="Coastal" />
*1988 [[Christopher Award]]<ref name="Coastal" />
*1992 New England Book Award<ref name="Coastal">{{Cite web |url=https://www.coastal.edu/aboutccu/historytraditions/honorarydegrees/jonathankozol/ |title=Jonathan Kozol - Coastal Carolina University |access-date=18 October 2022}}</ref>
*1996 [[Anisfield-Wolf Book Award]] for ''Amazing Grace''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anisfield-wolf.org/books/amazing-grace/|title=Amazing Grace – Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards |publisher=Anisfield-wolf.org |date= |accessdate=2021-05-14}}</ref>
*2005 [[Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship]].<ref>[http://www.nationinstitute.org/puffinnation/recip.html Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100710194019/http://www.nationinstitute.org/puffinnation/recip.html |date=July 10, 2010 }}, official website.</ref>
*2013 The [[Deborah W. Meier]] Hero in Education Award from [[FairTest]]

==Works==

*''The Fume of Poppies'' (1958) A novel.
*''[[Death at an Early Age]]: The Destruction of the Hearts and Minds of Negro Children in the Boston Public Schools''. First published in 1967, it won the [[National Book Award]]<ref name=nba1968/> and sold more than two million copies. It describes his year of teaching in the Boston Public School System. Reissue {{ISBN|0-452-26292-5}}
*''Free Schools'' (1972) {{ISBN|0-395-13606-7}}
*''The Night is Dark and I Am Far from Home'' (1975) {{ISBN|0-395-20727-4}}
*''Children of the Revolution: A Yankee Teacher in the Cuban Schools'' (1978) {{ISBN|0-440-00982-0}}
*''Prisoners of Silence: Breaking the Bonds of Adult Illiteracy in the United States'' (1980) {{ISBN|0-816-49004-X}}
*''On Being a Teacher'' (1981) {{ISBN|1-85168-065-9}}
*''Alternative Schools: A Guide for Educators and Parents'' (1982) {{ISBN|0-826-40226-7}}
*''Illiterate America'' (1986) {{ISBN|0-452-25807-3}}
*''Rachel and Her Children: Homeless Families in America'' (1988) Awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award for 1989 and The Conscience in Media Award of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the Christopher Award, 1988. Reprint {{ISBN|0-449-90339-7}}
*''[[Savage Inequalities]]: Children in America's Schools'' (1991) A finalist for the 1992 National Book Critics Circle Award and awarded The New England Book Award. Reprint {{ISBN|0-060-97499-0}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20040901225506/http://www.bookfinder.us/review6/0060974990.html Bookfinder] collected reviews.
*''Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation'' (1995) Reprint {{ISBN|0-060-97697-7}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20040819224954/http://www.spinninglobe.net/amazinggrace.htm Review] and appreciation by Mary Leue.
*''Ordinary Resurrections: Children in the Years of Hope'' (2000) Reprint {{ISBN|0-060-95645-3}}. [http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/0060956453.asp Review] by Jana Siciliano at BookReporter.com.
*''[[The Shame of the Nation]]: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America'' (2005) {{ISBN|1-400-05244-0}}
*''Letters to a Young Teacher'' (2007) {{ISBN|978-0-307-39371-5}}
*''Fire in the Ashes: Twenty-Five Years Among the Poorest Children in America'' (2012) {{ISBN|1-400-05246-7}}
*''The Theft of Memory: Losing My Father One Day at a Time'' (2015) {{ISBN|978-0-804-14099-7}}
* ''The End to Inequality: Breaking Down the Walls of Apartheid Education in America'' (2024) [ISBN 978-1620978725]

==See also==
*[[Boston Public Schools]]
*[[Education in the United States]]
*[[Racial inequality in the United States]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[https://archive.today/20130121155233/http://www.districtadministration.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=37 Jonathan Kozol Takes On the World] [[Gary Stager]] interviews Kozol about ''The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Education in America'' for [http://www.districtadministration.com ''District Administration Magazine''] – January 2006 issue.
*[http://stager.org/articles/kozolinterview1.html Jonathan Kozol Speaks Out] In this September 2000 interview for Curriculum Administrator Magazine, Kozol talks about his book, ''Ordinary Resurrections: Children in the Years of Hope'' with <nowiki>Gary Stager.</nowiki>
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110722012154/http://www.altruists.org/f858 Explanation of Modern US Education] 2005 Talk given by Jonathan Kozol (MP3)
*[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-645485102917331375&hl=en Video: Jonathan Kozol – Letters to a Young Teacher] (October 3, 2007), from Mr. Kozol's 2007 book tour.
*[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5015171322737172268&hl=en Video: Jonathan Kozol – The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America] (September 30, 2005), from Mr. Kozol's 2005 book tour.
*{{C-SPAN|20871}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kozol, Jonathan}}
[[Category:1936 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:21st-century American Jews]]
[[Category:Activists for African-American civil rights]]
[[Category:Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford]]
[[Category:American educational theorists]]
[[Category:American education writers]]
[[Category:American anti-racism activists]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American political writers]]
[[Category:American Rhodes Scholars]]
[[Category:American educational reformers]]
[[Category:Harvard Advocate alumni]]
[[Category:Jewish American anti-racism activists]]
[[Category:Jewish American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:National Book Award winners]]
[[Category:Noble and Greenough School alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Boston]]

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Jonathan Kozol