Black and Brown Education in America: Integration in Schools, Neighborhoods, and CommunitiesBy SaminaHadi‐Tabassum and PersisDriver, Lanham, <scp>MD</scp> : Lexington Books, 2023. 250 pp. $110.00 (Hardback). <scp>ISBN</scp> : 978‐1‐66‐690076‐7

Amid the unrelenting currents of globalization, multiracial communities in the United States often engage with the simultaneous realities of increased institutional interconnectedness and chronic systemic inequities that shape their schools, neighborhoods, and opportunities. How do shifting racial demographics and generations of socioeconomic modulation alter the sense of place and identity within majority–minority school systems? In Black and Brown Education in America, Hadi-Tabassum and Driver examine this macro-level inquiry through its myriad effects on Maywood, Illinois, a historically industrial community that has continuously been challenged to recast itself in the face of complex spatial and social dynamics. By focusing on the intersections of race, class, and place, the authors investigate the systemic forces that can isolate communities of color while also encouraging readers to consider effective strategies in steering toward a more just education for majority-minority neighborhoods. Hadi-Tabassum and Driver conducted a decade-long ethnography, embedding themselves in three Maywood schools to document daily interactions among students, teachers, and administrators. They supplemented this work with formal participant interviews, attendance at school board and district meetings, and observation of community structures like faith-based organizations. The authors incorporate a race-space-place framework to explore differential outcomes that are intrinsically tied to geographical experiences, while also using Critical Race Theory to examine how racism is woven into the fabric of educational institutions and how the political interests of dominant power groups can be manifested through the social infrastructure of American communities. Historical methodology is equally a part of Black and Brown Education in America, as the collective experiences of Maywood citizens across generations are collected, analyzed, and presented through the use of primary and secondary sources, including numerous interviews, archival work, social media posts in community online groups, newspaper articles from local reporters, and a wealth of other local references. The introduction opens by contrasting nostalgic social media posts about Maywood with comments on present-day challenges like crime and inadequate services. The chapter goes on to discuss Maywood's shifting demographics within national trends, examining segregation research and Black/Latinx race relations in majority-minority suburbs while outlining the study's methodology and theory. Chapter 1 assesses the history of Maywood as it relates to socioeconomic and demographic conditions, as well as educational institutions. Geopolitical identities and a sense of place are presented as critical to understanding the ebbs and flows of economic and civic stability. Chapter 2 surveys Maywood schools, with a particular focus on the interplay between white teachers and students/parents of color, as well as linguistic and cultural dynamics between Black and Latinx students that highlight interracial cooperation among students, which was less commonly reflected among adults in the school district. Chapter 3 shifts the focus from schools to the broader Maywood community, using critical discourse to analyze systemic forces shaping mobility, the temporary and lasting effects of migration, and the relationship between violence and both real and imagined boundaries. Chapter 4 then argues for the capacity of community institutions, such as faith-based organizations, to provide coalition building. The chapter also explores the destabilizing effect of the Maywood school board, investigating instances of Latinx exclusion through linguistic barriers and noninclusive decision-making practices. The conclusion reflects on the journey of one research participant, Norma Hernandez, from her time as a student in Maywood during the 1990s to her current efforts in local politics and building a Black and Brown coalition. This chronicle is framed within the backdrop of Maywood as the hometown of Fred Hampton, exploring the history and assassination of the Black Panther Party activist in the present-day context of a growing distrust in institutions. A persistent strength of Black and Brown Education in America is its asset-based framing of systemic conditions. The familiar narrative of a Midwestern town grappling with deindustrialization, neglected housing, population shifts, and fragmented governance can lead to a deficit lens that may function to dehumanize the community and ignore its cultural strengths. As Hadi-Tabassum and Driver clearly state, Maywood is a proud community that leverages its resilience to confront a difficult history. The authors critique the legacy of detached white educators reluctantly working in Maywood schools while amplifying the voices of teachers of color. The interviews subsequently highlight positive district reforms, such as encouraging all teachers to engage in the broader Maywood community through extracurricular participation and the adoption of a culturally and linguistically responsive curriculum. In considering ways to strengthen the impact of the study, further exploration of regional and local housing policy would serve to supplement it as it relates to understanding place, particularly the historical and systemic context presented in Chapter 1. Black and Brown Education in America is fundamentally a comprehensive ethnography that can well serve education policy courses in which students are encouraged to explore qualitative work in the context of sociological and geographic settings. Researchers will find this work particularly valuable when considering how qualitative research can inform core systemic questions that extend educational experiences beyond the classroom and into the neighborhood, boosting the voices of marginalized communities to best serve the needs of their children. Ultimately, this text is a meaningful contribution to the field, offering a compelling analysis of the intersection between race, place, and education while advocating for systemic change through community-driven solutions and capacity building.