Mr. McDonald recently wrote an Op-Ed piece for the Durham Herald Sun reflecting on the 2016 Election. Titled "The Day We Didn't Wake up to the First Female President-Elect," the column offers both personal experience and professional insight in the days that followed.
TO ORDER A COPY, SPEAK WITH MR. MCDONALD
In Not the End, but the Beginning: The Impact of Race and Class on the History of Jordan High School, 1963-1988, Brian McDonald analyzes the impact of race and class on the high school's first twenty five years, tracing the impact of school desegregation and the county merger in 1970 with the changing student population over two decades. The story includes never before published accounts of the first students to desegregate the school, the changing student population after the 1960's, the school's racial transformation in the 1970's, and the growing socioeconomic gap and the rising issue of class during the 1980's.
Press for Not the end, But the Beginning
Praise for Not the end, But the Beginning:
"A master teacher, McDonald marshals the human stories that race the integration, dis-integration, transformation and promise of Durham North Carolina's Jordan High. His unflinching narrative shrinks from neither our achievements nor our shortfalls and points toward our common possibilities."
--Tim Tyson, author of Blood Done Sign My Name
"Brian McDonald's book is grounded, gritty, compelling history. Burrowing deeply into the development and the tense unfolding of a single, instructive high school in a complex and fascinating community, 'Not the end, But the Beginning' teaches powerfully where we are and where we've come. Both our past and our future challenge. McDonald's bold and honest look into an institution he loves prepares us for the journey."
--Gene Nichol, Professor, UNC Law School
"Brian McDonald's book is exhaustively researched, carefully crafted, and deeply compelling. McDonald not only tells the story of Jordan High School, weaving together complex issues of race and class, but manages to situate that narrative within broader developments in Durham. It is a masterful biography of a school and a community in the decades after Brown v. Board, and a superb teaching tool as well – I have assigned it to my law students.
--Joseph Blocher, Professor, Duke Law School
In Not the End, but the Beginning: The Impact of Race and Class on the History of Jordan High School, 1963-1988, Brian McDonald analyzes the impact of race and class on the high school's first twenty five years, tracing the impact of school desegregation and the county merger in 1970 with the changing student population over two decades. The story includes never before published accounts of the first students to desegregate the school, the changing student population after the 1960's, the school's racial transformation in the 1970's, and the growing socioeconomic gap and the rising issue of class during the 1980's.
Press for Not the end, But the Beginning
- --Interview on The State of Things with Frank Stasio (WUNC)
- --Durham Herald Sun: Integration of Jordan High discussed in new book
- --Meet the Author & Panel Discussion (Durham County Library)
Praise for Not the end, But the Beginning:
"A master teacher, McDonald marshals the human stories that race the integration, dis-integration, transformation and promise of Durham North Carolina's Jordan High. His unflinching narrative shrinks from neither our achievements nor our shortfalls and points toward our common possibilities."
--Tim Tyson, author of Blood Done Sign My Name
"Brian McDonald's book is grounded, gritty, compelling history. Burrowing deeply into the development and the tense unfolding of a single, instructive high school in a complex and fascinating community, 'Not the end, But the Beginning' teaches powerfully where we are and where we've come. Both our past and our future challenge. McDonald's bold and honest look into an institution he loves prepares us for the journey."
--Gene Nichol, Professor, UNC Law School
"Brian McDonald's book is exhaustively researched, carefully crafted, and deeply compelling. McDonald not only tells the story of Jordan High School, weaving together complex issues of race and class, but manages to situate that narrative within broader developments in Durham. It is a masterful biography of a school and a community in the decades after Brown v. Board, and a superb teaching tool as well – I have assigned it to my law students.
--Joseph Blocher, Professor, Duke Law School