As an alumni of Princeton University’s African American Studies Certificate Program (Class of 2008), Nora Gross has dedicated her career to examining the intersections of race, education, and youth experiences. In her new book, Brothers in Grief: The Hidden Toll of Gun Violence on Black Boys and Their Schools (University of Chicago Press, 2024), she sheds light on the often-overlooked grief that Black teenage boys endure after losing friends to gun violence—and how schools struggle to support them.

Based on years of ethnographic research at an all-boys charter school in Philadelphia, Gross reveals a troubling pattern: schools initially offer communal spaces for mourning (the easy hard) but soon shift their focus back to academic achievement (the hard hard), leaving unresolved grief to persist beneath the surface (the hidden hard). She argues that this neglect has lasting consequences and calls for schools to recognize and support students’ emotional well-being.

Now an Assistant Professor of Education at Barnard College, Columbia University, Gross is deeply committed to racial and educational justice. Brothers in grief is an essential read for educators, policymakers, and all who seek to understand the emotional toll of gun violence on young people.

You can purchase your copy of the book here: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo236189018.html