Promises Kept: Raising Black Boys to Succeed in School and in Life

An unprecedented guide to helping black boys achieve success at every stage of their lives—at home, at school, and in the world

Regardless of how wealthy or poor their parents are, all black boys must confront and surmount the “achievement gap”: a divide that shows up not only in our sons’ test scores, but in their social and emotional development, their physical well-being, and their outlook on life. As children, they score as high on cognitive tests as their peers, but at some point, the gap emerges. Why?

This is the question Joe Brewster, M.D., and Michèle Stephenson asked when their own son, Idris, began struggling in a new school. As they filmed his experiences for their award-winning documentary American Promise, they met an array of researchers who had not only identified the reasons for the gap, but had come up with practical, innovative solutions to close it. In Promises Kept, they explain

• how to influence your son’s brain before he’s even born

• how to tell the difference between authoritarian and authoritative discipline—and why it matters

• how to create an educational program for your son that matches his needs

• how to prepare him for explicit and implicit racism in school and in the wider world

• how to help your child develop resilience, self-discipline, emotional intelligence, and a positive outlook that will last a lifetime