The Author

Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum is a psychologist and educator who has conducted research and written acclaimed books including: Assimilation Blues: Black Families in a White Community: Who Succeeds and Why?; Can We Talk about Race?: And Other Conversations in an Era of School Resegregation; and "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” And Other Conversations About Race, the latter of which was named 1998 Multicultural Book of the Year by the National Association of Multicultural Education. Her writing focuses specifically on race in education, racial identity development in teenagers, and assimilation of black families and youth in white neighborhoods. Her impressive academic career has included both faculty and administrative appointments. From 2002 until her retirement in 2015, Dr. Tatum served as the President of Spelman College in Atlanta.