ABSTRACT
I met Sonia Nieto at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst campus, and we talked for what seemed like several hours, as if we had known each other before. She is a passionate and leading spokesperson for multicultural education, born out of her Puerto Rican roots and early career in classroom teaching. She is now professor of education at the University of Massachusetts, where she has taught courses in language, literacy, and culture. She has served on several national advisory boards that focus on educational equity and social justice and she has received many awards for her advocacy and activism, including the 1989 Human and Civil Rights Award from the Massachusetts Teachers Association; the 1995 Drylongso Award for Antiracism Activism from the Community Change in Boston; the 1997 Multicultural Educator of the Year Award from the National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME); and the 1988 New England Educator of the Year Award from Region One of NAME. Her latest book, What Keeps Teachers Going in Spite of Everything, follows her previous works, including Through Students’ Eyes: Combating Racism in United States Schools; Affirming Diversity: The Sociopolitical Context of Multicultural Education; and The Light in Their Eyes: Creating Multicultural Learning Communities.
