Dr. Ben Chavis was born into a Lumbee Indian family of
sharecroppers and as a youngster attended Indian segregated public
schools in Robeson County, North Carolina. An athletic scholarship
provided him the opportunity to graduate from Pima College and
University of Arizona. He has worked in farming, construction,
education, and business. He is now Chief Executive for training and
implementing the successful American Indian Public Charter School
model in schools. His educational model has been replicated in
other schools serving low-income students with the same high
academic results. During his leadership at AIPCS, it went from the
lowest scoring school in Oakland, California, to one of the top in
the United States.
Carey Blakely grew up in Massachusetts and California and majored
in English at UC Berkeley. After teaching at American Indian Public
Charter School for three years, she helped launch American Indian
Public High School (AIPHS) and was appointed the school's leader.
During the time she headed AIPHS, it ranked as the
fifth-highest-scoring high school in California. She now lives and
writes in the San Diego area.
"[Chavis] has many of the habits of some of the best educators I
know - a wicked sense of humor, a weakness for shocking the
conventionally wise, and a deep love of children, particularly
those who have had difficult lives."
-Jay Mathews, The Washington Post
"Ben Chavis inspires us....His impact will ripple far beyond those
who were fortunate enough to be among his students."
-Michelle D. Bernard, President and CEO, Independent Women's Forum
and MSNBC Political Analyst
"Chavis's book succeeds in what it sets out to do: tell the story
of how a 'country Indian' from the wrong side of the river grew
into a fiercely determined educational leader, and how he turned a
failing school into a model of excellence for the nation....Ben
Chavis himself is one of a kind - passionate, intense, and brutally
honest. Like a character in a high-concept Hollywood film, he
unabashedly tells whomever he's speaking with exactly what's on his
mind....Chavis is a cross between Socrates and Dirty Harry."
-Andrew J. Coulson, City Journal
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