The book Stamped is not radical because it invents new ideas. It is radical because it tells the honest story of how racism is embedded in American policies and systems, not just in individual actions. This honesty challenges the comforting myth of American innocence and that is what makes the book dangerous to some.

In 1929, W.E.B. Du Bois debated T. Lothrop Stoddard in what should be one of the most remembered intellectual battles in U.S. history. Du Bois stood for reason, dignity, and democracy. Stoddard stood for eugenics, white nationalism, and the fear of a multiracial future.