Mark R. Warren is Associate Professor of Education at Harvard University. He is a sociologist and has published widely on community organizing and on efforts to build alliances across race and class to revitalize urban communities, reform public education and expand democracy.

• Preface: "Embracing What is Right"


• 1.: Introduction: From White Passivity to Racial Justice Activism


• 2.: Starting Down the Road: Seminal Experiences and the Moral Impulse to Act


• 3.: From Do-gooder to Deeper Commitment: Relationships with People of Color


• 4.: Getting to the "Want to": Moral Visions and the Purposeful Life


• 5.: Working with White People: Challenging Racism in the Context of Inclusion


• 6.: Multiracial Collaboration: Creating "Right Relationships" under the "Weight of History"


• 7.: "Where Do I Fit?": Building New Identities in Multiracial Communities


• 8.: Conclusion: Head, Heart and Hand


• Appendix: The Telling and the Told: Notes on Research Methods and Data


• List of Activists and Their Organizational Affiliations


• Notes


• References


• Index

Fire in the Heart presents an in-depth study of the processes through which white Americans become activists for racial justice. Warren shows how activists in community organizing, education and criminal justice reform develop a commitment to racial justice not just because it is the right thing to do but because they embrace the cause as their own.