His work explores the connections between the history of education and broader trends in U.S. cultural and intellectual history, examining questions about race, national identity and the purpose of public education in a diverse, democratic society. He is the author of the book Making Black History: The Color Line, Culture and Race in the Age of Jim Crow. He writes frequently on educational policy, campus politics and academic freedom in newspapers and magazines such as Boston Review, the Chronicle of Higher Education and the New Republic.