Keeping Kids In Class

MORGAN CRAVEN, 33, IS PUTTING HER LAW DEGREE TO GOOD USE: SHE’S HELPING STUDENTS STAY OUT OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM SO THEY CAN HAVE A BRIGHTER FUTURE.

- Jihan Thompson

When Morgan Craven first read the statistic that Black children in her city of Austin, Texas, make up just 7 percent of the kindergarten student population but account for 50 percent of out-of-school suspensions, she was shocked. How could kids so little be getting into so much trouble? It affirms the path of the Harvard Law grad who has become an outspoken advocate for children who are being criminalized at an early age for what’s often age-appropriate behavior: She’s now the director of the School-to-Prison Pipeline Project for the nonprofit Texas Appleseed.

ESSENCE: When did you become interested in social justice as a career?