A MAGNUM OPUS FILMS COLLABORATIVE PROJECT
EDUCATOR/ACTIVIST
I am Jesse Hagopian aka JD LeNoir, an educator, author, and activist dedicated to advancing antiracist education and social justice. My work centers on empowering students, challenging systemic inequities, and promoting truth-telling in classrooms and communities. Through writing, teaching, organizing, and public speaking, I strive to inspire critical thinking, resistance, and the pursuit of a more just and equitable future.
Visit my official "I AM AN EDUCATOR" website.
MY STORY
Jesse Hagopian is an award-winning educator, author, and activist who has dedicated his career to fighting for antiracist education and social justice in schools. A veteran teacher with over two decades of experience in public schools, Jesse is the co-editor of the groundbreaking books Teaching for Black Lives and Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice. His new book, Teach Truth: The Struggle for Antiracist Education, has been hailed by Kirkus Reviews as “Inspirational…a well-researched case promoting the value of antiracist education” and “a compelling account of how a politically and economically powerful minority has been able to enact book bans and curriculum censorship.”
Jesse is the director of the Zinn Education Project’s Teaching for Black Lives Campaign, an editor for Rethinking Schools magazine, and a member of the national steering committee of the Black Lives Matter at School movement.
His writing, organizing, and activism have been recognized with numerous awards, including the Racial Justice Teacher of the Year award from the NAACP Youth Coalition, the Social Justice Teacher of the Year award from Seattle Public Schools’ Department of Racial Equity, the Abe Keller Foundation award for excellence and innovation in peace education, and the Courageous Leadership award from the Academy of Education Arts and Sciences. Hagopian is a columnist for Truthout.org, an Education Fellow at The Progressive magazine, a winner of the the Seattle/King County NAACP Service Award, and was named a Cultural Freedom Fellow by the Lannan Foundation for his nationally recognized work promoting critical thinking and opposing high-stakes testing.
Jesse is a sought-after speaker whose presentations on antiracist education, truth-telling in schools, Black history, and the fight against censorship have inspired audiences at universities, conferences, and community events across the country. His activism or commontary has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, The New Yorker, CNN, Democracy Now!, NPR, The Nation, HBO, NBC, The Wall Street Jounal.
Jesse’s impact extends beyond the classroom—he is also an accomplished musician, blending the power of blues music with stories of struggle and resistance, and a co-producer of the award-winning documentary Where I Got My Name: A Story of Struggle and Self-Discovery.
Whether writing, speaking, or organizing, Jesse remains committed to the belief that public education must be a site of resistance—a place where we struggle until all students are welcomed, valued, and empowered to imagine a more just and free future.
The Blue Tide is the acoustic blues collaboration of lifelong friends J.D. Lenoir (Jesse Hagopian) and Daniel Rapport. Their sound is rooted in the classic delta blues tradition while their lyrics and attitude are firmly in the present.
