Bruce A. Jacobs

Author of "Race Manners" and a catalyst for positive social change

Bruce A. Jacobs is the rare social change advocate who both lays out the big issues of racial politics and equips us to handle them in everyday life. With his dynamic presence, his empathy with audiences, and the plain-spoken clarity of his book "Race Manners," Bruce is able to encourage people of good will to challenge bigotry and to work for our common benefit.

Few speakers connect with an audience as intimately as Bruce does. He urges people to question our media, to turn off today's "rage talk" shows, and to dare to have real conversations with friends, neighbors, and co-workers. In his speaking and in his writing, Bruce lays out a clear path for citizens to reclaim true discourse.

Bruce is a featured participant in “Race and Reconciliation in America,” a series of dialogues convened by former U.S. Senator William Cohen and racial justice advocate Janet Langhart Cohen. Owens Corning Corporation CEO Dave Brown said of Bruce, "Many of your comments stick with me daily. You made a difference." Toi Y. Carter, Assistant Vice President for Human Resources at Loyola College, said, "Bringing Mr. Jacobs to campus was one of the best decisions I've made in a long time. We were contemplating inviting him back even before his presentation was over. He and his book are catalysts for positive change." Bruce has also been praised by national diversity managers at Best Buy Co. as well as by nonprofits, community organizers, educators, and clergy. "Race Manners" was even read by the entire city of Toledo, Ohio, in an initiative led by the mayor.

Bruce, a Harvard graduate, has been on NPR, C-SPAN, Pacifica, and radio and television shows nationwide. He has spoken at scores of colleges, organizations, places of worship, and community gatherings from New York to Arizona to California.

"Race Manners" has been called “Enlightening and balanced...A 'Must-read’” by Los Angeles Times columnist Norine Dresser, and "A frank, intelligent guide" by Publishers Weekly. The book encourages and equips people to honestly confront racial assumptions, misunderstandings and hostilities in everyday life, and it breaks down the workings of racial prejudice in ways we can all understand.