Hamilton Book
Hamilton Examines the Fight for Educational Equality in Washington, D.C.
'Nothing Less Than Equality' Coming March 2026
Tikia K. Hamilton, PhD, assistant professor of history in Loyola University Chicago’s College of Arts and Sciences, is the author of Nothing Less Than Equality: The Battle Over Segregated Education in the Nation’s Capital.
In the book, Hamilton sheds light on how Black parents, teachers, activists, and community members fought for fair and equal education in the years leading up to Brown v. Board of Education. Published by the University of Chicago Press and scheduled for release in March 2026, the book examines the collective efforts African Americans undertook to challenge educational inequality and their ultimate decision to rally around the campaign for integration.
"After 15 years of working on my book, it is a dream come true to see it in print,” said Hamilton. “The stories that I tell are a testament to African Americans’ centuries-long belief that education is a powerful tool for liberation, beliefs that my parents, grandparents, and teachers have instilled in me. These values are important now more than ever, it seems.”
Through scholarly research and thoughtful storytelling, Nothing Less Than Equality shows that there was no single or simple road to Brown v. Board of Education. Hamilton reveals a rich and complex history shaped by debate, experimentation, and sustained activism, which offers important context for ongoing conversations about equity in education today.
“Dr. Hamilton’s work reminds us that meaningful change is often driven by everyday people organizing for fairness and opportunity,” said Peter J. Schraeder, PhD, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “Her scholarship reflects Loyola’s mission to examine history in ways that deepen our understanding of justice and community.”
“In an extraordinary analysis of differing Black strategies for educational equality in Washington D.C., Tikia Hamilton shines light on questions that continue to vex our unequal educational landscape,” said Mathan Biondi, a professor of history and the Lorraine H. Morton Professor of Black Studies at Northwestern University. “This pioneering work reveals the long afterlife of decades-old debates about equity, inclusion and rights.”
Hamilton’s research and courses at Loyola focus on African American history. She holds a PhD in history from Princeton University and a master’s degree in African American Studies from Columbia University. She earned her undergraduate degree in history from Dartmouth College as a Mellon Fellow and brings extensive experience teaching at the secondary and undergraduate levels, as well as working as an educational consultant.
About the College of Arts and Sciences
Founded in 1870, the College of Arts and Sciences is the oldest and largest of Loyola University Chicago’s 13 schools and colleges, serving as the academic home for nearly 8,000 students (roughly 50 percent of Loyola’s total student population). It is academically diverse with twenty academic departments that span an array of intellectual pursuits, ranging from the natural sciences and computational sciences to the humanities, the social sciences, and the fine and performing arts. It is also highly interdisciplinary with thirty-one interdisciplinary programs and seven interdisciplinary centers, including the mission-centric Jesuit Heritage Research Center and the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage. The College is home to over 450 full-time, award-winning faculty, who are committed to teaching and research excellence. They teach nearly 2,000 classes each semester, including 88 percent of all Core Curriculum classes taken by undergraduate students across the university. They also contribute to eleven doctoral programs whose graduates have helped propel Loyola starting in 2025 to R-1 research status (the highest research status a university can achieve). Our students and faculty are engaged internationally at our John Felice Rome Center in Italy, as well as at dozens of university-sponsored study abroad and research sites around the world. Home to the departments that anchor the university’s Core Curriculum, the College seeks to prepare all of Loyola’s students to think critically, to engage the world of the 21st century at ever-deepening levels, and to become caring and compassionate individuals. Our faculty, staff, and students view service to others not just as one option among many, but as a constitutive dimension of their very being. In the truest sense of the Jesuit ideal, our graduates strive to be “individuals for others.”
Tikia K. Hamilton, PhD, assistant professor of history in Loyola University Chicago’s College of Arts and Sciences, is the author of Nothing Less Than Equality: The Battle Over Segregated Education in the Nation’s Capital.
In the book, Hamilton sheds light on how Black parents, teachers, activists, and community members fought for fair and equal education in the years leading up to Brown v. Board of Education. Published by the University of Chicago Press and scheduled for release in March 2026, the book examines the collective efforts African Americans undertook to challenge educational inequality and their ultimate decision to rally around the campaign for integration.
"After 15 years of working on my book, it is a dream come true to see it in print,” said Hamilton. “The stories that I tell are a testament to African Americans’ centuries-long belief that education is a powerful tool for liberation, beliefs that my parents, grandparents, and teachers have instilled in me. These values are important now more than ever, it seems.”
Through scholarly research and thoughtful storytelling, Nothing Less Than Equality shows that there was no single or simple road to Brown v. Board of Education. Hamilton reveals a rich and complex history shaped by debate, experimentation, and sustained activism, which offers important context for ongoing conversations about equity in education today.
“Dr. Hamilton’s work reminds us that meaningful change is often driven by everyday people organizing for fairness and opportunity,” said Peter J. Schraeder, PhD, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “Her scholarship reflects Loyola’s mission to examine history in ways that deepen our understanding of justice and community.”
“In an extraordinary analysis of differing Black strategies for educational equality in Washington D.C., Tikia Hamilton shines light on questions that continue to vex our unequal educational landscape,” said Mathan Biondi, a professor of history and the Lorraine H. Morton Professor of Black Studies at Northwestern University. “This pioneering work reveals the long afterlife of decades-old debates about equity, inclusion and rights.”
Hamilton’s research and courses at Loyola focus on African American history. She holds a PhD in history from Princeton University and a master’s degree in African American Studies from Columbia University. She earned her undergraduate degree in history from Dartmouth College as a Mellon Fellow and brings extensive experience teaching at the secondary and undergraduate levels, as well as working as an educational consultant.
About the College of Arts and Sciences
Founded in 1870, the College of Arts and Sciences is the oldest and largest of Loyola University Chicago’s 13 schools and colleges, serving as the academic home for nearly 8,000 students (roughly 50 percent of Loyola’s total student population). It is academically diverse with twenty academic departments that span an array of intellectual pursuits, ranging from the natural sciences and computational sciences to the humanities, the social sciences, and the fine and performing arts. It is also highly interdisciplinary with thirty-one interdisciplinary programs and seven interdisciplinary centers, including the mission-centric Jesuit Heritage Research Center and the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage. The College is home to over 450 full-time, award-winning faculty, who are committed to teaching and research excellence. They teach nearly 2,000 classes each semester, including 88 percent of all Core Curriculum classes taken by undergraduate students across the university. They also contribute to eleven doctoral programs whose graduates have helped propel Loyola starting in 2025 to R-1 research status (the highest research status a university can achieve). Our students and faculty are engaged internationally at our John Felice Rome Center in Italy, as well as at dozens of university-sponsored study abroad and research sites around the world. Home to the departments that anchor the university’s Core Curriculum, the College seeks to prepare all of Loyola’s students to think critically, to engage the world of the 21st century at ever-deepening levels, and to become caring and compassionate individuals. Our faculty, staff, and students view service to others not just as one option among many, but as a constitutive dimension of their very being. In the truest sense of the Jesuit ideal, our graduates strive to be “individuals for others.”