I first moved to rural Eastern North Carolina in 2011 as a Teach for America corps member. Up until then, I had only lived in cities and suburbs. My parents, both immigrants from India, always stressed the importance of education, so I dutifully attended the best educational institutions I could access, including Princeton, Stanford, and Yale. However, my first real American history lesson happened when I arrived in Northampton County to my classroom across from a peanut field. It felt like...