The Mis~Education of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson

Chapter Two: How We Missed the Mark

"How we arrived at the present state of affairs can be understood only by studying the forces effective in the development of Negro education since it was systematically undertaken immediately after Emancipation"

-- We can only understand why things are the way they are by studying the past. The undertaking of educating Black people, after slavery was declared illegal, is critical to understanding our education today.

"The poverty which afflicted them for a generation after Emancipation held them down to the lowest order of society, nominally free but economically enslaved"

--Even after the slaves were free, they were still the lowest of the social order, because they were deeply impoverished.

"He was spending his time studying about the things which had been or might be, but he was learning little to help him to do better the tasks at hand"

--The things that Black people were learning were of little practical use to them.

"The Negro trained in the advanced phases of literature, philosophy, and politics has been unable to develop far in using his knowledge because of having to function in the lower spheres of the social order"

--Please tell me how memorizing Shakespeare, reciting Plato, or admiring Jefferson will help to solve the Black dilemma.

"Advanced knowledge of science, mathematics and languages, moreover, has not been much more useful except for mental discipline because of the dearth of opportunity to apply such knowledge among people who were largely common laborers or peons on the plantations"

--Again, the Pythagorean Theorem is not going to help me figure out how to properly budget a low-income family. It might help build yet another set of prison-like housing projects..but it won't help the people get out.



"The extent to which such higher education has been successful in leading the Negro to think, which above all is the chief purpose of education, has merely made him more of a malcontent when he can sense the drift of things and appreciate the impossibility of success in visioning conditions as they really are"

--This is one of my favorite quotes so far. The chief purpose of education is to train one to think. So far, the educational system has failed. We have not learned how to think; we have merely learned how to serve a master apart from ourselves.

"They have not risen to the heights of black men farther removed from the influences of slavery and segregation"

-- We have not yet risen to the standards set by the old greats such as Nzinga the Warrior princess or Mansa Musa.




"Even men like Roland Hayes and Henry O. Tanner have risen to the higher levels by getting out of this country to relieve themselves of our stifling traditions and to recover from their education"

--These men realized this, and left...it must have served them well.

The Mis~Education of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson

Chapter 1: The Seat of Trouble

"The 'educated Negroes' have the attitude of contempt toward their own people because in their own as well as in their mixed schools Negroes are taught to admire the Hebrew, the Greek, the Latin and the Teuton and to despise the African"

---This would explain why a lot of Black people are self-hating. They had to learn it from somewhere. Perhaps it is taught at home and reinforced in school.


"Practically all of the successful Negroes in this country are of the uneducated type or of that of Negroes who have had no formal education at all"

--My parents are living proof. Neither of them graduated from college, yet we are economically comfortable and more well off than a lot of college graduates or "educated" Black people.


"As another has well said, to handicap a student by teaching him that his black face is a curse and that his struggle to change his condition is hopeless is the worst sort of lynching. It kills one's aspirations and dooms him to vagabondage and crime"

--I agree. If you are taught that you are worthless, then you will become a self-fulfilling prophecy and do things that "worthless" people would do.


"Why not exploit, enslave, or exterminate a class that everybody is taught to regard as inferior?"

--Nobody would care, nobody would fight it, nobody would miss them. Look what happened to the Jews...they were systematically verbally and mentally abused, until they accepted their lower status and were sent to concentration camps with little to no significant (to my knowledge) resistance or assistance, until later.


"In the schools of business administration Negroes are trained exclusively in the psychology and economics of Wall Street and are, therefore, made to despise the opportunities to run ice wagons, push banana carts, and sell peanuts among their own people. Foreigners, who have not studied economics but have studied Negroes, take up this business and grow rich"

VS

--The Koreans DOMINATE the Black hair care business. Why? Because they come here and notice that we are deeply concerned and even obsessed with our hair. They don't have to get a degree in economics to see this. So they start their own business, and make their living off of us. Same thing with Chinese food. Black people are afraid to start their own businesses, and when we do, other Black people don't even really want to support, except a few.

"The differentness of races, moreover, is no evidence of superiority or inferiority. This merely indicates that each race has certain gifts which the others do not possess. It is by the development of these gifts that every race must justify its right to exist"

--I'm not sure how much I agree that every race must justify its right to exist. Probably because I am still undecided about what I define as a race, and because everyone has the right to exist, regardless of race or ethnicity. That being said, I do agree that different does not mean superior or inferior.

And It Begins....

I like to be what some would call an active reader. So as I endeavor to read these wonderful books, I'll be recording my thoughts and noteworthy quotes. I guess you could call it an analysis or a commentary. Either way, add comments as you'd like. Even if you disagree with my opinion, let me know why...healthy debate is great!


And it begins...

with The Mis~Education of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson.



Author's Profile:

Carter G. Woodson was a very active, ambitious, admirable man with many wonderful achievements under his belt. I would much rather my brothers emulate a man such as him than someone like "Lil Wayne" or "Fifty Cent". They would get much farther in life, and our people would get even further.

Some things about him that stuck out to me, paraphrased:

-He was a teacher and later became a principle. In 1921 he became the Dean at West Virginia State College.
-He had a thirst for knowledge
-He traveled to different places and used those experiences for the betterment of his people
-He was an author
-He founded Black History Week
-He never married a woman but said he was married to his work
-He was an initiator...he founded the Association for the study of Negro life which later became the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History
-He knew that European learning was not enough and not nearly conducive to the success of Black people


Introduction

There were some interesting facts, quotes, questions, and statistics in this section..

"The genius of Woodson is that he knew this behavior is logical. If you are educated by people, White or Black who are victims of White supremacy, you will hate yourself. You will possess a European definition of beauty, a White image of Jesus, despise Black professionals and business and go to any length to be accepted by the oppressor."

"How do we explain having in excess of two million African-Americans with college degrees, earn almost $600 billion annually, and the African American community is in shambles?"

"How can foreigners make more money in the Black community than African Americans?"

"Why do we only spend three percent of our money with African American businesses?"

"What explains less than 30 percent of African American families connected to cyberspace in contrast to almost 70 percent of White families including poor Whites in trailer homes?"

"How can African American families own big screen televisions, but no computers?"

"Can you imagine people who built the first civilization and the architects of math, science, philosophy, medicine, religion, and the arts associate academic success with their oppressor?"

"White supremacy can be destroyed with Africentricity"

"Self-hatred can be destroyed with self-love"

"African people must immerse themselves in their history and culture"

"Did we honestly believe that an oppressive school system would transmit the skills to become a doctor, while simultaneously teaching Imhotep was the first?"

"Read this book, free your mind, build institutions, and save your people"