In 1933 life in America was a daunting time for the African-American community, they had dealt with severe injustice coming from the hands of the oppressive U.S government, and lived in a nation that had treated them as second-class citizens. A man by the name of Dr. Carter G. Woodson recognized what was going on and documented what he detailed as the problems of the community and the cause and background to what was hindering the negros success in society in his book the Mis-Education of the Negro. The Mis-Education of Negro is a breathtaking tale detailing the plight of the African-American community, Dr. Woodson purveys his philosophy on everything that he felt was wrong with the Eurocentric education system and how it had failed the …show more content…
African-American community when it came to community, careers, education, motivation, and social stagnation. It shocking yet saddening that the mis-education of the negro is a book that is still relevant and applicable to the problems African Americans face today. Dr. Woodson begins the miseducation of the negro by discussing how the Eurocentric education provided to the negro is useless to them as they can’t use it as it becomes irrelevant to them. The Eurocentric based education system is cause for the American negro to become resentful of themselves as they are thought they are of an inferior race and that they have no history. This is cause for a lot of Negros obtaining an inferiority complex and lead to the self hatred of one's self and community. This has led to the thought process of black americans wanting to bleach their skins and completely isolate themselves from the black community in present day America In chapter 2 “How We Missed Our Mark” Dr. woodson begins to go in-depth on what is taught to the AMerican negro and how with the education being provided to the negro it isn’t producing an plethora of great thinkers or philosophers. Dr. Woodson also discusses the fact that even though the the negro is taught the knowledge of mathematics, science, literature, and languages they are no use because most negros work labor-intensive jobs so all they have been taught becomes irrelevant to their function in society. This is all contributed to the fact that the negro holds such low ranking in that society's social class. Chapter 3 follows the premise of Dr.
Woodson’s philosophy that if one warps a man’s past you in return misshape their future. Dr. Woodson goes on to talk about how the education that is pushed onto the negro is one that doesn’t take into account the contributions of the negro, when a system allows for this that system contributes to an harmful mentality that causes for the negro to be resentful in one self and believe that they are useless to society and makes the whites have a feeling of hatred towards the negro because they believe that the negro does nothing for the nation and are worthless to world. Chapter 4 “Education Under Outside Control” sees Dr woodson going on about how whites teaching in a negro school will not reap the same positive results as if an another negro teaching there. Dr. Woodson argues that because the white teacher couldn’t necessarily relate to the negro it would cause for the negro student to be unable to resonate with their teachings as tresult it couldn’t be considered a optimal learning environment for said student. It could be argued that because the white teacher doesn’t go through the same everyday struggles as the negro he wouldn’t best be able to present it to that …show more content…
student. In Chapter 5 Dr. Woodson explores the how Negroes in America are taught to become consumers instead of owners, that mentality is the cause for negroes in america to far further down the societal ladder as that allows for whites to have majority say so when it comes to the economy and where it comes to the hiring of negroes. If negroes aren’t owning business that would cause for the possibility for negroes to be placed in a position where they won’t get hired and give way for the negro community to be economically devastated as they won’t be able to gain any income without jobs. He states in the chapter that negroes feel that "If we invest our money in some enterprise of our own… those in charge will misuse or misappropriate it. I have learned from my study of economics that we had just as well keep on throwing it away." This mentality causes for the Negro businessman to never take risks and always find themselves at the hands of the white employer. When allowing white employer What Dr. Woodson quotes in chapter 5 pertains to an overlying factor that he discusses in chapters where it comes to the negro people believing where they spend their money will become misappropriated such, such example is the minister's and leaders referenced in chapters 11 and 12. Dr. Woodson gives example of leaders and pastors who frivolously take from the unknowing negro masses and exploit them for their own self gain, mean while letting it become known that he believed that the best thing for the community was to not be stuck following one person and instead have a community following and instead of public servants Dr. Woodson states that it would be best to obtain hirelings, people who are apart of the community that help out with an multitude of issues. This concept of having hirelings can be compared to the black panther party which would grow in prominence during the 70’s and 80’s. The black panthers were able to help protect the negro community and provided programs to help strengthen the negro community. One very noticeable topic that Dr. woodson tends to emphasis on in this book is the negro and the education of democracy, and politics, mainly in chapters 9, and 17. Dr. Woodson first touches on the role of the negro and democracy in chapter 9 where you talks about how the negro wasn’t taught about the U.S constitution and he felt that that was a large problem and wondered how could whites be mad at the negro for not being an large contributor to society when they were denied the rights to learn about the constitution. Dr. Woodson theorized that for the negro to be a more contributing factor to america they should be allowed to learn about politics to be able gain a sense of patriotism, because to become a functioning member in society you would need to be able to have a say in government and partake in government. Without patriotism one would not care to provide for a country because he has no love for that country and the lack of backing of a country leads to chaos within as shown in history many times before. While Dr. Woodson was adamant about allowing the negro to have a say in government whites believed that it would become a problem as the negro would be able to fight for their rights and that may lead to the inability of the whites to oppressed the negro. This would segue us to chapter 17 where he begins putting even more of an emphasis on negroes partaking in the government and politics by voting as that would allow them to create a change, he also states that the negro should not be barred to only voting on a specific party but off of basis of what the politician can do for the community and how can they help not only the black community but other communities that were not under represented but also being oppressed. This being the best way to bring positive change to the community especially if they were able to pair that effort with fully participating in the economy as that would give them the best opportunity to provide positive change to not only their community but also the their country. While on the topic of negroes partaking in the american economy we would have to discuss what was discussed in chapter 15 “Vocational Guidance” where Dr. Woodson had begun discussing how the education system was not preparing negro students for the workforce as they were supplied with inadequate and outdated tools used for the advancement of the negro students education. He felt there should be an need for a educational reform to help the advancement of the negro scholar as it would help in the long run as it pertained to the negro being able to function in the workforce. He also states how this should be able to teach the negro how to spend wisely and better manage their finances as this would lead to the the economic advancement of the negro community. This would allow for negroes to put forth into their own communities and allow for them to really build up their communities as they did in Tulsa, Oklahoma when it came to Black Wall Street and really build up the communities, something that the black community has still lacked in understanding in present day America. The most impactful chapter would have to be chapter 18 “The Study of The Negro” this being because it can be said this is the basis of why the negro community is in the position it is in today. Dr. Woodson goes back to talking about how the negro is taught to praise white achievements and inventions and their history while subconsciously hating their own. He begins doubling down on this as he discussed in earlier chapters 13, 3, and 1. This level of oppression is cause for the negro to resent himself and as a result believe he is completely inferior to the other races. This can directly be correlated with Cecilia Myrick study on ‘Facilitating African Identity Development” as they both go hand in hand detailing the psyche of the negro and their views on the African identity and/or heritage. Dr.Woodson was able to conclude that all the issues he discussed in his book led to the negros ability to be emboldened by his african history. This relates to the Myrick study because the Myrick study focuses on the impact of the mis-education of the African-American community meanwhile “The Mis-Education of the Negro” focuses on what led to the the African-American community to obtain this illogical belief. That being said it is utterly amazing how everything that was stated by Dr.
Woodson is still relevant to today, it honestly nerve racking to think that the mentality of the African-American community hasn’t changed much at all since the 1930’s. While that might not seem very long ago, it’s disappointing to know that even with all the information and studies available we haven’t been able to change much, even though we have came along ways from segregation, lynchings, and etc. One has troubles differentiating whom the blame should fall on, the education system, or our the African-American community or both. When thinking about it one may say the blame should be laid upon our education system as they have yet to implement black history in certain curriculums but, why hasn't the black community lobbied and pushed for the education system to add black history to a greater degree. As a community african Americans should push to build their own schools and start their own curriculums to help defend against the mis-education being pushed on the our
youth. With the emergence of the internet we are provided access to more information than ever before so why are we still in the same predicament that our great grandfathers had been? The Mis-Education of the negro is an extremely powerful book that explains some of the problems of the black community and what is causing for us to be set so far below the bar in American society. For this book to still be able to be relevant in present day america presents the real impact and current reality of the “Mis-Education of The Negro”
My verbal visual essay is based on the novel The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill. The aspect of the novel I decided to focus on is the protagonist, Amniata Diallo.
For in an extraordinary career spanning three crucial decades, the man and the history became one, so much so that it is impossible to deal with the history of black people without touching, at some point, the personal history of Carter Woodson, who taught the teachers, transformed the vision of the masses and became, almost despite himself, an institution, a cause and a month. One could go further and say that the scientific study of black history began with Woodson, who almost single-handedly created the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History and the prestigious Journal of Negro History. Not content with these achievements, he ventured into the field of mass education, creating the annual black history celebrations.
This devotion was paralleled in his book, Mis-Education of the Negro. Woodson, ultimately, wants to eliminate prejudice. “Stereotypes, omissions, and distortions all contribute to the development of prejudice” says Tatum (2013, pg. 65). He starts off talking about what happened with the period right after the Civil War. Even though the African-Americans were “free”, no one took responsibility to educate them formally. So naturally, they could only do one thing and that was to form their own schools, businesses, and churches. However, the only works and doctrines that were available were written by white people in the eurocentric view. Woodson (1933) claims, “The Negroes have been shoved out of the regular schools through the rear door into the obscurity of the backyard and told to imitate others whom they see from afar, or they have been permitted in some places to come into the public schools to see how others educate themselves”. This made the blacks adopt a sense of learned helplessness. Tatum (2013) stated, "The impact of racism begins early. Even in our preschool years, we are exposed to misinformation about people different from ourselves" (pg. 65). From an early age, professions were picked out for these African-American children. The materials that were used in black schools were different than those in white schools
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is a prime example of Woodson’s argument on “miseducated” blacks. Although Thomas benefitted from programs like affirmative action, once he reached the high point in his career he supported legislature to end such programs. Hampton University and other Historically Black Colleges and Universities must take it upon themselves to teach their students the importance of contributing to their communities once they graduate and enter into the business world. Colleges like Hampton, Howard, Spelman and Morehouse have the opportunity to produce professionals that can restructure and save the black community. Students who graduate from these institutions have the resources and knowledge that are needed to revive the African American community and their economy. Black colleges must educate their students on the need for black businesses, role models and the importance of staying connected to their culture and community.
It is impossible for anyone to survive a horrible event in their life without a relationship to have to keep them alive. The connection and emotional bond between the person suffering and the other is sometimes all they need to survive. On the other hand, not having anyone to believe in can make death appear easier than life allowing the person to give up instead of fighting for survival. In The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill, Aminata Diallo survives her course through slavery by remembering her family and the friends that she makes. Aminata is taught by her mother, Sira to deliver babies in the villages of her homeland. This skill proves to be very valuable to Aminata as it helps her deliver her friends babies and create a source of income. Aminata’s father taught Aminata to write small words in the dirt when she was small. Throughout the rest of the novel, Aminata carries this love for learning new things to the places that she travels and it inspires her to accept the opportunities given to her to learn how to write, read maps, and perform accounting duties. Early in the novel Aminata meets Chekura and they establish a strong relationship. Eventually they get married but they are separated numerous times after. Aminata continuously remembers and holds onto her times with Chekura amidst all of her troubles. CHILDREN. The only reason why Aminata Diallo does not die during her journey into and out of slavery is because she believes strongly in her parents, husband and children; therefore proving that people survive hardships only when they have relationships in which to believe.
The African-American Years: Chronologies of American History and Experience. Ed. Gabriel Burns Stepto. New York: Charles Scribner 's Sons, 2003.
“The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife, – this longing to attain self-consciousness, manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message f...
Source: The Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 82, No. 2, The 33rd Annual Charles H.
The year was 1915, Carter G. Woodson had recently traveled from Washington D.C to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of emancipation. This gave him and thousands of other African Americans the ability to appreciate displays highlighting the progress African Americans had made since the abolishment of slavery. This occasion inspired Woodson and four others to form the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now Association for the Study of African American Life and History or ASALH). This organization’s purpose was to recognize and promote the accomplishments and history of African Americans that often went unnoticed. In 1916, Woodson created The Journal of Negro History in hopes that it would familiarize people with the findings and achievements of African Americans. But Woodson wanted more; he wanted all people to celebrate and be aware of the great things African Americans had and were accomplishing. He wanted both whites and blacks to have strong, positive affiliations. Woodson decided the best way to accomplish these things was to create Negro Achievement Week.
From reading the book, I have developed my own stance that the book education system is similar to today’s education system. I can relate with the text because I have noticed most of my history fails to mention successes of the Negroes. In fact, I was astonished that Dr. George Washington Carver had invented peanut butter. I can relate to chapter four’s solution because in my school system, Teach For America teachers who were from different areas and ethnic backgrounds were ill equipped to teach African American students while an older teacher would be able to raise test scores and teach students
In Cornell West reading on Dilemma of the black intellectual; West discussed three major points about the black intellectual: On becoming a black intellectual, black intellectuals and the black community, the future of the black intellectual. West also discussed on the black intellectual are as humanist. The Dilemma of the black intellectual is beyond and above the racist heritage according to West. The Dilemma of the black intellectual is a reflection of ones culture since the beginning of human race. Whites used black’s intellectual as a mnemonic device to imprint vital inhabits to isolated and insulated world of blacks minds through history.
Nabrit, James M. Jr. “The Relative Progress and the Negro in the United States: Critical Summary and Evaluation.” Journal of Negro History 32.4 (1963): 507-516. JSTOR. U of Illinois Lib., Urbana. 11 Apr. 2004
In the period after Reconstruction the position of African Americans in southern American society steadily deteriorated. After 1877 the possibilities of advancements for African Americans disappeared almost completely. African Americans experienced a loss of voting rights and political power created by methods of terrorization such as lynching. The remaining political and economic gains that were made during reconstruction were eventually whittled away by Southern legislation. By the 1900s African Americans had almost no access to political, social, or economic power. Shortly after this Jim Crow laws began to emerge, segregating blacks and whites. This dramatic transition from African American power to powerlessness after reconstruction gave birth to two important leaders in the African American community, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. Although these two remarkable men were both in search of a common goal, their roads leading to this goal were significantly different. This is most evident in the two most important documents of the men’s careers: Booker T. Washington’s, “1895 Atlanta Exposition Speech” and W.E.B. DuBois’ response to this, “The Souls of Black Folks.” These two men were both dedicated to solving the difficult problems African Americans experienced in the post reconstruction south. Both DuBois and Washington wanted economic prosperity for African Americans but they differed on what would be done to achieve this. Both men focused on education as a key to the improvement of black life but they differed on the form education should take. The true difference in these men’s extremely different routes to better the lives of African Americans after reconstruction was a product of their extremely different backgrounds. In this essay I will examine the documents, “1895 Atlanta Exposition Speech” by Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois’, “The Souls of Black Folks” in order to determine the paths that each of these men took towards the advancement of African Americans, and the reasons behind these methods.
Although the author provides many personal accounts of success among the black race, the macro view of the Southern perception of blacks are not examined in his work. However, the work provides an excellent source of reference to one of the two sides of the black education discussion during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. The author in his work, Up from Slavery, successfully conveys his beliefs that blacks should prepare themselves for the real-world experiences they would face through an industrial education.
The American society, more so, the victims and the government have assumed that racism in education is an obvious issue and no lasting solution that can curb the habit. On the contrary, this is a matter of concern in the modern era that attracts the concern of the government and the victims of African-Americans. Considering that all humans deserve the right to equal education. Again, the point here that there is racial discrimination in education in Baltimore, and it should interest those affected such as the African Americans as well as the interested bodies responsible for the delivery of equitable education, as well as the government. Beyond this limited audience, on the other hand, the argument should address any individual in the society concerned about racism in education in Baltimore and the American Society in