The Mis-Education of the Negro

The Mis-Education of the Negro

“When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to tell him not to stand here or yonder. He will find his proper place and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary.”

-Carter G. Woodson

The Mis-education of Negros is written by Carter Goodwin Woodson. It is a book that consists of facts regarding the development of Negro education. It was published originally in 1933. African Americans were being indoctrinated culturally, instead of being taught in American schools. This causes the Negros to then become dependent on places greater in the society.

        I learned from this book that you should do for yourself rather than what you have been taught. If you always depend on others you will not gain more rights than what you started with. If your thinking is controlled, then they will already know what actions you will take. Negros were taught that their race wouldn’t meet the level of the other races. The educated Negro finds it hard to like his own race.  For example, he would rather buy food from a white man, because their hands are cleaner. This is because he was taught a Negros hands could ever be cleaned. Which shows me how much can affect an education can have on a person.

In mixed schools Negros are taught to admire the Hebrew and despise the African. Only 18 high schools offered the history of the Negro out of the hundreds of Negro schools. Schools may be teaching the same subject, but it is taught from a different point of view. Also, known as the white man’s point of view.

        In a summer teaching it was taught that whites were superior to blacks. This was an example of inferiority and the way some teachers want you to learn. Many scholars were trained in universities of the south. Negros had to learn to stay in their place. Lynching was a highly common thing. Even if a Negro graduated they had little to no training. Teachers should be lifting up their students, but back in the day they were trying to get the Negros to imitate the whites and their success. This led to the stocking trade agreement, which was a controversy between the differences of black and white. Some Negros feel the need to be uplifted, but to be educated they need to start uplifting. Woodson therefore figured that each race has different strength and upsides. The gifts they possess, has to be justified or people won’t know about it.