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The Mis-Education of the Negro
Dr. Carter G. Woodson
Published in 1933
"How We Drifted From The Truth"
Chapter 3 Page 17
8 PagesA. Philosophical Background
1. Missionaries and philanthropist had more enthusiasm than knowledge.
2. They did not understand the task before them i.e., a move towards social uplifting rather than actual education. Aiming more for a transformation rather than a development of the Negro. Pg. 17
B. Traditional Curricula
1. The Negro was only considered as someone to be condemned or pitied.
2. Teachers of the emancipation period did not proclaim such doctrines, but the existing curricula justified it's inferences:
- a. In geography- no parts of the world is inhabited by the Black race.
- b. In languages-no respect for Negro dialect, no effort to study the language as a broken-down African tongue and African proverbs and folklore had no thoughts worth knowing. Pg. 19
- c. Art-Art started in Greece.
C. Need for a change
1. Negro teachers are powerless due to small numbers as members of the school boards.
2. Education of the Negro almost entirely in the hands of those who have enslaved and segregated him.
3. If you have 'mis-educated' Negroes in charge of education, it is doubtful the situation would undergo any rapid change.
Author's Notes
- 1. The mis-educated Negro functions as his mind was shaped.
- 2. Generations of Negro teachers have no higher purpose than to teach what they have been taught.
- 3. The Negro teacher is, in effect, a white teacher engaged.
- 4. A Negroe's mind has been perfectly enslaved in that he thinks what is desired of him.
- 5. Nothing is wrong with the Negro listening to the white man if the white man tells him what is right.
- 6. The Negro has been reduced to preaching and teaching. He must go down a blind alley to find a way out of these present difficulties.
End of Chapter 3
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