The Mis-Education of the Negro Paperback – September 16, 2009

Great book and gives you a good learning lesson

"The Negro, whether in Africa or America, must be directed toward a serious examination of the fundamentals of education, religion, literature, and philosophy as they have been expounded to him. He must be sufficiently enlightened to determine for himself whether these forces have come into his life to bless him or bless his oppressor. After learning the facts in the case the Negro must develop the power of execution to deal with these matters as do people of vision." ~ Carter G. WoodsonCarter G. Woodson proposed this notion in the context of outlining a plan for advancing racial education through the development of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH). In this sentiment, we can discern a challenge from Woodson to begin interpreting historical phenomena in a manner that establishes its measurable utility for influencing black people to claim full agency in altering their own condition. While making a comparative reading between this text and "The Souls of Black Folks", conversations I encountered with others led me to the conclusion that many have not afforded the most popular single thesis by Woodson the thorough examination required. While the language is often less florid than DuBois, the analysis offered here is no less comprehensive and lends itself to neither imitation nor repetition of the facts elucidated previously in "The Souls of Black Folks". Through his work as a historian, Woodson uses an incisive reading of the history of Negro education from the Reconstruction period forward to bolster the argument that it has been improperly administered by others to the detriment of black people. This injustice would only be resolved when we took ownership of creating the input and defining the outcome.While the text opens by focusing its attention upon the process of miseducation, Woodson expands the diameter of the discussion markedly with each new chapter to display how this process takes root in each aspect of Negro life impacting the church, political ambitions, business sector, vision, and leadership. The argument he constructs finds him squarely balanced between Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois and Marcus Garvey. While he endorses the fierce work ethic Washington sought to make the hallmark of black people, he rejects a servile acceptance of the permanent social underclass. His devotion to an educational system which nourishes black identity and intellect at every level builds upon the work of DuBois, but he admonishes educated Negroes to pair their higher learning with the grassroots service still being performed by those lesser educated. In practice, this pairing of ideas and implementation would form the framework for an independent community enterprise. Throughout the text he exudes the fierce nationalism exemplified in the Garveyite philosophy, but differs upon the subject of repatriation.Amongst the most astute observations offered here comes in a discourse on Marxism where he states "History shows that it does not matter who is in power or what revolutionary forces take over the government, those who have not learned to do for themselves and have to depend solely on others never obtain any more rights or privileges in the end than they had in the beginning." The insight Woodson offers on this matter would later prove prescient when we saw our leftist alliances of the Renaissance crumble upon the realization that they held no serious desire to address racism within their ranks. This other facet of miseducation arising in the black community then being the dynamic adoption of new philosophies with no strategic or tactical analysis of merit or usefulness. In summation, Woodson offers us one of the many early attempts at developing a black social theory which draws upon the most valuable assets our community while exhorting us to take serious measures in addressing its liabilities.His legacy of Negro History Week which later evolves into Black History Month is not born of a desire to give either ourselves or America a concession that equality has been achieved nor are we to be cavalier in our observance of this milestone. Negro History Week was to be a first stage towards the objective of building black institutions that could both educate children in their history being overlooked and afford them opportunities and avenues to expand upon that legacy. Cases in Arizona and Tennessee have given us a clear lens into the peculiar quality of American forgetfulness which occurs when a synthesized and complete historical record is not the way an educated mind is measured. As this forgetfulness becomes more pervasive, we must return to the work of Carter G. Woodson, Lorenzo Johnston Greene and the pioneers of varying strains of Black Studies whom arose post-Civil Rights for a template that will guide us back to the goal of establishing independent systems of education where the curriculum is not dictated to us, but decided by our own best assessment of the needs of our communities.Bobby Wright offered us possibly the most sage insight on our renewed ethnic education debate in stating "Education is a political dynamic and for a people who have no social theory, reading, writing and arithmetic should be much less important than what is written and read." "The Miseducation of the Negro" is an opening gambit in helping us to shift that political dynamic in another direction, but only if we read it again with a far more critical eye than we have applied in the past for miseducation has implications which extend far beyond the classroom.

I remember reading this book, some 40 or more years ago, and like with so many things when you read something that you read years in the past, you find things that you missed, or you don’t remember reading in the prior reading years. Still phenomenal book, And unfortunately much of what was going on when the book was actually written still takes place today. So the question is what have we gained as a People?.

It took me awhile to finish this book for many reasons. At first it was boring then became more interesting. Then I had to slow down to fully understand what I was reading. Nevertheless I am glad I finished it and I certainly learned a lot.

The media could not be loaded.  Loved this jewel of a book! It shares just how history hasn't been told as it should have been and just how far we have drifted from the truth.

I love books like this, that reminds me that this is our history!

Carter G. Woodson knew back then that African-Americans were confronted with how to support one another, if at all. Although, the original book is decades old, the topics in the book are still fresh and relevant to African-Americans today. How can a person uplift another if he or she is not sincerely invested in the uplift of a community. Carter G. Woodson describes different types of Black people and how to uplift a community.

Highly recommend

This book gives an insight into the lives of black folks in the 1920’s-1930’s in America. Definitely would recommend!

It is a classic that is as pertinent now as when it was first published. Although, Woodson primarily focuses on the African American his book serves to address and call out the need for Black people across the world to appreciate and take action to halt the continued attempts by institutionally racist organisations to hamper their educational growth and general progress.

This book is very useful to understand weaknesses of the negro's education. Actually, negroes aren't taught to do things for themselves. Black people must build their own schools, business and organizations.They also must strengthen black businesses. This book contains facts that still exist today. It's a book to be read !

This is a beautiful book every African -American and African should read.

In 1933 Woodson creates a blueprint for success within a capitalistic and oppressive society. However he cannot have predicted the ongoing tragedies that would be put on the children of Africa by non-coloured people.Woodson words ring true today and his advice can still be used as a blue print as we have come so far but yet not far enough to escape the legacies of mis-education that still occurs as I write this.