The Mis-Education of the Negro

“The mere imparting of information is not education.” 

Though Woodson frequently criticizes the US education system for its racist inferences and racist teachers, he also discusses the overall negative structure of schools in that they simply “impart” information rather than teaching students how to critically think. Later in the text, Woodson describes Black people who have received higher education but cannot examine their society and draw their own conclusions about it. Woodson believes it is the role of education to support students to develop in this way, and that the United States is currently failing in that regard. 

“The differentness of races, moreover, is no evidence of superiority or of 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.”

Not every theorist would agree with all of Woodson’s beliefs about race and racism. In this particular assertion, which is noted in several places throughout the text, it is obvious that Woodson had some strong ideas about the differences between races yet also believed that there should not be a system of “superiority or of inferiority.” This kind of thinking is also reflected later in Woodson’s claims that Black people should be especially nurtured for their artistic talents. 

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

A critical aspect of Woodson’s historical and social context is that he lived and wrote post-Emancipation. In this quote, Woodson describes that context with great clarity, describing the complex situation created for Black citizens after being freed but still remaining “economically enslaved.” This is a vital part of Woodson’s larger critique; without understanding that Black people remained in an oppressed situation due to their economic conditions, it would be harder to understand why it would have been difficult to find uplift via education.

“If these institutions are to be the replica of universities like Harvard, Yale, Columbia and Chicago, if the men who are to administer them and teach in them are to be the products of roll-top desk theorists who have never touched the life of the Negro, the money thus invested will be just as profitably spent if it is used to buy peanuts to throw at the animals in a circus.” 

Woodson repeatedly calls into question the teachers of Black students, both in public schools and in institutions of higher education. Here, he uses a hyperbolic analogy to illustrate how useless an education would be if it is started and maintained by people with little to no understanding to “the life of the Negro” (31). Within this time period, it is likely that Woodson was including this assertion to push back against people who would have been proponents of starting more colleges or universities for Black people; to Woodson it was critical that if these institutions were to exist, they would be spaces of genuine learning and advancement for the Black community. 

“It is very clear, then, that if Negroes got their conception of religion from slaveholders, libertines, and murderers, there may be something wrong about it, and it would not hurt to investigate it. It has been said that the Negroes do not connect morals with religion. The historian would like to know what race or nation does such a thing. Certainly the whites with whom the Negroes have come into contact have not done so.” 

In one of his most explicit critiques, Woodson describes the irony of following a theological system that emphasizes “morals” yet is created and followed by “slaveholders, libertines, and murderers” (48). This is an example of a rhetorical strategy that Woodson employs sparingly, which is to point blatantly at the hypocrisy of violent, harmful White people who claim superiority without actual evidence to support them. In moments like this, Woodson challenges readers to shift their perspective on systems that are largely taken for granted in the United States, like Christianity.

“So who wants a book written by a Negro about one?”

One of the issues with creating appropriate curriculum, Woodson illustrates, is the fact that Black people have not been considered appropriate authors, even of their own experience. Instead, White people have been consistently placed as the superior and more expert in all professional fields, including sociology, anthropology, and history. Woodson articulates the need for more curriculum that directly addresses and attends to the context of Black people, including books written by Black authors. 

“If you can control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his action.”

This oft-quoted statement from Woodson’s text is part of the core of his arguments. Through education, he argues, Black people’s thinking is controlled through racist curriculum and teaching practices, which leads Black people to remain firmly in an inferior status and context in the United States. Through textbooks rooted in propaganda and teachers who are untrained and racist in their intentions (whether they know it or not), Black people receive an education that keeps them from thinking critically about the world around them.

“By special legislation providing for literacy tests and the payment of taxes their numbers of voters has been reduced to a negligible quantity, and the few who can thus function do not do so because they are often counted out when they have the deciding vote.”

Although he does not focus on this issue at length, Woodson does reference the Black community’s lack of political power as part of the problem when it comes to public education. After a brief period post-Emancipation during which Black people obtained a fair amount of political power, White people swiftly retaliated with violence and political scheming to reverse this in the negative. The result of these policies, some of which are described by Woodson in this quote, was to successfully disenfranchise the Black community politically. 

“At one moment Negroes fight for the principle of democracy, and at the very next moment they barter it away for some temporary advantage.” 

Woodson’s text often appears critical of the Black community, yet his argument is far more complex than that. Instead, Woodson is describing the embattlement of a community where people are forced to decide between “the principle of democracy” and “some temporary advantage.” The far-reaching consequences of White supremacy make it so that Black people are constantly having to negotiate between safety in the moment and long-term security. Woodson believes that part of the solution to this dilemma is to recreate the educational system so that Black people can find the real solutions they need. 

“If we can finally succeed in translating the idea of leadership into that of service, we may soon find it possible to lift the Negro to a higher level.” 

Woodson is a firm believer in the value of an attitude of service; he criticizes leaders of the Black community like preachers and politicians who obtain positions of power only to turn their backs on the needs of the community. Instead, Woodson argues that these public figures should act in service to their community; if this were to happen, Woodson believes it could lift the whole Black community “to a higher level.”

“This refusal of Negroes to take orders from one another is due largely to the fact that slaveholders taught their bondmen that they were as good or better than any others and, therefore, should not be subjected to any member of their race.”

Woodson references the effects of enslavement throughout the text; this is one of the more profound conclusions he draws. Not only has White supremacy caused negative impacts on the public education system, but these impacts are in relation to the messages given to Black people during the period that they were subjected to enslavement by White people. By connecting these two, Woodson firmly roots his argument that the United States education system is failing Black people because of its underlying intentions and set-up, not because of unintentional or individual causes. 

“You cannot serve people by giving them orders as to what to do. The real servant of the people must live among them, think with them, feel for them, and die for them.”

Woodson expands on his emphasis on the idea of public servitude here, arguing that true change will only come when leaders are willing to “live among” the people and truly exist with them. This is an attitude that Woodson demonstrated in his own life; through his tireless efforts he achieved many of the steps towards progress that he hoped for the Black community. This value is in opposition to a White supremacist system that believes in hierarchy, segregation, and subjugation.

“If the Negro is to be elevated he must be educated in the sense of being developed from what he is, and the public must be so enlightened as to think of the Negro as a man.” 

Woodson summarizes two core points of his text here: first, that education must support the genuine development of Black people, and second, that a larger cultural shift must take place so that White people can value Black people as citizens and full people. These are complimentary arguments; without the one the other cannot successfully take place. To some extent, Woodson is also articulating here that Black people must think of themselves differently, which is a point echoed in other moments throughout the text.

“Propaganda has gone far ahead of history.”

One of the greatest dangers of the US educational system, to Woodson, is how it misrepresents history, both in the United States and beyond. As a result of this “propaganda,” all students, both White and Black, receive an affirming of the positions they have been assigned in society; White people learn that they are supposed to be superior, and Black people are taught that they should accept an inferior status. Woodson advocates firmly for the removal of this propaganda from schools. 

“In the first place, we must bear in mind that the Negro has never been educated. He has merely been informed about other things which he has not been permitted to do.” 

Woodson describes the failure of curriculum and the failure of schools in general to provide Black people with an education that permits them to see themselves succeeding as professional members of society. Woodson repeatedly emphasizes the tension that occurs when a Black person receives an education and then attempts to enter into the professional sphere, where he is not actually “permitted” to perform alongside White people. 

“But can you expect teachers to revolutionize the social order for the good of the community? Indeed we must expect this very thing. The educational system of a country is worthless unless it accomplishes this task.”

Despite his earlier critiques of White missionaries who fail at teaching Black students in the South, Woodson later shifts to advocating for teachers who can “revolutionize the social order” through education. Earlier in the book, Woodson describes the limitations of teachers because of the inherent biases of the curriculum; even well-intentioned teachers might perpetuate racism because of the ideas present in what they are teaching. As a result, Woodson believes that it is necessary both to change the curriculum as well as to make sure that the people who are educating have a critical lens and are willing to be revolutionary in their approach.

“In theology, literature, social science, and education, however, radical reconstruction is necessary.”

Towards the conclusion of the text, Woodson begins articulating, though broadly, about the specific changes he believes are necessary to effectively change the curriculum taught in public schools. He describes that in many fields, specifically those listed here, “radical reconstruction” of what is taught must occur. In these fields, as well as in history, Woodson believes that there must be greater representation as well as a correction of the inaccuracies that are present as propaganda. 

“The large majority of persons supposedly teaching Negroes never carry to the schoolroom any thought as to improving their condition.” 

It is important that teachers of Black students believe in their uplift and possibility, yet as Woodson repeatedly points out, many of the teachers who work with Black students in public schools do not believe in this mission. This is a horrible irony to Woodson, because it is impossible to improve someone’s condition if one does not believe it is possible or does not think about it at all. If the education system is to be more equitable, Woodson believes in only having teachers who can genuinely understand and work with Black students. 

“We spend much time in slavish imitation, but our white friends strike out along new lines.” 

Woodson spends some time critiquing the economic limitations imposed by Black people on themselves. Rather than taking risks when possible, Woodson states that Black people spend their hard-earned money on material things, thus imitating but not actually attaining the success of White people in similar positions. Woodson cites examples of White people who took great economic gambles to build their fortunes and questions why Black people have not done the same. 

“The Negro needs to become radical, and the race will never amount to anything until it does become so, but this radicalism should come from within.” 

Woodson believes that Black people have the capacity to engage in their own radical struggle and win the outcomes they want. Rather than looking to White people to change, Woodson describes the necessity of the Black community becoming “radical […] from within.” This kind of attitude is reflected in other ways throughout Woodson’s text: It is Black people who can understand their community best and thus should be the people serving towards the uplift of that community, both in education and in other spheres.

“The oppressor has always indoctrinated the weak with this interpretation of the crimes of the strong.” 

In this broader philosophical statement, Woodson summarizes one of his central claims about US education and asserts his position that White people are performing an indoctrination through schools. The “interpretation of the crimes of the strong” is the same propaganda referenced earlier in the text: By providing misinformation and inaccurate retellings, White people justify their violence and social superiority without necessarily perpetrating the same crimes of the past. 

“It is a most satisfactory system, and it has become so popular that European nations of foresight are sending some of their brightest minds to the United States to observe the Negro in ‘inaction’ in order to learn how to deal likewise with Negroes in their colonies.” 

Woodson describes the consequences of White supremacy’s success in the United States. As European countries began copying methods of oppression from the United States, broader crimes were perpetrated across the globe against other colonized places and peoples. Woodson seems to subtly suggest here that if Black people were to be in action, rather than “inaction,” this could begin to undo the system.

“The Negro can be made proud of his past only by approaching it scientifically himself and giving his own story to the world.” 

One of Woodson’s suggestions for how to improve education is to support Black people in learning their true history, and to believe in their capacity to give their “own story to the world.” This goes against much of how the educational system would have been operating both in curriculum and procedure. Woodson advocates heavily for large shifts in how curriculum and history are taught, especially in terms of teaching Black people about their contributions to society.