The Mis-Education of the Negro

Woodson articulates the assignment of Black people “to the lowest drudgery” (73) and how educational programs have advanced this belief. Because “a Negro with sufficient thought to construct a program of his own is undesirable” (73), there are no avenues towards true education or advancement available to Black citizens in the United States. Worse, the education that has existed as “been largely imitation resulting in the enslavement of [the Black person’s] mind” (74). This failure of the education system means that Black people have not been taught to think or to uplift their communities.

Woodson also critiques how history has been taught so that the enslavement of Black people is praised, and the economic and philosophical achievements of Whites and Europeans is lauded despite the fact that these same societies were responsible for the oppression of others. As Woodson describes, “propaganda has gone far ahead of history” (77) and there is a need to rectify this by providing truthful education.

In Chapter 14 Woodson begins to lay out his argument for a revolutionized version of education that could change “the social order for the good of the community” (78). This new education must give attention to “the study of the Negro as he developed during the antebellum period” (79).