The Mis-Education of the Negro

In Chapter 5, Woodson directly addresses issues of education as they relate to the economic circumstances of Black people. He contends that the lack of uplift in the Black community is due to the failure of schools to lead Black students into true professional careers; worse, Woodson argues, even the “so-called education of Negro college graduates leads them to throw away opportunities which they have and to go in quest of those which they do not find” (34).

The propaganda present in schools leads educated Black people to abandon their communities while those who do not attend school are stuck in vocational pathways with little room for upward mobility. As a result, Woodson describes a tense economic situation where there are very few Black people with resources who can help their communities. This is due, in part, to the “false conception of life” (37) Black students receive in their studies. Woodson also critiques the “individualistic” (38) nature of business between Black people, which leads to the proliferation and then failure of various enterprises.  

In Chapter 6, Woodson focuses specifically on the role of the Black church and its complex role to education. The Black church is primarily a place for people who have received less education; “the more education the Negroes undergo the less comfort they seem to find in these evangelical groups” (40).