The Mis-Education of Black Students in the Twenty-First Century: Revisiting Dr. Carter G. Woodson's Theory

The Mis-Education of Black Students in the Twenty-First Century:Revisiting Dr. Carter G. Woodson's Theory Aaron M. Johnson (bio) and Tyrone Weeks (bio) Introduction In 1933, famed educator, writer, and activist Dr. Carter G. Woodson wrote his seminal work, The Mis-Education of the Negro, in which he identified major issues confronting scholars of African descent attending predominantly white or predominantly Black academic institutions. While his analysis focused on disillusionment with the institutions specifically, he offered a broader and more nuanced take on the sociopolitical, racial, and socioeconomic aspects of educating Black students. His most salient and scathing criticism scrutinized the hegemonic forces that sought to erase accurate American history and Black history and how, when, and if it is taught to Black students in schools. He stated, As another has well said, to handicap a student by teaching him that his black face is a curse and that his struggle to change his condition is hopeless is the worst sort of lynching. It kills one's aspirations and dooms him to vagabondage and crime. It is strange, then, that the friends of truth and promoters of freedom have not risen up against the present propaganda in the schools and crushed it. This crusade is much more important than the anti-lynching movement, because there would be no lynching if it did not start in the schoolroom.1 Woodson's analysis of schools' roles in the degradation, subjugation, and misinformation aimed at Black students could be compared to similar analyses by James Baldwin in "A Talk To Teachers," Ta-Nehisi Coates in The Beautiful Struggle, and Ibram X. Kendi in Stamped from the Beginning.2 The analyses within these texts point to a common theme in the education of Black students: they have been denied their right to learn their history and the history of the United States through a lynching—as described by Carter G. Woodson—that occurs in schools. These lynchings, although metaphorical, provoke images that help one understand the real consequences for students when schools promote misinformation through incomplete and inaccurate curricula. When students are denied access to curricula that center the contributions of their foremothers and forefathers, it chokes them off from a past that allows them to envision their future. Existing and impending legislation in several states (e.g., Florida and Texas) has propagated misinformation about American history, banned certain subjects and texts, and presented narratives in ways that are detrimental to students. One standard passed by the Florida legislature and Department of Education called for "instruction that includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit."3 In many cases throughout this standards document, the African American experience amounted to their relationship to slavery. Furthermore, the document called for the erasure of key African End Page 15 American figures and relegated racist acts and racism to slaveholding white landowners and the Ku Klux Klan. This provincial point of view supports Woodson's assessment that lynching begins in the classroom and it leads to more psychological harm. If one can starve the mind of information, the body will be easier to conquer. According to the American Library Association, Texas has banned the highest number of books in the nation, with 2,349 attempts to ban titles, many by African American authors or containing themes relevant to African American experiences.4 Educators should actively seek, employ, and enact curricula that elucidate the lives, cultures, and contributions of people of African descent across the diaspora generally, and in American society specifically. This type of education should serve as part of a justice-centered focus to truly well-serve Black students in schools. Need for African-Based History Curriculum There have been multiple, often conflicting points of view on ways Black students should be taught and engaged in schools. While there is an existing body of research that focuses on race, culture, literacy, sociopolitics, and instructional approaches that ostensibly support sociocultural and sociopolitical ways of thinking and knowing, research is lacking and inconclusive as to which approaches are the most effective. In many cases, instructional methodologies that are meant to help Black students succeed in schools have not...