Black History

“The most imperative and crucial element in Woodson’s concept of mis-education hinged on the education system’s failure to present authentic Negro History in schools and the bitter knowledge that there was a scarcity of literature available for such a purpose, because most history books gave little or no space to the black man’s presence in America. Some of them contained casual references to Negroes but these generally depicted them in menial, subordinate roles, more or less sub-human. Such books stressed their good fortune at having been exposed, through slavery, to the higher (white man’s) civilization. There were included derogatory statements relating to the primitive, heathenish quality of the African background, but nothing denoting skills, abilities, contributions or potential in the image of the Blacks, in Africa or America. Woodson considered this state of affairs deplorable, an American tragedy, dooming the Negro to a brain-washed acceptance of the inferior role assigned to him by the dominant race, and absorbed by him through his schooling.

Moreover, the neglect of Afro-American History and distortion of the facts concerning Negroes in most history books, deprived the black child and his whole race of a heritage, and relegated him to nothingness and nobodyness. This was Woodson’s conviction as he stated it in this book [The Mis-Education of the Negro] and as he lived by it.” -{source}

I encourage you to read as many books as possible about black history (and other subjects).  Learn as much as you can, grow in the process, and watch how it changes your perspective.

A few places to start:

• The Autobiography of Malcolm X edited by Alex Haley
• The Miseducation of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson
• Brainwashed by Tom Burrell
• The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
• Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome by Dr. Joy Degruy
• The Will To Change by bell hooks
• Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams
• Women, Race, & Class by Angela Y. Davis

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