Join the Community Read conversation: Dr. Carter G. Woodson’s famous book

What is a Community Read?

Grounded in the principle of Umoja (Unity), a community read is a liberatory praxis of academic accountability, cultural awareness, and personal growth that champions the Black intellectual tradition as the standard for knowledge accumulation.

In short, this Community Read is an educational conversation about the text that the group will read and discuss in segments from February 1 to March 1.

Register Online (Zoom)

Text (the book!) that will be discussed:

Woodson, C. G. (2006). The Mis-Education of the Negro. (Contact the leaders of the BMQFG to receive a free copy of the book).

Questions? Please contact the Black Male and QUEENS Focus Group Faculty Advisors:

Dr. Kalvin DaRonne Harvell
Sociology Faculty
kharvell@hfcc.edu
313-317-1533

Dr. Courtney Matthews
English Faculty
cahenderson2@hfcc.edu
313-845-6457

Mr. Chardin Claybourne
Learning Lab Faculty Director
cclaybourne@hfcc.edu
313-845-9818

Community Read Description:

This course (free, participation is optional for every session -- come and go as you wish) introduces students to Dr. Carter G. Woodson’s monumental piece, The Mis-Education of the Negro.

Although Dr. Woodson’s text is central, this course extends to an interdisciplinary exploration of the historical and contemporary challenges to the education of Black people in the so-called United States. We position education as a response to issues of enslavement, class dynamics, cultural violence, and racism.

Emphasis will be placed on hegemony and ethnic and racial identity development. Moreover, exploring Woodson’s life is critical to examining this text. Students will learn to engage in critical self-reflection; examine and critically assess the text; enhance their vocabulary; and apply what they have learned.

Tentative Schedule (All meetings on Wednesdays 12:00 – 2:00)

February 1, 2023

Opening Ritual – Black History Month
Dr. Harvell Reflections on Kawaida, Kwanzaa, and Introduction of Dr. Woodson

February 8, 2023

Begin Discussion – Mis-education of the Negro
Chapters 1-4
The Seat of the Trouble
How We Missed the Mark
How We Drifted Away From the Truth
Education under Outside Control

February 15, 2023

Chapters 5-8
The Failure to Learn to make a Living
The Educated Negro Leaves the Masses
Dissension and Weakness Professional
Educated Discouraged

February 22, 2023

Chapters 9 – 13
Political Education Neglected
The Loss of Vision
The Need For Service Rather Than Leadership
Hirelings In the Places of Public Servants
Understand the Negro

March 1, 2023

Chapters 14 – 18
The New Program Vocational Guidance
The New Type of Professional Man Required
Higher Strivings In the Service of the Country
The Study of the Negro

Key Words

Afrocentricity
Lake Mohonk Conference
Black Education
Functions of Education
Assimilation
Segregation
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)
Vocational vs. Liberal Arts Training
Atlanta Compromise
Freedmen’s Schools
Talented Tenth
Plessey v. Ferguson
10 of the most important Educators of the 20th Century
Lucy Craft Laney
Mary McCloud Bethune
Nannie Helen Burroughs
Anna Julia Cooper
Septima Clark
Jo Ann Robinson
Mary Fair Burks
Ella Baker
Ida B. Wells
Queen Mother Moore

Additional Resources:

• Asante, M. K. (1991). Afrocentric Curriculum. Educational leadership, 49(4), 28-31.
• Asante, M. K. (1992). Locating a text: Implications of Afrocentric theory. Language and literature in the African American imagination, 9-20.
• Asante, M. K. (2003). Afrocentricity: The theory of social change (p. 3). Chicago, IL: African American Images.
• Asante, M. K. (2006). A discourse on black studies: Liberating the study of African people in the Western academy. Journal of Black Studies, 36(5), 646-662.
• Asante, M. K. (2007). An afrocentric manifesto: Toward an African renaissance. Polity.
• Baruti, M. B. (2019). To educate a people: Thoughts from the center. Akoben House.
• Bethune, M. M. (2001). Mary McLeod Bethune: Building a better world, essays and selected documents. Indiana University Press.
• Binder, A. (2002). Contentious curricula: Afrocentrism and creationism in American public schools. Princeton University Press.
• Carruthers, J. (1999). Intellectual warfare. Third World Press.
• Clarke, J. H. (1991). Notes for an African world revolution: Africa at the crossroads. Africa World Press.
• Cooper, A. J. (2000). The voice of Anna Julia Cooper: Including A voice from the South and other important essays, papers, and letters. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
• Dagbovie, P. (2013). Carter G. Woodson in Washington, D.C.: The father of Black history. The History Press.
• Finch, C. (1998). The star of deep beginnings: The African genesis of science and technology. Khenti Press.
• Fuller, N. (1984). The united independent compensatory code/system/concept. NFJ Productions.
• Grillo, L. M., Jones, S., Andrews, M., & Whitehead, L. (2022). A Pouring Into: Theorizing
• Black Women's Educational Leadership through the Afrocentric Epistemological Lens. Educational Foundations, 35(1), 33-51.
• Hale, J. (1982). Black children: Their roots, culture, and learning styles. Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Heafner, T. L., & Rochester, A. M. (2023). AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND ITS VISUAL PORTRAYAL IN TEXTBOOKS. Out of Turmoil: Catalysts for Re-learning, Re-Teaching, and Re-imagining History and Social Science, 221.
• Hilliard, A. G. (1995). The maroon within us. Black Classic Press.
• Hilliard, A. G. (1997). SBA: The reawakening of the African mind. Makare Publishing.
• Hilliard, A. G. (2003). African power: Affirming African indigenous socialization in the face of culture wars. Makare Publishing.
• Hilliard, A. G., Payton-Stewart, L., & Williams, L. O. (1990). Infusion of African and African
• American content in the school curriculum: Proceedings of the first national conference. Aaron Press.
• Hotep, U. (2008). Intellectual maroons: Architects of African sovereignty. Journal of Pan African Studies, 2(5).
• Jeffries, R., & Williams, T. (2022). A History of African American Teachers in the United States. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education.
• Karenga, M. (1998). Kwanzaa: A celebration of family, community, and culture. University of Sankore Press.
• Karenga, M. (2002). Introduction to Black studies. University of Sankore Press.
• Karenga, M. (2008). Kawaida and questions of life and struggle. University of Sankore Press.
• Karenga, M. (1984). Selections from the Husia: Sacred Wisdom of ancient Egypt. Los Angeles, CA: University of Sankore Press.
• Kenyatta, K. (1998). Guide to implementing Afrikan-centered education. Afrikan Way Investments.
• King, J., Akua, C., & Russell, L. (2014). Liberating urban education for human freedom. In H. Richard Milner & Kofi Lamotey (Eds.), Handbook of urban education (pp. 24–49).
• Routledge.
• King, J., & Goodwin, S. (2006). Criterion standards for contextualized teaching and learning
• about people of African descent.
• King, J., & Swartz, E. (2014). “Re-membering” history in student and teacher learning. Routledge.
• King, J., & Swartz, E. (2016). The Afrocentric praxis of teaching for freedom: Connecting culture to learning. Routledge.
• Moore, A. L., & La Vonne, I. N. (2022). Controlling Black thought: Educational trauma, past pains, future promise. Black History Bulletin, 85(1), 4-6.
• Phillips-Cunningham, D. T., & Popp, V. (2022). Labor Organizer Nannie Helen Burroughs and Her National Training School for Women and Girls. Women, Gender, and Families of Color, 10(1), 9-40.
• Piert, J. (2015). Alchemy of the soul: An African-centered education. Peter Lang.
• Ramdani, F. (2022). Lifting the veil on Mary McLeod Bethune’s contribution to American historiography: the first African American woman in the statuary hall collection in Washington DC. Comparative American Studies An International Journal, 19(1), 24-42.
• Shockley, K. (2008). The miseducation of Black children. African American Images.
• Shujaa, M. (1994). Too much schooling, too little education: A paradox of Black life in White societies. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
• Siddle-Walker, V. (2000). Valued segregated schools for African American children in the South, 1935-1969: A Review of Common Themes and Characteristics, Review of Educational Research 70, 253–285.
• Sizemore, B. (2008). Walking in circles: The black struggle for school reform. Chicago, IL: Third World Press.
• Span, C. M. (2009). From cotton field to schoolhouse: African American education in Mississippi, 1862-1875. Univ of North Carolina Press.