The Miseducation of America

Education

Are Americans miseducated? Sort of like in Carter G. Woodson’s book, The Miseducation of the Negro?

The answer, to a large degree, is ‘Yes.’

Woodson’s book is famous and legendary in the African American community. Woodson’s entire life was spent as a historian trying to correct the historical record of Black history but also trying to help African Americans re-educate themselves. But if history was inaccurate and inadequate for African Americans, isn’t it inaccurate for all Americans? That is also not a good thing.

Here is a relevant quote Woodson made in The Miseducation of the Negro regarding white Americans:

“Some of the American whites, moreover, are just as far behind in this respect as are the Negroes who have had less opportunity to learn better.”

Is he wrong?

But here is his most famous excerpt from that book. It says everything about America today that continues to allow an incorrect and intentionally exploitative history to be taught:

“If you can control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his action. When you determine what a man shall think you do not have to concern yourself about what he will do. If you make a man feel that he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept an inferior status, for he will seek it himself. If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told; and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one.”

This quote is directed toward African Americans. It is what was done to African Americans in America. African Americans were and are bombarded with lies about history. They have been miseducated. It is no wonder some engage in actions that defy logic sometimes.

Ron DeSantis has said many times that African American Studies (as a course) has no educational value. He has millions of supporters who believe this lie. Some are African Americans. Some are White Americans. Regardless, DeSantis made the statement to divide people and score points rooted in bigotry.

The statistics back up the fact that America wants to know its true history. In a 2021 survey, over 80 percent of Americans support teaching African American studies. Yet, because of intentional misrepresentation of history, African American history is a distorted and America history by design in some communities is also distorted. Young people and all of us are not learning actual history but pathetic propaganda. Not to mention, the textbooks public schools are using are outdated and intentionally inaccurate.

Let’s examine this lie more closely.

History

African Americans are a key part of American history. You cannot tell the story of America culturally, politically, and historically and leave out African Americans. The late Senator John McCain often said African American history is American history. He understood the history; he knew enough of it to say that.

For instance, Africans were living and working (as unpaid slaves) in the Spanish colonial holdings in Americas in the 16th century. In particular, Africans were sold into slavery by the Spanish and wound up in the territory we know today as Texas. Later, Africans were living in English colonial territories by the 17th century. African slave revolts, plantation life, the Civil Rights Movement are barely included in American textbooks. This is an integral part of American history. One cannot make sense of history leaving out this part of history. White and Black Americans and all Americans are being fed a daily dose of historical revision and foolishness.

The truth is Africans in America struggled and challenged slavery from the moment it began in Africa and then onto the ships. Also, these individuals were human beings from ancient and highly developed civilizations. They brought their music, religious practices, cuisine, work skills, and community values with them to the Americas. While slavery altered and/or influenced some of their practices, it did not erase any of it. These cultural strains are American now but also African American.

Music

Jazz and blues are more American than the hot dog. This music evolved right out of the colonial slavery experience. The spirituals, offspring of the field holler, and the work song, just like the blues, are American phenomenon. No popular music today in America does not have the fingerprints of African people all over it. Rock and roll. Country. All of this music was influenced by the African experience in America. As Rhiannon Gibbons points out, the banjo, that very American music instrument, is African in its roots.

Food

Africans enslaved in America influenced America’s food consumption. Okra, black-eyed peas, watermelon, and yams all were brought here by enslaved Africans. Two American Presidents and slaveowners, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, had gardens that reflected this agricultural influence. Africans also were well known in Africa for deep frying food and for barbeque preparation of meats.

Some Africans became well-known chefs. George Washington’s chef was named “Hercules,” and he was African. He escaped slavery while in Philadelphia, and Washington arranged for him to be granted freedom upon Washington’s death. There were other African chefs in America who had an influence on food consumption.

But Fascism

What is Ron DeSantis worried about? What are White Americans opposed to teaching a more diverse educational curriculum worried about? Why is banning the teaching of African American studies being supported? Why are Americans supporting censorship and book bans?

As for Ron DeSantis, he is an opportunist. He is afraid that more Americans will know the full history. They will learn that American history and culture is a lot more than they know. It involves a multitude of cultures and people. Indigenous nations and Africans are two of the essential contributors to our history.

They will also know the history and culture that was kept from them and now their children. In Detroit, Motown Records happened. In Chicago, Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five created modern jazz. In South Carolina, Africans showed southern White planters how to grow rice in America. African people have been significant participants in American history despite white supremacy and racial hate. White Americans and all Americans should want that to be taught in every public school. But it isn’t.

America intentionally has chosen miseducation. Somehow, more Americans have to demand school reform that focuses on a diverse educational curriculum with accuracy and truth. History, culture, and the real facts of America are good, bad, deeply tragic, and disturbing. Stop lying to the people.

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This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.

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