This is a series regarding Shaw resident Carter G. Woodson’s book The Mis-Education of the Negro.
Okay, I’d rename this chapter “Beware of Allies Trying to Do You Favors”. Now I feel I should quote Malcolm X or something on the topic of white Americans who are supposed to be supporting you.
So this chapter comes across as a criticism of sorts of all the Northerners and others who came down after the Civil War. Woodson acknowledges that they meant well, but they weren’t well suited for the task. This extended to the white leadership and faculty of HBCUs because of the social status differences.
Yet we should not take the position that a qualified white person should not teach in a Negro school. For certain work which temporarily some whites may be able to do better than the Negroes there can be no objection to such service, but if the Negro is to be forced to live in the ghetto he can more easily develop out of it under his own leadership than under that which is super-imposed. The Negro will never be able to show all of his originality as long as his efforts are directed from without by those who socially proscribe him. Such “friends” will unconsciously keep him in the ghetto.
I have thoughts but I will leave those to the end. Continue reading Carter G. Woodson- Chapter 4: Education Under Outside Control