30 review for The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861

1. 

   5 out of 5

   Lynn – Mar 14, 2013

   A real find. Carter G. Woodson is called the father of African American Studies and wrote this book in the early 20th century. He documents how African Americans received education before 1861. When slaves were brought over there was a need for them to do work such as book keeping and records by their masters. It was considered important to have them educated enough to do this work. Others thought it important for slaves to become educated enough to read the bible and become Christians. Catholic A real find. Carter G. Woodson is called the father of African American Studies and wrote this book in the early 20th century. He documents how African Americans received education before 1861. When slaves were brought over there was a need for them to do work such as book keeping and records by their masters. It was considered important to have them educated enough to do this work. Others thought it important for slaves to become educated enough to read the bible and become Christians. Catholics and Quakers were especially consistent in educating slaves. Around the time of the American Revolution, educating slaves was thought of because slavery was thought to be an institution on its way out. People desired to have slaves prepared for freedom. The cotton gin and cotton changed a lot. Slaves became more valuable commodities and masters feared that educated slaves would not be content as fielder hands and drudgery type work. An effort that grew stronger by 1830, saw the South create draconian laws against educating slaves. The laws were specifically created to prevent outsiders from the North from coming down and educating Blacks. Masters had always had the right of way and education to slaves by masters, their children, etc. we're left alone. As time continued, the colony movement grew as did the abolitionist movement. Colonists believed in educating blacks to live in Liberia and pressed that as a goal. Free blacks refused that idea. Abolitionists attempted to educate but few ways to do it. The Fugitive Slave act put more onerous regulations on and caused a few to defy it despite penalties. For higher education the debate whether to teach a trade or a liberal education lingered. Many felt higher Ed should only be for those willing to move to Liberia. Trade groups for whites protested new competition and the lower wages the colored would receive. For younger students, public education was seen as being on welfare and many Blacks. Refused it. The debate for education continues todt.

2. 

   5 out of 5

   Kristin – Jun 14, 2014

   Touchstone text.

3. 

   5 out of 5

   Janel – Jul 19, 2012

   Eye opening and very informative. Many of the information that Woodson presented were surprising.

4. 

   5 out of 5

   Velvet – Jul 04, 2010

   mind blowing and thought stimulating.

5. 

   5 out of 5

   Kenneth Bernoska – Jan 13, 2019

   I rate this book highly. This book comes out of an America where moral instruction (with Christian specificity) and formal systems of learning are very much inextricable from each other. Mr. Woodson navigates moral and formal learning in early America in a vital way — and gives us an understanding of what education (and Education) meant in early America. Education, moral or otherwise, for black folks in America gets obstructed, walked back and rescinded explicitly to conserve a racist society (sho I rate this book highly. This book comes out of an America where moral instruction (with Christian specificity) and formal systems of learning are very much inextricable from each other. Mr. Woodson navigates moral and formal learning in early America in a vital way — and gives us an understanding of what education (and Education) meant in early America. Education, moral or otherwise, for black folks in America gets obstructed, walked back and rescinded explicitly to conserve a racist society (shocking...I know) — importantly, actors on these backslides can, at the same time, be critically aware doing so undermines a universally shared (or specifically Christian) system of values.  Under such conditions, Moral Character becomes anemic and devalued; and in its absence, racialized hierarchy becomes long lived. Yikes. Fucking ruinous. We’ll leave it at that.  So too, Mr. Woodson points us to noble and stalwart educators; to surveys, petitions, and letters; to ordinances, codes, and legislature; to single-rooms, campuses, and districts; and to the bright flashes of many of the best efforts to create a place of learning, instruction and experience for folks of color in our country. This is what is important about studying work like Mr. Woodson’s. It is possible to see (lower-case ‘l’) liberal education as a fundamentally [though not exclusively] moral thing. And it is possible to spend a life working to that end. And to see, again and again, a nickel’s worth of good when you’ve brought a dollars’ worth of value to society. The book reviewed here, in some important ways, follows that dollar. Mr. Woodson’s work bares needful witness.

6. 

   4 out of 5

   Sterling – Dec 19, 2017

   I read this before my first year of college to get an idea of what education was like for those in the past. It really is an in-depth reading that I am going to read again and again due to the fact that I have grown and recognized some of these issues sadly, at my own university.

7. 

   4 out of 5

   torque – Apr 16, 2013

   An important piece of history, no doubt. As I don't know very much about this subject, I found the book a bit removed from my reality and therefore a bit of a heavy read. An important piece of history, no doubt. As I don't know very much about this subject, I found the book a bit removed from my reality and therefore a bit of a heavy read.

8. 

   5 out of 5

   Sharnise –

9. 

   4 out of 5

   Lolly Murray –

10. 

    5 out of 5

    John Armwood II –

11. 

    5 out of 5

    Kathryn E Linder –

12. 

    5 out of 5

    henrietta cummings –

13. 

    4 out of 5

    Diana Munyaradzi –

14. 

    4 out of 5

    Kelley Williams –

15. 

    5 out of 5

    Michael Madison –

16. 

    5 out of 5

    Pat –

17. 

    4 out of 5

    Kweli –

18. 

    4 out of 5

    Laurie –

19. 

    5 out of 5

    LYNNETTE P JAMES –

20. 

    5 out of 5

    Saudarkar –

21. 

    4 out of 5

    robert c harris1 –

22. 

    4 out of 5

    Michelle Lawson –

23. 

    4 out of 5

    Andrea –

24. 

    5 out of 5

    Ezra –

25. 

    4 out of 5

    Valerie –

26. 

    5 out of 5

    Maurice Nutt –

27. 

    5 out of 5

    Al Medina –

28. 

    5 out of 5

    Damali –

29. 

    5 out of 5

    Lisa –

30. 

    5 out of 5

    W. Allen White –