The Mis-Education of the Negro

New to Penguin Classics, one of the most influential works of Black social criticism ever written

The Mis-education of the Negro is today considered one of the most influential works by ‘the father of Black history’, Carter G. Woodson, setting the table for generations of antiracist teaching pioneered by Black educators.

As both student and teacher, Woodson witnessed the distortions of Black life in the history and literature taught in schools and universities. He believed that there was a relationship between these distortions and the violence that circumscribed Black life in the material world, declaring, “There would be no lynching it if did not start in the schoolroom.” Mixing social criticism, history, theory and memoir, The Mis-education of the Negro argues cogently that students, teachers, and leaders needed to be educated in a manner that was accountable to Black experiences and lived realities, both past and present.