Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism

The American education system for centuries developed on two parallel tracks, according to this brilliant history from sociologist and poet Ewing (Ghosts in the Schoolyard). One track, Ewing writes, was for white and European immigrant children, and on it great strides in education theory were made that emphasized how cooperation through play made for engaged citizens. These developments, as Ewing cannily notes, also functioned to erase cultural boundaries between white children from disparate backgrounds, solidifying a sense of cross-cultural whiteness. Meanwhile, the other track, for Indigenous and Black children, aimed to “annihilate” their cultural identity and train them as “subservient laborers,” according to Ewing. She brings to light plenty of harrowing evidence to this effect, not just as a broad strokes theory but in the minutiae of teacher-training manuals and educators’ writings. Her citations span from Reconstruction era textbooks written by Northern white educators who stated that their aim was to stop Black people’s “relapse into barbarism” and turn them into “useful citizens,” to her own recollections of her Chicago middle school class being taken to the Cook County Jail in an effort to have the students “scared straight.” This ideological undertaking was often framed as a common sense, dollars-and-cents solution, Ewing notes; for instance, she reports that the idea that “the country could save money by schooling Indians rather than endeavoring to kill them” was a recurring theme in her research. It’s a troubling and eye-opening examination of the foundational role educators played in developing America’s racial hierarchy. (Feb.)