On the Training of Black Teachers: Carter G. Woodson's Role as an "Abroad Mentor" to Black Educators (1915–1950)

• In Event: Influential Thinkers and Their Legacy in the History of Education

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between Carter G. Woodson and Black teachers using “abroad mentorship” as a conceptual lens. Woodson worked to offset the “miseducation” offered to Black students through dominant schooling by developing alternative curricula, Negro History Week and various means of supplemental training for teachers. He was particularly concerned with trumping the cultural politics of White supremacy that function through schools. Archival materials reveal how Woodson supported teachers in centering Black cultural achievements and developing a Black educational aesthetic that challenged dominant myths of Black sub-humanness. This engagement with Woodson pushes the boundaries of traditional framings of Black educational history and presents him as an educational theorist and a critical figure in the metanarrative of Black education.

Author

• Jarvis Ray Givens, University of California - Berkeley