The Mis-Education of the Negro

Chapter 8 focuses on how professional education, or lack thereof, has impacted the Black community. Though there are, Woodson describes, a number of Black professionals, there are also significant tensions both regarding access to training for those professions as well as the treatment of Black people in those professions. For example, in some professions, like in law, Black lawyers are actively discouraged or barred from interacting in ways that will further their career. Woodson describes how while “in one department of a university a Negro may be studying for a profession, in another department of the same university he is being shown how the Negro professional man cannot succeed” (50).

In many arenas, Black people experience a lack of development or support in obtaining professional careers, like in theater and art. There are some Black people who have “taken the time to train themselves” (51) to become professional artists, but many more, Woodson argues, are stopped early on by the racist beliefs and actions of White people. Finally, Woodson also articulates the issue of the Black author, who “writes, but the white man is supposed to know more about everything than the Negro” (52), so no one actually wants the book.