Book Reviewed: Fugitive Pedagogy: Carter G. Woodson and the Art of Black Teaching by Jarvis R. Givens

Was African American education in early 20th century was forged in slavery? A young black kid growing up in Michigan once told his eighth-grade teacher about his intention of becoming a lawyer. But his teacher killed his enthusiasm instantly stating that his ambitions were unrealistic for a “nig*er” and suggested to become a carpenter. This kid would come to be known as Malcolm X, described as how this encounter became a turning point in his childhood, and later, trouble with the law in his adolescent years. His fascinating perspective of racism in America is narrated in in his autobiography. Despite this, black education continued against a background of increased violence against African Americans in the South. After Democrats regained power in state governments, they instituted legal racial segregation and a variety of racist laws. They also disfranchised Black people by constitutional amendments and electoral rules from 1890 until 1964. But the enslaved people learned to read despite widespread challenges. Teachers developed covert instructional strategies, and creative responses to the persistence of White opposition, from slavery through the Jim Crow era. Forged in slavery, embodied by Carter Woodson and W.E.B. Dubois is a tradition of escape mentality of slaves and later for black teachers says the author of this book. One major flaw is that the author is using the same material he wrote for his PhD dissertation. This book leaves out the role played by many African American educators. I understand the PhD dissertation focuses on a specific narrative of educator Carter G. Woodson. But the author missed out numerous achievements early in the African American history. Some of the highlights that could have been incorporated in this book includes the creation of Clark Atlanta University founded in 1865. Lucy Craft Laney founded Haines Normal and Industrial Institute in Augusta, Georgia. Hired as principal of the new normal school (for the training of teachers) in Tuskegee, Alabama, Booker T. Washington opened his school in 1881. Based on his experience at the Hampton Institute, Washington intended to train students in skills, morals, and religious life, in addition to academic subjects. Washington urged the teachers he trained to return to the plantation districts and show the people how to put new energy and new ideas into farming as well as into the intellectual and moral and religious life of the people. Later he became the President of the Tuskegee University, Alabama. Mary Bethune Cookman, well known for starting a private school for African-American students in Daytona Beach, Florida, later became Bethune-Cookman University. George Washington Carver, a well-known plant biologist worked at Tuskegee when Booker Washington was the president of the university. In 1897, W.E.B DuBois became a professor in history and economics at the historically black Atlanta University in Georgia.