Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism | Eve L. Ewing
400 pages | One World | 4.14.26
Why don’t our schools work? Ewing tackles this question from a new angle: what if they’re actually doing what they were built to do? She argues that instead of being the great equalizer, America's classrooms were designed to do the opposite: to maintain our inequalities.
“When I teach courses on education policy and race, I always begin on the first day of class by asking my students a simple question: What is the purpose of schools?”
As Eve L. Ewing explains in this magnificent historical tour-de-force, schools were envisioned by Thomas Jefferson to fortify the country's racial hierarchy. They were designed to propagate the idea of white intellectual superiority, to "civilize" Native students and to prepare Black students for menial labor.
With meticulous research and a warm, accessible voice, she shows that the U.S. educational system still prepares children to expect unequal treatment throughout their lives. While these dynamics are less overt today, the most insidious aspects of the system continue under the radar: standardized testing, tracking, school discipline, and access to resources.
Ewing makes a bracing case that there should be a profound re-evaluation of what schools are supposed to do, and for whom. She also celebrates the power of learning and teaching as a form of multigenerational resistance and community-building. This must-read book will change the way people understand the place they send their children for eight hours a day.
As Eve L. Ewing explains in this magnificent historical tour-de-force, schools were envisioned by Thomas Jefferson to fortify the country's racial hierarchy. They were designed to propagate the idea of white intellectual superiority, to "civilize" Native students and to prepare Black students for menial labor.
With meticulous research and a warm, accessible voice, she shows that the U.S. educational system still prepares children to expect unequal treatment throughout their lives. While these dynamics are less overt today, the most insidious aspects of the system continue under the radar: standardized testing, tracking, school discipline, and access to resources.
Ewing makes a bracing case that there should be a profound re-evaluation of what schools are supposed to do, and for whom. She also celebrates the power of learning and teaching as a form of multigenerational resistance and community-building. This must-read book will change the way people understand the place they send their children for eight hours a day.
