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Selected Black Critiques of Western Education 1850-1933 University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-1985 The politics of knowledge : selected black critiques of western education 1850-1933. P. Oaré Dozier University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Dozier, P. Oaré, "The politics of knowledge : selected black critiques of western education 1850-1933." (1985). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 4155. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/4155 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE POLITICS OF KNOWLEDGE: SELECTED BLACK CRITIQUES OF WESTERN EDUCATION 1850-1933 A Dissertation Presented By P. OARE DOZIER Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION February 1985 School of Education P. Oare Dozier All Rights Reserved THE POLITICS OF KNOWLEDGE: SELECTED BLACK CRITIQUES OF WESTERN EDUCATION 1850-1933 A Dissertation Presented By P. OARE DOZIER Approved as to style and content by: cy\ s Dr. Asa Davis, Member Mario D. Fantim Dean School of Education i i i To my pillars of support Cita and Pop-Pop, and my sheltering arms. Kamayu, Tasmia, and Asegun ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A complete dissertation is never the product of any one person. In this case there are many people that I am indebted to. First and foremost, my family gets the singular prize for lovingly supporting me through this. Without Cita's fiscal and spiritual back-up, Pop-Pop's good will trips and Kamayu's sanctuary of encouragement, this would still be a desire, not a fact. My children insulated my world with their beauty and at the same time kept me grounded in reality. (Big hugs to Tasmia and Asegun) My committee made much of what I heard other grad students complain about palatable. They were remarkably good-natured and encouraging, despite my frequent requests for time and assistance. To Professor Cappelluzzo I owe a great deal. Six years ago her example inspired me to reconsider obtaining a terminal degree. Once here. Professor Anderson showed me what could be accomplished, even with small children. Professor Davis made it impossible to be satisfied with anything other than defensible work. They have my heartfelt thanks. Richard Morrill specifically of the University of Massachusetts library staff has been invaluable, though the Reference staff generally was supportive. Cathleen Bethel of Northwestern University Library did quality detective work at a moment's notice. Sally Majewski's private library contributed much to the germination of many ideas. v Practical support came from Rhonda Gordon, then Charles Bodhi who opened the door to "the Bound" (UMass, Upward Bound Program) for me every summer, Padma Murthy, Johnetta Cole, Mitch and Lucy Smith, Mike Ford, Teena Johnson-Smith, Susan Allen, Marshena Gist, Saras Vedam, Luiz and Christina Pedone, Nesey Crayton, Dr. Chere Johnson, Dr. Isaiah Sessoms, Dr. A1 Colon, Ujamaa and Kuji Gordon, Bob Caillot, Bonney Deres and many others. To Myra Jean Thomas, a round of applause is due for her tremendous example of how to stay in the fight long after the bell has rung. Last but not least, thanks to Mrs. Lucy Gransberry who nursed me back to health after a brush with death. To Africa I owe the inspiration. vi ABSTRACT The Politics of Knowledge: Selected Black Critiques of Western Education 1850-1933 February, 1985 P. Oare Dozier, B.A., City College of New York M.S., City College of New York, Ed.D., University of Massachusetts Directed by: Professor Emma Cappelluzzo This study posits that as an academic discipline. Black Studies has as its historical antecedent more than a century of vigorous struggle for interpretive power and definitional control of the Black experience. The demands of Black students on black and white campuses for an education relevant to the needs and aspirations of the Black community shook the foundations of the Academy. Yet the thrust of angry Black students during the late 1960s was not the first serious intellectual offensive launched aganist white-controlled education. Though distinguished by its passion and polemics. Black Studies was not new. Rather, the Black Studies movement represented a resurgence of Black nationalist sentiment inextricably linked with the quest for the redemption of Black history and its meaningful interpretation. At least a century prior, Dr. Edward W. Blyden of St. Thomas and Liberia devoted his life to challenging the West's racist, ahistorical image of Blacks. An educator, Blyden was profoundly committed to the development of what he termed "the African personality" and politically espoused repatriation of Disasporan Africans. A generation later, his "disciple", Joseph E. Casely-Hayford of the former Gold Coast was equally concerned with the "African nationality" and the appropriate role for the emerging Western-educated elite. In the United States a decade later. Carter G. Woodson, "the father of Black history" grappled with the same issue, charging the West with the deliberate "miseducation of the Negro". This study examines the politics of knowledge in the context of these three Black responses to the West's distortion of Black history and Black humanity. Their indictment of Western education as a retarding factor in racial uplift and the complicity of Western academicians in the perpetuation of racism is central to the focus of this study. It is argued that Afrocentric Black Studies create a constant tension in the Academy due to inherent ideological differences. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements . Chapter One The Problem. 1 Introduction.-j Background.!!!!!!*.! 8 Purpose. ’ -J5 Significance.. ’ ’ 15 Scope and Delimitations. 18 Assumptions/Definitions. 26 Terminology. 28 Notes. 32 Chapter Two Methodology. 36 Afrocentric Methodology . 39 Limitations of Methodology. 53 Organization and Design of Study . 54 Notes. 56 Chapter Three Review of the Literature. 57 Introduction to the Literature Review . ... 57 I. Debasement of Black Humanity. 58 Genesis of the West: The TransAtlantic Trade . 59 Images of Blacks. 62 Science at the Service of Racism. 68 Heathens With No History. 72 Contemporary Rebuttal . 76 II. The School as a Vehicle of Cultural Imperialism 80 The Hidden Agenda of Schools. 80 Historical Obstacles: Colleges and Blacks in the United States . 88 Schools in West Africa. 97 Schooling in West Indies. 106 ix TABLE OF CONTENTS III. Racial Identity Problems and Psychological Dependency Among the Elite . 114 IV, Introduction to Selected Black Critiques ... 133 Edward Wilmot Blyden . 135 The Young Blyden. 137 Education and the African Personality ... 140 Blyden and the Mulatto Question. 155 Blyden's Legacy . 157 Joseph E. Casely-Hayford . 159 The Makings of a Nationalist. 159 A Dream Called Mfantsipim . 161 Echoes of Blyden and Beyond. 163 Carter 6. Woodson. 167 Youth to Maturity. 167 Pedagogical Interests and Further Study . 173 The ASNLH. 182 Publications . 184 The Miseducation of the Negro. 187 Summary of Literature Review . 194 Other Findings. 194 Adelaide Casely-Hayford . 194 Dr. Albert Thorne. 196 Elijah Muhammad. 197 Marcus Garvey . 198 V. Sumnary of the Literature Review. 201 Notes. 205 Chapter Four Discussion . 212 The Context . 212 Blyden Revisited . 216 The Disciple . 221 The Father of Black History 227 Notes . 229 Chapter Five Conclusion 231 x TABLE OF CONTENTS References. 241 Appendix A. 272 Appendix B. 274 Appendix C. 288 Appendix D. 291 xi CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM Introduction The phrase "Black Studies" has become an acceptable designation for all studies primarily concerned with the experience of people of African origin residing in any part of the world .... it includes the experiences of Africans, Afro-Americans, Afro-Asians, Afro-Europeans and African descendants of the Caribbean and other island territories (Ford, 1973, p. 3) As an academic discipline. Black Studies had a difficult birth during the social struggles of the 1960”s. Born out of Black student unrest, as well as the larger Black community's clamor for social change. Black Studies remains steeped in controversy. In the very early years (1968-1970) some honored members of academe questioned whether there was a body of knowledge or sufficient sources on which to build a Black Studies course and not threaten the respectability of the academic tradition (Task Force Group et al. 1976, p. 2, emphasis added) Academicians raised specific questions concerning Black Studies' goals, purposes and structural relationships within institutions, epistemology and methodology. This implied that "in Black Studies, as in practically all other endeavors. Blacks had to prove themselves" (Ibid.). Positive proof of the capacity of Black people to affect social reform emerged out of the student sparked Civil Rights Movement. Their methods of picketing, vigils, sit-ins and marches had proven 1 2 successful against overwhelming odds. These tactics were borrowed by Black and white students of the 1960s who began to challenge the universities. The university was seen as a key institution in a larger network of coercive institutions created by the established order to maintain and perpetuate the status quo. "By the end of the
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