Dr. Carter G. Woodson insisted that the contribution of “the Negro” be recognized year-round. What about the contribution of people of African descent as seen in the Bible?
Dr. Carter G. Woodson birthed the first Negro History Week on February 7, 1926. Why February? Because of his admiration for Frederick Douglas and Abraham Lincoln, who were both born in February. So whether you call it Black History or African American History Month, it wasn’t bestowed upon us by another race. Nor does the length of the 
month have anything to do with its designation.
The Harvard educated history professor never intended Black History to be confined to one month a year. Its study was to be a liberating force throughout one’s life that helps elevate all aspects of society. To get started, why not peruse a few passages from his most famous work, The Mis-Education of the Negro? The pagination for the following quotes are based on the 2016 edition by Watchmaker Publishing.
Sampling of Woodson’s Observations
- “When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his ‘proper place’ and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary.” Mis-Education, 9
- “The same educational process which inspires and stimulates the oppressor with the thought that he is everything and has accomplished everything worthwhile, depresses and crushes at the same time the spark of genius in the Negro by making him feel that his race does not amount to much and never will measure up to the standards of other peoples.” Mis-Eduction, 9
- “The conditions of today have been determined by what has taken place in the past, and in a very careful study of this history we may see more clearly the great theatre of events in which the Negro has played a part.” Mis-Education, 15
- “In the teaching of fine arts these instructors usually started with Greece . . . but they omitted the African influence which scientists now regard as significant and dominant in early Hellas. They failed to teach the student the Mediterranean Melting Pot with the Negroes from Africa bringing their wares, their ideas, and the blood therein to influence the history of Greece, Carthage, and Rome.” Mis-Education, 20
- “In medical schools Negroes were likewise convinced of their inferiority in being reminded of their role as germ carriers… Little emphasis was placed upon the immunity of the Negro from diseases like yellow fever and influenza which are so disastrous to whites. Yet, the whites were not considered inferior because of the differential resistance to these plagues.” Mis-Education, 21
- “Taught from books of the same bias, trained by Caucasians of the same prejudices or by Negroes of enslaved minds, one generation of Negro teachers after another have served for no higher purpose than to do what they are told to do. In other words, a Negro teacher instructing Negro children is in many respects white teacher thus engaged, for the program in each case is about the same.” Mis-Education, 22
- “Real education means to inspire people to live more abundantly, to learn to begin with life as they find it and make it better.” Mis-Education, 25
- “The education of any people should begin with the people themselves, but Negroes… have been dreaming about the ancients of Europe and about those who have tried to imitate them.” Mis-Education, 27
Artistic License
So called “biblical” perpetuated this mental enslavement. According to the Bible, Moses and Paul looked like Egyptians (Exodus 2:19 and Acts 21:38). Yet, strangely, we see them portrayed as if they were Norwegians. We know then, someone is trying to place unbiblical, unhistorical, un-geographical shackles on your mind.
How is it, on the other hand that the artists always seem to depict the Ethiopian eunuch of Acts 8:27 and Simon of Cyrene of Mark 21:15 as black? Any map will show that Libya (home to Cyrene) is on one side of Egypt and Ethiopia is on the other side of Egypt. Why depict these people so differently?
From a racist and sexist standpoint, the Ethiopian eunuch is an emasculated servant. He would be accountable to a woman—so there’s nothing exemplary about him. Although he’s literate, he doesn’t understand what he is reading until Philip (always depicted as white) is sent to enlighten this lost soul from the “dark continent.”
The Romans singled out Simon of Cyrene to fill his divinely mandated role as a burden-bearer. Both men have been consistently depicted in this manner because such artwork is a tool of mis-education. Again, ask yourself why the Ethiopian and Libyan are depicted as dark-skinned Africans, while Moses and Paul are mistaken for Egyptians yet portrayed as white?
Supremacy That Seeped in
Moses was the premier freedom-fighter, law-giver, and prophet of the Old Testament. He is credited with writing the first five books of the Bible and setting the tone for the rest of the
Bible. Even in the Gospels, Jesus’ critics use the writings of Moses to accuse Jesus of wrongdoing. Paul is the premier apostle of the New Testament. He was highly educated, multilingual, a persuasive speaker, a leader’s leader, and proficient writer of approximately half of the New Testament. To be consistent in their artwork of Africans by portraying these men according to their biblical description would have undermined the white supremacy inherent in the colonization and enslavement of Africans.
Realistic biblical artwork would force some cultural and historical introspection among Europeans. European people and places aren’t referred to in the Bible until the book of Daniel. That is when Greece overcame Medo-Persia. Europeans don’t actually interact with the biblical narratives until the four Gospels discuss Roman census and taxes, a handful of Greeks visiting Jesus, and a centurion that seeks Jesus’ healing power. The vast majority of the Bible takes place at the junction of Africa and Asia, with the main players being Africans and Asians.
Read the Bible for yourself and free your mind from religious mis-education.
