American grammar Race, education, and the building of a nation

This intricate and erudite study by Harvard historian Givens (Fugitive Pedagogy) explores the racist origins of the U.S. education system, finding that Black, white, and Native children's educations in the 19th and early 20th centuries were not merely "unequal" but actually interdependent and "relational." Through rigorous research, Givens surfaces a vast web of material and ideological connection. He spotlights the ways in which profits from slavery and the seizure of Native land underwrote white students' educational expenses, and notes that the era's curricula served to create a "national white identity" while alienating Native and Black children from their own cultures. He also uncovers deeper, thornier interconnections between government, education, and race, such as how white-run schools in Choctaw territory served as hubs for government-run tribal "enrollment and allotment" programs, which sought to "assimilate" Native people by forcing them onto individual plots of land; as well as how, before their forced removal, the Five Southern Tribes attempted to appease and assimilate with their white neighbors by enacting "anti-literacy" laws banning the education of Black people. Marvelously complex and expansive, this paints a troubling picture of how government-run education has served as a powerful apparatus of state control and racial domination in U.S. history. (Oct.)

A scholarly account of education in 19th-century America. Most historical accounts of the ideas, goals, and practices that gave rise to public education in America focus on the schooling of white children--the settler class, which was primarily European and Christian. A professor of education and of African and African American studies at Harvard, Givens braids that familiar story with contemporaneous ideas and approaches to educating Black and Indigenous children, which reveals not only the racist attitudes of the day, but also ulterior motives such as securing tribal lands and forestalling violent uprisings--key aspects of nation building. Givens describes government efforts to dictate whom would be taught what. A striking contrast existed before the Civil War: Education was widely outlawed for Black people, while the first boarding schools were launched for Indigenous children with federal funds. The rationales for these opposing programs expose associated goals. For instance, the building of schools for Indian children was overseen by the War Department to help avert future Indian wars. Additionally, "domesticating" Native Americans--so that they would settle down and farm--would facilitate Western expansion. Being regarded as intellectually inferior, Black people were prevented from learning to read and write, which also minimized the chances that enslaved people would liaise and foment resistance. The author grounds his chronicle with individual stories, including those of Margaret Douglass, who was convicted of teaching free Black children in Virginia, and James McDonald, a Choctaw boy who was taught by Quaker missionaries and became a poster boy for Native schooling. The chapters progress in a looping way through the 19th century, with Givens reminding the reader how prevailing attitudes toward Black and Indigenous people justified unequal treatment and how affiliate goals further influenced educational practices. These reminders make some of the reading repetitive, but on the whole the book is a worthy study of how the nation set about schooling Black and Native children. A fascinating, if unwieldy, treatise on how racism and nation building influenced educational practices in America. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.