Jewell E. Cooper, Ph.D

Associate Professor, 2007
Professor, 2016

The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson

The 1933 classic, The Mis-Education of the Negro, has special meaning in my life because it serves to define a major purpose for my being - to be a servant of the people. I can not say it better than Woodson when he said, "The real servant of the people, then, will give more attention to those to be served than to the use that somebody may want to make of them. He will be more concerned with what he can do to increase the ease, comfort, and happiness of the Negro than with how the Negro may be used to contribute to the ease, comfort, and happiness of others. The servant of the people, unlike the leader, is not on a high horse elevated above the people and trying to carry them to some designated point to which he would like to go for his own advantage. The servant of the people is down among them, living as they live, doing what they do and enjoying what they enjoy. He may be a little better informed than some other members of the group; it may be that he has had some experience that they have not had, but in spite of this advantage he should have more humility than those whom he serves, for we are told that "Whosoever is greatest among you, let him be your servant" (p. 131).