Welcome to the first official reading reflection in We Been Knew.

As we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Black History Month, I began with The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson, who founded Negro History Week in 1926 and spent his life advocating for the education and advancement of our people.

In this episode, I move through how omission becomes psychological conditioning, the post-Reconstruction shift toward “industrial education” and labor efficiency and the systematic erasure of African science, philosophy, and intellectual history discussed in the first few chapters.

Woodson’s concern was never simply access to education.

He questioned the substance of what was being taught and whether educated Black leadership was being trained to build sovereignty or unconsciously sustain the very structures constraining them.

Reading this alongside my own life forced a reckoning.

Elite schooling. Corporate mobility without power. Building a framework worth $250,000 inside an institution that never intended to promote me. The collapse of a version of “success” I had been conditioned to chase.

What happens when you realize the education that prepared you to perform did not prepare you to self-determine?

What happens when labor efficiency replaces legacy?

What happens when distortion is so normalized it feels like reality?

This episode sits at the intersection of:

Black educational history
Organizational power structures
Psychological conditioning
Self-determination theory
Entrepreneurship as sovereignty

Samuel Herman Osipow Obituary (2023) - Columbus, OH - Epstein Memorial Chapel - Columbus — Samuel H. Osipow, Pioneer of Vocational Psychology

“Inherent within most of the career theories has been the element of choice. Our civilization has evolved to the point that in Western society at least, we possess an element of choice concerning the activity with which we will occupy ourselves. Though the variety of work from which we may choose varies from broad to narrow, one of the most highly prized freedoms within our culture is the right to decide what kind of work we will do, for whom, and when. Although we do not always exercise this freedom, the potential of choice is highly valued.”
-Samuel H. Osipow, Theories of Career Development

If you’re interested in Black intellectual history, educational justice, organizational justice, systemic conditioning, or the psychology of liberation, this is where the series begins.

Also, let me know what you think. I had originally intended on these being short episodes, but this one ended up being a little longer than anticipated as I am working out how best to share my thoughts with you.

Thanks for joining me,

Chey

Arc I: Naming the Distortion (Miseducation Pt. 1)