The White Architects of Black Education

A historical investigation into the political and ideological foundations of the "miseducation of the Negro" in America, this timely and provocative volume explores the men and ideas that helped shape educational and societal apartheid from the Civil War to the new millennium. It is a study of how big corporate power uses private wealth to legislate, shape unequal race relations, broker ideas, and define "acceptable" social change. Drawing on little-known biographies of White power brokers who shaped Black education, William Watkins explains the structuring of segregated education that has plagued the United States for much of the 20th century. With broad and interdisciplinary appeal, this book is written in a language accessible to lay people and scholars alike.

Audience: Professors and students of education, history, sociology, African American Studies, social psychology, and anthropology.

“Brash and unrelenting.”

—Educational Researcher

"William Watkins has produced an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the complex relationships between white philanthropy and black education."
—Manning Marable, Professor of History and Political Science and Director, Institute for Research in African-American Studies, Columbia University

"For anyone interested in understanding the predicament of contemporary African American education, The White Architects of Black Education is required reading. . . . Watkins has crafted a powerful and insightful study tracing the ideological underpinning of Black education."
—Michèle Foster, Professor of Education, Claremont Graduate University

"Watkins presents a fascinating, far-ranging and penetrating historical study of Black Education, contextualized within the political economy of philanthropy . . . A rare book combining importance and readability."
—Sidney J. Lemelle, Associate Professor of History and Black Studies, Pomona College