{"id":16147,"date":"2025-05-29T16:46:46","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T16:46:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=16147"},"modified":"2025-05-29T16:46:55","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T16:46:55","slug":"the-battle-for-the-black-mind-by-karida-l-brown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/the-battle-for-the-black-mind-by-karida-l-brown\/","title":{"rendered":"The Battle for the Black Mind by Karida L. Brown"},"content":{"rendered":"

c.2025, Legacy Lit\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/strong><\/em>
\n$30.00\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/strong><\/em>
\n256 pages<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

By Terri Schlichenmeyer<\/strong><\/em>
\nThe Truth Contributor<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cUse your brain!\u201d<\/p>\n

If you had a dime for every time a teacher, parent, or supervisor told you that, you\u2019d be rich. Stop fooling around. Consider what you\u2019re about to do. Act with resolve, not impulse. It\u2019s the best way to work, the optimal method for learning and, as in the new book The Battle for the Black Mind <\/em>by Karida L. Brown,<\/strong> it\u2019s what so many have fought for.<\/p>\n

In the months after the Civil War ended, it became apparent to both Black and white people in both North and South that education for four million suddenly-freed former slaves was \u201ca matter of national security.\u201d It was obvious that those citizens would require formal learning soon, maybe job training \u2013 but what kind and how much?<\/p>\n

While Mary Smith Peake had \u201claid the foundation\u201d for Hampton University already by then, two white men with vastly different intentions traveled south after the war to seize control of Black education. Edmund Asa Ware, who became the first president of Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University) built schools that \u201caimed at nurturing Black intellectualism and potential,\u201d while General Samuel Chapman Armstrong, who was the first president of Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (now Hampton University) had plans to \u201c\u2019civilize\u2019\u201d formerly enslaved people through physical labor and farm work.<\/p>\n

Booker T. Washington was one of Armstrong\u2019s best-known protegees.<\/p>\n

In 1881, Washington became the first president of Tuskegee Institute and was later instrumental in forming the \u201cTuskegee Machine\u201d which, says Brown, didn\u2019t altogether help \u201cBlack families and shoved a singular curriculum down their throats.\u201d There were 45 Black colleges and universities in America then, though education for most Black children was still lacking.<\/p>\n

It remained so in the Jim Crow era when, although literacy rates grew, education beyond a few years of elementary school was \u201crare\u201d for Black Americans. By then, says Brown, Black women had stepped up to do the work, becoming teachers, bookkeepers, experts in strategy, fundraisers, staffers. Managers and marketers \u2013 sometimes, all at once\u2026<\/p>\n

Blending personal observations and experiences with good backgrounding, author Karida L. Brown tells this story in a conversational tone that invites readers to peek down the halls of history\u2019s HBCUs and into classrooms. She writes to<\/em> readers, rather than at<\/em> them, which helps to open minds for what\u2019s inside The Battle for the Black Mind<\/em>.<\/p>\n

You may not need to be reminded about racism in Black American education, but the secrets she shares and the lines she draws are highlighted to seem like new information. Here, readers can see more clearly the connections between the early twentieth-century and now, and how Project 2025 could change the trajectory. Fortunately, Brown also offers advice and ideas for taking action and ensuring that upcoming generations can win the next \u201cbattle.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Battle for the Black Mind<\/em> is a lively book that you can read for information, history, or just because. But beware: it might make you want to get up, contact your Representative or Congressperson, and act.<\/em> It\u2019s the kind of book that\u2019ll make you think.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

c.2025, Legacy Lit\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 $30.00\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 256 pages By Terri Schlichenmeyer The Truth Contributor \u201cUse your brain!\u201d If you had a dime for every time a teacher, parent, or supervisor told you that, you\u2019d be rich. Stop fooling around. Consider what you\u2019re about to do. Act […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16148,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[20],"class_list":["post-16147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book_review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16147"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16149,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16147\/revisions\/16149"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16147"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=16147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}