Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism.

“But beneath the shining castle of that American Dream lie two cornerstones that irrevocably shaped the social fabric of this nation: the genocide and displacement of Indigenous peoples, and the institution of chattel slavery that held African people in bondage.”

Ewing opens her text with a metaphor of the American Dream as a “shining castle.” This emphasizes the importance of the American Dream, using the word “shining” to highlight the value that people place on it and to echo the famous description of Boston (and later the US) as a glowing city on a hill. She then juxtaposes this image with “genocide” and “chattel slavery,” arguing that the myth is built on the backs of those for whom the American Dream is unattainable.

“I assert that the general idea of original sin is that it differs from the everyday transgressions each of us commits, the venial acts of greed and vice for which we can be forgiven. Original sin is inherited and fundamental. It doesn’t go away.”

The book’s title alludes to the Bible’s Book of Genesis, a creation myth in which first people Adam and Eve commit the foundational sin that dooms humanity to exile from paradise. Ewing argues that the racist roots of the US education system is another foundational sin akin to this religious one—a comparison that underscores the permanent impact of this history.

“This book is intended to be descriptive, not prescriptive. It’s an invitation into a conversation, a tool for you to mark up and lend out and disagree with and share and highlight and bend out of shape. […] The absolute best scenario is if you can find somebody else, or several somebodies, to read it with—use it for collective work, if you can.”

Ewing’s tone throughout the text is not authoritative. Rather than offering a “prescription” on how to fix a broken system, she wants to create a working dialog. The image of readers marking up the book as they consider its ideas represents working together toward a solution.