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. 

Throughout Original Sins, Ewing explores the ways that education in the United States has failed—and continues to fail—Black and Indigenous students. Central to that failure is continued bias about what Black and Indigenous students are capable of achieving—low expectations that define how their education is approached. Black students are assumed to be innately “unruly” and in need of firm structure and discipline. For Indigenous students, the goal has been cultural erasure that promises to assimilate and Americanize them away from their “uncivilized” nature. Ewing calls for a shift in these expectations as a vital component of reconstructing Black and Indigenous education.

Ewing identifies standardized testing such as SAT and IQ tests—rooted in the eugenics movement of the 20th century—as a key cause of these low expectations. Too often, schools ignore the socioeconomic and cultural factors responsible for test results, instead using testing data to confirm preexisting assumptions about the achievement gap. Moreover, high-stakes testing ignores Black and Indigenous cultures and epistemologies, instead predominately centering “white” knowledge. Ewing thus proposes reimagining education to appreciate rather than dismiss Black and Indigenous experiences and knowledge.

To counteract the damage inflicted by the history of militaristic treatment of Black and Indigenous students, Ewing suggests using the ideal of care as a vital component of education.