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.

Ewing opens this chapter explaining that the formation and success of the capitalist society US was contingent upon the use of Black and Indigenous bodies. A lower class and inequality are key components of capitalism. While most people believe that education and hard work enable anyone to achieve the American Dream of social mobility, this ideal is disproportionately untrue for Black and Indigenous peoples.

The connection between wealth and education is actually more nuanced. Ewing points out that the “typical White family possesses eight times the wealth of the typical Black family” (210). Moreover, higher education is much more accessible for white children. Even then, white adults with college degrees still earn three times more than Black adults with similar degrees on average. Finally, a Black head of household with a bachelor’s degree is likely to be less wealthy than a white head of household that didn’t finish high school. 

How can education, supposedly a key component of the American Dream, fail so spectacularly at creating equal opportunity? One answer to this question is discrimination in employment. Several studies have shown that white job applicants frequently get jobs over Black applicants.