History Lesson 9 — Spoken Word: Colonizing the Mind

Colonizing the Mind is a spoken word performance exposing how conquest did not end with stolen land — it went deeper, into stolen thought. After chains and guns came schools, churches, and books designed to erase identity and replace it with obedience.

Colonial powers outlawed African languages, erased ancestral knowledge, and taught generations to see themselves as inferior. Missionaries preached salvation while teaching submission. Textbooks painted Africa as primitive and Europe as the savior. Minds were bent to believe in cages long after chains were broken.

This performance reveals that the most powerful weapon of colonization was not the sword but the story. Colonizing the mind meant controlling the narrative — who people believed they were, where they came from, and what they were worth. That poison still lingers today in education, religion, and culture.