Voices of Our Foremothers

            Sunny Marie Birney wrote “Voices of our Foremothers”, in which she opens up about growing up in an adopted home raised by two Euro-American parents. Growing up, Birney cites that the people that had the most amount of influence on her were her Black female teachers. Birney particularly cites her three Black female professors who inspired her to become the educator and person that she is today. Birney talks about learning from Black teachers who understood that education was more about just understanding the subject, but more out defining and expanding the mind and the heart of the student. Birney goes on to discuss the foremothers in terms of Black women and education. These foremothers include Emma Wilson, Lucy Laney and Mary McLeod Bethune. Wilson founded the Mayesville Industrial Institute, which built its students on academic, cultural and spiritual lessons. Bethune attended this institute as a child and would return after graduating college to become an assistant to Emma Wilson. Bethune later went on to accept a teaching position at Lucy Laney’s Haines Institute. Bethune created her own educational institution, known today as Bethune-Cookman, a historically black institution. The foremothers had a passion for education and built fine institutions for the Black community. Birney ends her essay by speaking about the future of the Black community and education. Birney left the educational system in Lorain, Ohio as an inspiration for her students and went on to create the educational consulting group Yetu Shule Multicultural Enterprises that tutors, teaches and develops nonprofit programs for community based organizations.

            I agree with Birney’s point of view that students learn more from teachers that care seeing as I am the same way. I enjoy the research and analyzation of our foremothers. However, in recent research for my argumentative paper, I don’t agree with the fact that Birney said that Black teachers teach by comforting and becoming mothers to their students. I feel as though saying that brings the Black female back to the stereotype of “Mammy” and I think as a human race we need to move forward from that view.

 

A Response to Black and On Welfare: What You Don't Know About Single Parent Women

       Women should be tough, tender,laugh as much as possible,and live long lives. The Struggle for      equality continues unabated and the woman warrior who is armed with wit and courage will be among the first to celebrate victory – Maya Angelou 1993

Sandra Golden opens with a descriptive account of her first experience with the welfare office in her county. As a 20 year old, pregnant,scared and unemployed black women Golden sought assistance from the County Department of Human Services, a department she believed was created to help people in her situation. She then goes on to say that she left the welfare office feeling humanized and humiliated. She felt mentally abused by the caseworker's insensitivity, and her self esteem was damaged by the caseworker's discriminatory attitude. Her caseworker never inquired about her educational or employment background and it appeared that the assumption was that recipients of welfare were unmotivated, unskilled, uneducated or undereducated, and mainly responsible for raising fatherless children. Despite her caseworkers false beliefs Golden actually had over 2 years of banking experience and had completed 2 years of college course work.This is yet another example of the dominating systems such as welfare that do not recognize black women's social literacy skills.A black single parent female utilizes special literacy skills to negotiate within a social context that marginalizes and disenfranchises groups based on gender, race, education, and class.The welfare system places little value on home, family, and community literacy and primary recognizes academic literacy. Welfare is a means to an improved quality of life,not the means to barely fulfilling existence.  Although there is not much research on black women's learning in the home, managing a household requires skills in time management, budgeting, conflict resolution, facilitating and creating learning environments, and home maintenance. A woman's ability to realize her own ideal of mothering and nurturing is usually crafted by the other variables that work, family relations, and social interactions create in her life. We as a people need to take more time and care in the ways we address the issues that concern others around us.

Literacy Lessons Learned in the South

The essay, Lessons From Down Under: Reflections on Meanings of Literacy and Knowledge From an African-American Female Growing Up in Rural Alabama by Bessie House-Soremekun talks about the literacy lessons Bessie learned from her close knit family in Alabama.  She talks off talking about how for African Americans oral tradition has always been important because that was the main source of communication for blacks during the time period of slavery. Bessie then elaborates on the history of the Civil Rights movement and the impacts it had on African American especially in the south.

            The essay talks about how the movement was born in Alabama and how “The Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-59 marks a watershed in the modern are of America’s Civil Rights years” (p. 58).  This was important because even though the civil rights movement was started in the south after laws were passed to stop the laws set up by “separate but equal”, this did not apply to the southern states.  The civil rights movement was meant to establish a equal playing field for every American, but in the south unspoken laws were set up to hinder blacks from becoming or from being seen as equals.

            Bessie also talks about the literacy lessons she learned throughout her lifetime of education.  She was raised in a middle class family where education was very important.  Her family valued formal school literacy as well as informal literacy.  She learned in achieved numerous things in school, but she also had to learn how the south worked during the 60’s and 70’s.  She began to notice how her grandmother was being disrespected by whites because they referred to her by her first name, while her grandmother always referred to the white people as “Mr. or Mrs.”.  Looking back on these situations she realized that her grandmother “made sure that I understood this form of literacy was part of the unwritten ruled in the segregated south of my country” (64).  She knew how important education was and power one gained by being educated.  She told herself that she was going to obtain a PhD because it was the highest form of education a person could have.

            Overall I really enjoyed this essay because it showed that even though Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Rosa parks and other African Americans tried to fight for everyone to be equal by having freedom riots, sit-ins, and freedom rides the south never really obtained true freedom.  Instead the white authority set up unspoken laws that still separated blacks from whites.  Whites still wanted to have a higher authority than the black people in the south and this was their way of accomplishing it.  This reading opened my eyes to the fact that there is a difference between the north and south.

My Life As a Welfare Brat

In Star Parker’s excerpt from “Pimps, Whores and Welfare Brats”, Parker opens up her story by talking about being on the Oprah Winfrey show. While on Oprah, she discussed the issue of welfare with two women, Linda and Dellamarie who felt that they were entitled to welfare. Parker attacks the two women and says other wise and that because they’re single mothers doesn’t mean that the government needs to give them aid in terms of finances. Parker “piggy-backs” off her appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show and goes on to talk about her experience on the welfare system in California.

            Parker lived a life of promiscuity in Los Angeles and was involved in drug abuse. Parker, who comes from a middle class family moved to Los Angeles and discovered a life of freedom and welfare. Even though it was instilled in her as a young child that welfare was  a “no-no”, Parker didn’t care and went on welfare after receiving the first of five abortions. Parker continues her story with various anecdotes from her drug abuse, the birth of her daughter, discovering God and finally getting off welfare. Parker decides to get off welfare after going to a sermon in which the Pastor quoted “God is your source” (Price 39). The four letters from Pastor Pierce’s sermon inspired Parker to change her life in order to change her daughter’s life for the better.

            I enjoyed this passage by Star Parker. I agreed with what she was saying about the two women who felt that welfare was an entitlement.  I believe that if a person is on welfare and they don’t have any physical or mental health disability, they should be out searching for jobs. The welfare program isn’t meant to be a comfortable style of living. It’s only there as momentary relief aid. The United States has a lot of issues going on right now with the oil spill, healthcare and global issues such as the earthquake in Haiti and human trafficking all over the world. Welfare although a big deal, helps a lot of Americans who don’t need it and that money could be used for other projects or forms of relief. I think as American citizens, we should be trying to better ourselves and help stimulate the economy instead of taking advantage of the government and the benefits that are actually meant for the needy.

Work Cited

Parker, Star. (Selected Chapters) Pimps, Whores, and Welfare Brats. New York: Pocket Books, 1997.  21.0ct.2010. Web.

The Teachings of the Cotton Field

In Lillie Gayle Smith’s Unearthing Hidden Literacy: Seven Lessons I Learned in a Cotton Field, Smith talks about the valuable lessons she learned by working in the cotton field at her aunt’s house.  It was not until she entered a “Black Women’s Literacy” class that she noticed she had gained so much in life from working on the cotton field.  Smith states, “having picked cotton was something I wanted to forget, not extrapolate lessons from” (Smith 37), she was afraid to share it because she didn’t believe it had any relevance to who she was in life.  As she began to talk to her professors and classmates about her experiences, she learned that she actually learned of important lessons from picking cotton, like money management.  She even began to put money in a bank account because her mother doubled every dollar she made.  At that time she believed things like that were “important grownup activities” (Smith 46), but in the long run it actually helped her out because when she entered the sixth grade she had to purchase her own school books.

            By Smith thinking back on her childhood she began to discover her own literacy and connect her past with her present.  In her “Black Women’s Literacy” class she was challenged to think back and see how her ancestors picked cotton without a choice and how they went through multiple struggles to give her opportunities.  She also learned that in order to be willing to share her experience she needed a professor and community that “respected and validated knowledge acquired beyond the walls of the academy” (Smith 38), meaning that the environment needs to be welcoming to need ideas and viewpoints.  Smith experienced the opposite of this when she was enrolled in a male professor’s class, who praised the male students, but never the female students.  The female students began to get tired off this so they dropped the course showing a form “of resistance to an educational setting” (Smith 39).

            Smith learned a so much from picking cotton which contributed to her literacy.  She began to the impact those days had on the decisions she made in her life.  She began to have a better appreciation of those days, therefore having a better appreciation of who she is today.   By her taking that class she rediscovers who she is and continues to grow for the better.

Work Cited:

Smith, Lillie Gayle. “Unearthing Hidden Literacy: Seven Lessons I Learned in a Cotton Field.” Readers of the Quilt: Essays on Being Black, Female, and Literate. Ed: JoAnne Kilgour Dowdy. Cresskill, New Jersey: Hampton Press, Inc, 2005. 41. Print

Unearthing Hidden Literacy: Seven lessons I Learned in a Cotton Field

Lillie Gayle Smith grew up with a job most would consider a slave’s duty. She picked cotton in her aunt’s field for money while growing up. Smith never realized the significance picking cotton would have in her life until she took a class called, “Black Women’s Literacy”. While in the class, she reflected back on her childhood and the lessons she learned while working the fields. One of the important lessons Smith learned was money management. For every dollar Smith earned, her mother would also pay her a dollar. Smith would put some of the money away into a bank account, and the rest she would spend on toys, clothes, and items of that nature. However, when she was older, she realized she needed to be more responsible with her money so she would take the money she earned and buy her own textbooks for school.

Smith’s reflections on her childhood helped her discover her own literacy even more. She thought back about her ancestors who would pick cotton without choice, and the different struggles they had to go through. In her class “Black Women’s Literacy”, Smith was challenged to think back and remember where she learned what she knew. They were asked to question what they knew and think about views that disagree with their own. Smith’s class explained the history of women’s resistance and the disagreement they have had with men. Smith’s story about the male professor who favored the other males in the classes instead of the females is a great example of a women’s resistance. Some of the females in the class did not feel they were being respected, so instead of fighting the same battle that has been fought for years, they simply dropped the course. Some may feel that these women were giving up. But in reality they thought by boycotting a class it would create a bigger impact.

Smith’s literacy throughout her life is very much attributed to her days of picking cotton. She realized the impact it had on her and the decisions she made it life later on, but still appreciated what she learned. The class she took definitely helped her rediscover her past and made her gratitude even stronger. 

Works Cited

Smith, Lillie Gayle."Unearthing Hidden Literacy:Seven Lessons I learned in a Cotton Field." Readers of the Quilt: Essays on Being Black, Female, and Literate. Ed: JoAnne Kilgour Dowdy.  Cresskill, New Jersey:Hampton Press, Inc, 2005. 41. Print



Black Women and Literacy in Feature Films

“ Movies provide an opportunity to witness the everyday experiences of literate black women within certain sociocultural contexts.” (Dowdy 164)

In the chapter of Black Women and Literacy in Feature Film, Dowdy explores the roles and views of black women in nine feature films. All of these films are either starring Lynn Whitfield, Angela Bassett, Halle Berry, Alfre Woodard or Whoopi Goldberg. Each of the central black characters in the films are all facing a conflict and they don’t show the advancement of black women.  The women, long after the film is over are viewed as uneducated and worthless to society. Three out of the nine films deal with addictions and although it juices the plot up, the storylines portray black women in negative stereotypes. In the movies  “Music from the Heart”, “ Sarafina”, and  “Wit”, the black women have a social status in terms of education. However, their opinions are always trumped by a higher power and they end up stuck in their harsh realities.

I agree with Dowdy’s point of view in the chapter. It’s very true that a majority of films starring black women must show the black women being put down by some sort of higher power. In an industry where there aren’t many black women represented, I think that there need to be more positive roles for black women. Although these roles, may sound boring, it’s a lot more beneficial for the young black girl searching for a role model on the big screen. These films depicting the weak or drug addict black female are only pushing the stereotype associated with being a black woman. In order to change the views and stereotypes of black women, there should be more movies uplifting black women and breaking down the stereotype.  Although it won’t happen overnight, positive black women in films will help breakdown the stereotype associated with black women in the long run.

Work Cited

Dowdy, Joanne. Readers of the Quilt. “ Black Women and Literacy in Feature Films.”

            2005. Hampton Press. Pp. 163-182

Going Against the Grain: Part 2

In this section of Going Against the Grain, literacy involving slaves were discussed. Slaveholders kept the enslaved from being educated on purpose in order to prove their power. They thought if slaves were to become educated it would make them more aware of their situations and go against the White man’s authority. This subject was so important to slaveholders that laws were passed prohibiting slaves from becoming literate. When I read these outlandish facts, it appalled me to know that people were purposefully setting African Americans back for no other reason than fear of the inferior. In later years, African Americans developed their own schools in order to expand their education. They realized the significance of literacy in their lives and were not going to let anyone stop them from achieving their goal of literacy. Their schools were different from others because they had teachers for the older learners as well as the younger ones. By starting their own schools, African Americans were proving white people wrong as well as coming together as a community. The community aspect of the educational system shows how African Americans were not afraid to stand up to an oppressor and fight for what they wanted as a unified group. Their unification was what made their literacy possible. The fight against whites in order to become literate also contributed to their leadership skills within the race. The history of literacy with African Americans was a constant struggle that many still face in present day. The respect I have for those in history who started these schools in order to educate slaves is immense. The inspiration they have given future generations of African Americans to fight for what they want will always be present. 

Going Against The Grain Part 1 (Pages 108-123)

The reading opens with a quote from Maria W. Stewart, which was written in 1831. Maria W. Stewart was the first known African American woman to have written essays. The time in which the included passage was written displays the understanding that African American women had of two things: the power of language and learning and the deep-rooted hostility which people of African decent must live in the United States. (page 108)

"The environment in which students acquire their literacy has a major impact on the cognitive consequences of their possession of the skill and the uses to which it can be put." Harvey J. Graff

When looking at the history of African American women, their acquisition of literacy and their uses of literacy, the connection between the learning environment, possession of the skill, and the use of the acquired skill is  significant.The dismantling of barriers to education opportunities is tedious and the struggle for opportunity and achievement has to be constant. African American women have been victim to racist, sexist, class-bound ideologies since the beginning of Africans lives in the Americas.  The resistance of theses ideologies started very basic. African American women were first required to define themselves a human beings in order to establish a place for themselves as rightful holders of the entitlement of citizenship, which included opportunities for literacy and learning. They also had to earn and create an image of credibility and respect to discredit  the disempowering images of themselves as amoral, unredeemable, and undeserving. Activism served as a direct means for not only acquiring and utilizing literacy but battling the negative images portrayed. Going Against the Grain Part 1, details the various acts of activism which served as teachers of literacy. Part 1 also describes the various environments African American women have acquired and acquire literacy. Within multiple environments of domination and oppression these women were able to leave a legacy of resiliency and spiritual strength, a legacy which was foundation for individual and organization strength, and a legacy of activism which helped mold a legacy of literacy.

Works Cited:

Royster, Jacqueline J. “Going Against the Grain: The Acquistion and Use of Literacy” in Traces of Stream: Literacy and Social Change Among African Women. U of Pittsburgh Press, 2000.

Going Against the Grain Part 3 (pages 140-161)

This section of the reading starts off by talking about three major events that led to the resources that were given in order for enslaved African American to become literate.  The first event was the win gained by the Union troops over the Confederate troops on Hilton Head Island.  After the Confederates lost, they abandon the island and left behind plantations and thousands of slaves known as “contrabands”, which lead to the second major event.  The Port Royal experiment was the second event and it consisted of two parts.  The first part was the economic part which focused on how the island was going to be managed in order to be claimed as American land.  The second part of the experiment focused on the “contraband” people and what was to be done with them.  President Lincoln signed a bill that gave the freed slaves permission to purchase from the land that had been confiscated. He also sated in the bill that there must be land set aside for school purposes.  This was the first federal funding given to African Americans for their educational opportunities.  The third major event occurred on January 1, 1863, when President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which was a proclamation to free all slaves.   

The section then goes into depth about Charlotte Forten’s experience at Port Royal.  Forten was “a member of the affluent and widely respected Black abolitionist Forten-Purvis family from Philadelphia” (page 143).  She was a woman that wanted to make a huge difference in the world, and she began accomplishing great things at an early age. She became the first African American women to educate African Americans on St. Helena, the first to attend Higginson Grammar School, her work was published in the Liberator, and she was also an active member if the Salem Female Anti-Slavery Society.  She was a very ill throughout her lifetime, but she had the goal to instill pride, self-respect, and self-sufficiency in African Americans.  Even though Forten grew up with multiply opportunities and came from an affluent family, she did not consider the African American slaves as unequal’s, unlike her white colleagues. It mentions how her white colleague Laura Towne did not even acknowledge Forten’s presence as a teacher.  It goes on to talk about how the school was a great success and furthered Forten’s career as a writer.

The last part of this section talks about how after the Civil War different movements formed in order to help African American become literate.  According to Royster, “African American community itself was largely responsible for laying the fertile foundation for universal literacy in African American communities” (pg. 153).  This is why African Americans were able to start Sabbath school, missionary school, and public school movements.  People in Atlanta saw this as an opportunity for advancement and took it.  They began to form public schools and colleges like Spelman College.  This was a great advancement for African American because education gave them a better opportunity to better jobs, which means better pay.

I really enjoy this reading and it really gave me the true history of the development of school’s for African Americans.  This reading has made me really appreciate the opportunities I have today and I thank all of the people who didn’t give up and continue to fight for not only are freedom, but also education for us.

Works Cited:

Royster, Jacqueline J. “Going Against the Grain: The Acquistion and Use of Literacy” in Traces of Stream: Literacy and Social Change Among African Women. U of Pittsburgh Press, 2000.

Black Women/ Black Literature Response

Christina McVay is a white Pan-African Studies Professor at Kent State University. Dowdy conducted an interview with McVay in order to include people who I have gained from the study of Black women and Black Literature. In the Interview, McVay talks about her past and how she became interested in Black studies. What I thought was the most interesting part of the interview was when McVay talked about her Black friend at a boarding school she attended. McVay’s friend, Alice, would receive readings such as Eldridge Cleaver, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, and other black power literature. From these readings, McVay developed a new perspective on whites as well as African Americans.

            McVay’s teaching techniques are different than many other professors in her field as well. By having her Black students create their own “Slang Dictionary”, it not only helped McVay understand the Black culture but it created a new way for her students to learn in a more interactive style. McVay’s differentiating perspective probably confuses people because many would feel as if she cannot relate to Pan-African Studies, but her passion and dedication toward the subject makes up for any doubts that people may have. 

Going Against the Grain Part 4

Maria Miller Stewart was a freedom fighter for African American women and used her literacy to get her point across, even in very few people were listening. Stewart had a small chance at a formal education and received the minor education she had from Sabbath schools. Stewart was an indentured servant from the age of five through thirteen in Connecticut. At the age of 23, Stewart married a 47 year old shipping agent and they lived in Boston, a site of political activity among African Americans. Stewart  was able to catch a first hand glance at social and political activity from  the people in her neighborhood including David walker, a clothing store owner who was viewed as a radical because he was a writer for the Freedom Journal. The Freedom Journal published articles about African American struggles worldwide. 

In December of 1829, James Stewart, Maria’s husband died  from an illness. Maria was left in poverty even though she was meant to inherit one-third of her husband’s estate. James’ white business partners, however, took all of his estate. After a two year long legal battle where Maria faced racial and gender discrimination, she was left with virtually nothing.

Instead of confiding in her faith after the events that had occurred to her, Stewart decided to speak out for African American women. Stewart had the life experience of discrimination and racism to stand up and preach for her rights as both an African American and a woman. Stewart decided to use hr literacy as a gateway to solve the problems she came across in her community as well as take a political stand. Stewart asked herself these crucial questions: “If not me, then who? If not now, when?” She answered these questions through pamphlets and public lectures. Stewart’s speeches of freedom fighting and empowerment were short lived due to the fact that she was a woman. She moved around to New York, Baltimore and D.C serving as a teacher. In D.C., she became a matron at the Freedmen’s Hospital. Stewart was able to submit a claim for pension as the widow of a war veteran before he death in 1879. This last act before her death showed that even at old age she was fighting for rights for African Americans.

After reading this excerpt, from Traces, I have a newfound respect for the women who experienced similar struggles such as Maria Miller Stewart. I was shocked reading about the fact that Stewart was denied any right to her husband’s estate even though it was written in his will. I think it’s ironic how the Constitution was signed in July of 1776, but 60 years later, African Americans are fighting for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, in which all men are entitled to. I respect Stewart’s decision to keep fighting for her rights, even when nobody was listening. It’s people like Stewart that are the backbone for feminist movements that are in effect today. I also applaud the men and women who lost their lives in the fight for freedom because it gives us the freedom to be able to read their stories, learn from it and pass it on to future generations.

Abolitionist Movement 

Works Cited

Royster, Jacqueline J. "Going Against the Grain: The Acquisition and Use of Literacy" in Traces of Stream: Literacy and Social Change Among African American Women. U of Pittsburgh Press, 2000.

“The Abolitionist Movement.” 2010. The History Channel website. Sep 18 2010, 7:36 http://www.history.com/videos/abolition-and-the-underground-railroad.

To Be Black, Female and Literate: A Personal Journey in Education and Alienation

“ The path to acquiring an education and advanced academic literacy is fraught with difficulty, and opening the door to success comes with a price.” (Smith 183).

  In her essay “ To Be Black, Female and Literate: A Personal Journey in Education and Alienation” Leonie C.R. Smith reminisces on her life and her path to literacy and education. It’s apparent that Smith has dealt with a tough life with the death of her mother at age five, her family having to stretch one paycheck in order to feed 13 mouths and her family home burning at the age of eight. Surprisingly, these bumps in the road never had a negative impact on her education. Smith moved from Antigua to Brooklyn, NY at age 11 and there was an automatic culture shock. The life she knew in Antigua was the complete opposite in Brooklyn. For one, she was deemed as illiterate due to the fact that she scored a 29 on an assessment and therefore placed in a class that didn’t challenge her intellectual abilities. Smith was appalled and took a stand up for her education and eventually placed in a more challenging class. Smith was able to get through high school and graduated with honors and in the top one percentile of her class. Following high school, Smith went to Hamilton College in Clinton, NY and it was there that she began to question her intelligence and herself as an African-American woman. It was at Hamilton College that Smith faced racism for the first time in her life. Smith enrolled at Hamilton College expecting the diverse environment she had in Brooklyn and her experience opened her eyes to the “real world”. Smith experienced racism from her professors, her teammates, as well as classmates. Reading this essay, I found it hard to believe that even after going through years of increasing her knowledge, studying and graduating constantly at the top of her class in middle school and high school, Smith still faced racism. Smith didn’t in with the people in her neighborhood because of her education and  I was appalled at the idea of her own race looking down on her because she had her life on the right track and was trying to make something of herself. Though educated, Smith couldn’t fit in with her white peers because of the stereotype associated with being an African American woman. Smith was at a crossroads and over her education and literacy. 

         Smith was speaking of herself when she quoted “ The path to acquiring an education and advanced academic literacy is fraught with difficulty, and opening the door to success comes with a price.”  Smith’s price was unhappiness in her neighborhood as well as Hamilton College. Smith was never accepted because of her proper English in Brooklyn and an outcast in college. As black women, we should be able to embrace our intelligence and be proud of who our heritage and  culture because it has brought us to where we are today. Being literate is not a burden we must face, but a gift meant to enlighten us. Coming to this realization, I started to wonder about the fate of Black women and our literacy’s. When will it be deemed alright to be an educated Black woman? When will we as Black women be seen as equals in our own neighborhoods as well as our working environments?

Works Cited

Smith, Leonie C.R. "To Be Black, Female and Literate: A Personal Journey in Education and Literacy."  Dowdy, Joanne. Readers of the Quilt. Hampton Press. 2005.

                                                            

A Response to..........To Protect and Serve

“The concept of African American literacies as I explore it here refers to ways of knowing and acting and the development of skills,vernacular expressive arts and crafts that help females to advance and protect themselves and their loved ones in society.”(680) Constantly adapting to meet the needs of racist influenced life are African cultural forms such as storytelling, conscious manipulation of silence and speech, and other verbal and nonverbal practices. These nontraditional cultural forms are important pieces to African American literacy. The specialized pieces of African American female literacy are diverse but much needed. Literacy is breath to our quest of helping cultivate a better world.

In To Protect and Serve, the concept of “Mother Tongue” is presented. The woman is the child's first teacher. Before pre-school or kindergarten there is the womb.The term mother tongue in the simplest form can describe the inherited language or social condition/ing of one's mother. The idea of mother tongue is grounded on the presumption that literacy acquisition is stimulated through utilizing the tongue of nurture in literacy. (678) Terminating mother tongue literacy is unhealthy for African American society and identity development.The African American woman is continually exploited in American culture. This exploitation has corrupted and traumatized generations of black females and their families. The stereotypes that find themselves so easily embedded in modern day pop culture support the negative ideas that young Black females often find themselves struggling with. For example,the stereotype of a Black female being a “heartless Nigger bitch”, or a “wench”. This stereotype was used to refer to an enslaved female whose sexual behavior was loose and immoral. (676) The White supremacy views supported by this stereotype suggested that Black females could love no one,including their own children. The stereotype also suggested that these women enjoyed and were available for sexual exploitation. These stereotypes have passed the test of time thanks to the slave owners,who operated under White supremacy views.

In closing, I ask you to type “black girls” into a search engine. The things that are found and presented at the top of the page mostly contain pornography. Turn the television on and the exploitation of our ancestors can be seen streaming live but the stories of our sister's struggle are hard to find. As African American females we must exercise various examples of literacy so we may better empower our sisters in the American struggle of life identity.

Works Cited 

Richardson, Elanie. To Protect and Serve. National Council of Teachers for English, 2002

Response to Dowdy's Black Women and Literacy

"Free at last! Free at Last! Thank God Almighty, we're free at last?!" http://blackwomansliteracy.com/. Web. 7 Sep 2010. <http://blackwomansliteracy0.blogspot.com/>.


In Black Women and Literature, Dowdy starts off by stating society’s view of the black women. In society’s eyes; “The Black women represents strength and endurance, yet she also represents what we consider to be at risk and poverty” (pg. 15). She may be considered poor because, “she has been and remains a member of the underclass”(15). This may be due to the fact that she has not taken full advantage of her ability to be literate. Dowdy then goes on and talks about the perspective of black women and literacy throughout history. She states how many of the writings refer to women and literacy but don’t mention black females, only white ones. She includes obstacles that black women have had to go through just to become educated. For example, the school hours were held early in the morning, due to society’s views of her being domestic, and needed to raise a family. Why was it that “educated and Black women and marriage were not compatible?” (18). This was because society wanted the black woman to chose between becoming educated in order to better herself or being married which was normal for her in society. Dowdy then goes on to talk about the effort black women took in order to become more literate, including developing programs to tend to their needs.


What do the black women have to do to change the way others view their relationship with literacy? Literacy does not mean to just read and write. There are multiple things that black women can be considered literate in. As Dowdy writes, “Black women must continue to place themselves in positions that challenge and improve the existing social order. No longer should they remain silent; rather they must speak out, act out, and effect change” (21). I agree with this statement because the only way change can take place is if black women speak up for themselves. We must challenge what society says is our place. Yet it is our job to continue what society tells us is our historical place, taking care of the home and children, or is that is not our place at all today?

We must stick together and prove that we are capable of doing anything that men are able to do. We must continue to, “epitomize the image of what Black women endured to become” (16). Women like Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth defied the expectations society placed on them; so we shouldn’t let their work and suffering go to waste.


Works Cited

Dowdy, Jonne. Readersof the Quilt. Cresskill NJ: Hampton Press, 2005.


"Free at last! Free at Last! Thank God Almighty, we're free at last?!" http://blackwomansliteracy.com/. Web. 7 Sep 2010. <http://blackwomansliteracy0.blogspot.com/>.