Hey Black Child

Protect and serve lead me to think of a poem called Hey Black Child. In this poem the writer is asking a black child what they know about themselves and asking if they know that there are infinite possibilities to what they [the child] could do. However without the proper discipline the black child could not strive and be successful because they would fold at the pressure of the real world. This is why single black mothers seem to show a tougher love than emotional one, it is because they want their children to be able to grow up and be able to strive in this tough discriminatory world. In other types of homes such as white two parent homes their may be a different type of upbringing one of a more gentle loving style. However I think your upbringing and the type of love a parent should give to their children should be based on the type of trials and obstacles they will have to face in the real world. If you black children are brought up to have tough skin and not wear their emotions on their sleeves then when they are tossed into the real world it wont be such a difficult transition for them to face. Yes, it will still be a difficult struggle to face being black successful and literate in this world but they will have a sturdy foundation to stand on because they would be able to answer yes to the question in the poem Hey Black Child when it asked “Hey black child do you know who you are, who you really are? Do you know you can be what you want to be when you try to be what you can be? Do you know you can do what you wanna do when you try to do what you can do?”

Spelman College A Choice to Change the World

In Robin Wisniewski’s Transformative College Literacy of Literate Black Peer Counselor’s, she speaks about having to change her way of thinking in order to change her mindset and her way of learning. This part of the text made me think to one of the first things I learned when I arrived at Spelman. During orientation week, the first- year class was introduced to many aspects of college life but one of the things that impacted me the most was one of the meetings we had with the ADW staff. We had been given an assignment to read an excerpt from a literary piece called Pedagogy of the Oppressed in which the author speaks about the banking concept. This concept basically shows how students just become storage containers taking in what is given by the teacher without questioning any facts given to them or creating their own thoughts about the knowledge they are obtaining. It then speaks about the way to change this situation is for the student teacher relationship to be one in which both parties are allowed to learn and to teach. As we spoke about this in the meeting we learned that at Spelman College they want students to be free thinking women who are able to take what they are given and decipher their own thoughts out of it. In order to do so we would each have to change our way of thinking and learning so that we could gain a different mindset and perspective on the things we learn. This would inevitably help us all to transform into better thinking, speaking, and learning young women. It would also help us to be literate in the way that Vania talks about in her quote from Wisniewski’s text:

[Being a literate Black woman means] that I can speak and what I have to say will be heard because I know what I am talking about. If I don’t know about a subject, I want to find out more. If I literally don’t know about something I can’t talk about it. I can’t voice an opinion let alone defend it or be for it because I don’t know anything about it. If you’re ignorant of everything that’s going on and you have no idea and you’re just walking around, then how can you say, we need change, or we need this and that? No. You need to be educated so you can be this influence so you can help others. So you can go out and not be somebody’s quota. So you can go out and be able to stand and be who you are and also be a great influence.

At Spelman we are taught how to obtain and maintain this kind of literacy. Once we have it we are able to live by and uphold our school’s new tagline. Spelman College- A Choice to Change the World.
Jasmine Nicole Robinson

I'm Every Woman

When I read the title of the article “To Protect and to Serve” the first thing that came to my mind was the military opposed to the war, our President verses our nation, and lastly Black Women in our Society. I thought about our past readings and knew that somebody was being put on a pedestal. There are characteristics that could relate to our reading and instantly I knew that black woman played a vital role in our society. Elaine Richardson claims that, “Woman is the child’s first teacher, who protects it even in her womb and begins to socialize it”. I agree with this quote to a certain extent because I’ve always learned that mothers become connected to their child when it’s in her womb. From the little kicks and growing physically and emotionally while experiencing motherhood, I always thought of Motherhood as being a journey itself. Then I think about the irresponsible mothers and I almost don’t agree with Elaine Richardson. You have to always remember poorly behaved women that neglect their children by not having any respect for self. They are ghettoized and exploited as black women who are badly behaved.

Metaphorically speaking, you never see the “big picture” of what a positive Black woman stands for because there are always commercials that interrupt the movie. You have you white women, blond hair blue eyes that make out life to we know to be Glitter and Gold. My mother always told me that “Everything that glitters ain’t gold. Mother’s role are conflicting when it comes to how their daughters future. They generally always want the best for their daughters, and in most situations they want to give their daughters what they never had growing up. It’s hard when mothers never had their fathers in their lives, and then the relationship with their child’s father is not the best. They feel like they have to do more, give more and give fewer expectations for their “bastard” child. I do not with the way that our society views the single parent, where she is always the crazy “Babymomma”, who ruins every relationship that the father tries to have in the future. The term “Mammy” for instance, is supposed to portray a beasty black woman who runs the household almost as a household slave. She does the cooking, cleaning, catering, and is usually unattractive.

Elaine Richardson relates her life to a famous black writer whom I’ve always enjoyed reading her story The Coldest Winter Ever. Sistah Soulja is a powerful individual that has become an inspiration to me through her writing because I could almost relate and visualize her story. One thing that stuck out in my mind was when Elaine Richardson talked about Marva Collins who exploited Black styles and ways with words to boost student comprehension and achievement. My little brother went to a school named after “Marva Collins” Preparatory School. It was called the M.C.P.S. They were forced to change their name, which remains the name the school today to Milwaukee College Preparatory School because Marva Collins felt that the students were not representing her name positively. This was a very historical change in our society because it almost was like students were being ripped from their identity, especially for the ones who had graduated and the ones that were actually positively representing the black style of Marva Collins.I admire the way that Spelman portrays our black women. They name dorms and buildings around our campus that have been standing tall for many years now. They host pageants that crown our Spelman sisters to be brilliant and resilient. The only way that we can change what society is trying to bestoy on us is for each and everyone of us to protect and serve in our country.

"The Image"

“Music videos, television talk shows, news shows, newspapers, and tabloids show [Black women] one-sided and oft times disfigured representations of African American females: pulsating genitals, hood rats, “professional sisters alienated in corporate America or the academy, low- income single mothers, falling stars.” (Richardson 677) This image that Black women hold is the basis of Elaine Richardson’s article, “To Protect and Serve”: African American Female Literacies. I find it sad that I know the Black Woman to be strong, dignified, and a hardworking but society looks at the Black woman as being illiterate, immortal, and dependent. Though I have witnessed Black women who fit the stigma that society holds them bound to, to label every Black woman in this category would be incorrect. Because this is such a heavy stigma against Black Women, it makes life and success very hard. Specifically, Elaine Richardson speaks about plugging in the terms “black girls” and “young black girls” into a Yahoo search engine. The links that came up were pornography sites and various pop-ups of graphic sexual activity. When reading this in her article, I was not too surprised at the results. I am very aware of how Black women are viewed in society; thus, this is one of the reasons why I chose to attend Spelman College. Spelman focuses on developing the entire woman. The support that I receive from my Spelman sisters motivates me to strive for success. Spelman really centers on building a foundation because they understand that, as black women, society is not in our favor. For this and other reasons, Spelman College prepares black women for the “real world”. I believe that it is imperative to have institutions and organizations like Spelman that focus on developing the Black woman. It is time for Black women to change the stigma! -Daria Clegg

Being A Black Female

In the exert by Elaine Richardson she explored the role of African American women and their desire to protect and serve their families along with the people they encounter on a day to day basis. To those looking in from the outside it may seem as if African American women tend not to have that motherly love and bond with their children, but for those who actually experience it know it better as “tough love”. Tough love is a trait based down from generation to generation by African American females. It is not a characteristic of mothers as much as it is an inherited trait of African American women. African American mothers tend to pass this quality on generation after generation as a result of being what they were taught and the only form of motherly characteristics they know. A mother and her child share a connection in which only they truly understand. African American children learn more from their mothers than they will any teacher. As a result, Elaine Richardson proclaims many African American students do not go to their teachers for help as they think it will be perceived as deficiency on their mother’s part. Mothers play a major role in the development of young African American girls. Young African American girls desire to be just like their mothers, therefore take the motherly bond out into the world with them. In the classroom they tend to want to help the teacher and maintain order within the classroom. African American females have been socialized to help protect and serve. This survival strategy encompasses helping people both inside and outside the African American community; in essence they feel less threatened. African American females are socialized to function as messengers, caretakers, and enforcers. While instilled with the knowledge taught from home from their mother, African American females have the ideal instilled in their minds they are to “impress or satisfy the white man”. Despite of what they do or how they portray themselves to others, African American females always stay true to themselves, their roots, and their heritage. They remember in the long run where they came from but keep in sight where they want to go.
- Brittney L. Echols

It’s Our Duty To Give Back

In continuation to the blog earlier this week, Sunny-Marie Birney prolongs with her personal dedication to the gratification she returns to those who paved the path she travels today. Birney explains the gift of learning and excelling as an act of community service. If someone takes the time to teach you and be an asset in your life, it is then your duty to in return do the same and give back to the community. As she reflects on her personal life she evaluates how monumental the contributions of African American female educators, both past and present, have influenced the lives of each student they have encountered. She goes on to express the legacy of academic excellence is one that she will cherish for both herself as well as secure her feet when she teaches. For example, her dedication to build relationships with her students based upon sharing, caring, and nurturing. African American female teachers have the power to be mothers to children who lack that parental figure at home if they simple take the time to care. All it takes is for one teacher to see potential within a student and have the student bring out the best in him or herself. Once they appreciate the wonder from within themselves they will soar to a greater height. When African American female educators take you under their guidance, you become part of a collective group of women who historically have mothered countless millions. The power of knowing, interacting, and studying with African American females is a miraculous experience. Seeds are deposited within their spirit that they in return are able to deposit in the lives of others as they teach what they were taught. She also explains how one does not have to be in the traditional classroom in order to touch the lives of someone in ways never imagined possible. Just make an everlasting impression that they will never forget.
-Brittney L. Echols

It Takes A Village To Raise A Child

It has always been a common tradition amongst African Americans to say “it takes a village to raise a child”, in “Voices of Our Foremothers: Celebrating the Legacy of African-American Women Educators” by Sunny-Marie Birney, her personal life story is a direct correlation of this infamous quote. She explains how at the age of two she was adopted, being the first experience she encountered where the African American community took action to raise a child of the village. As her life progressed, up until high school she only encompassed four African-American female teachers. Although they treated her with care as if their own child, it was not until college she really felt the connection between academic knowledge and the broader world. She understood the dynamics of that ever changing place in the world. This became an impact on her life that would change and shape her forever. She explained how her professors were her “mothers away from home” and the academy her “home away from home”. This phenomenon is known as “other mothering” and is a characteristic of African American female teachers. As the village does, female African American teachers view “mothering” as a communal responsibility as well as an act of service. African American female teachers tend to care more about their students and hold them to the same expectations as they would their very own children. They naturally understand the power of nurture and caring for others, especially those of the same race. African American female teachers understand the importance of the “village raising the child”. They understand the realization that a mother cannot physically be there to raise their child every minute of every hour of the day; therefore it is the job of the “village” or community to pick up where she leaves off. With and through the presence of this concept Sunny-Marie Birney became inspired and followed the sacred calling of becoming a teacher. She believed it was her destiny to follow the legacy of caring, committed, and cultural uplifting that determined her to be where she is now. She now stands on the shoulders of the countless visionaries knowing she follows a path deeply rooted in a rich history of excellence of women who make it possible to envision a dream.
- Brittney L. Echols

Lessons From Down Under

Dr. House-Soremekun explains her drive to succeed in Lessons from Down Under. The stories and life lessons that her grandmother told her made a resounding impact in her life. Specifically, I remember the story of her great grandfather. She writes, “My great grandfather told my grandmother that pigs were given food in a big trough in the yard. After the pigs had finished eating, the plantation owners poured food for the field slaves into the same trough from which the animals had eaten. The field slaves were given no utensils and had to eat with their hands… The first thing my great grandfather did [ after emancipation] was buy himself a knife and fork… the purchase of the knife and fork … was a way to elevate himself to the “higher levels of humanity” from which he was denied as a slave. “(63) This, in addition to many other accounts motivated Dr. House-Soremekun to strive for success. Particularly, she wanted to attain a PhD because it was the highest degree possible to attain. She wanted to prove that she, nor were her ancestors, inferior to their oppressors. I can personally relate to her drive to succeed. My mother tells me all the time that she wants me not to be like her, but to be better. Carrying this weight has made me highly motivated to succeed. Like Dr. House-Soremekun, I see myself attaining the highest degree possible, not because I feel obligated too, but because I have the drive and determination to. I feel that it is important that her grandmother told her stories of the hardships that her ancestors had gone through. This inspired Dr. House-Soremekun to be the best person she could be. I feel that in today’s society children do not have the same motivation as their parents did. As long as the child makes it then the society is ok; however, what happened to children excelling in all that they do? - Daria Clegg

Black and on Welfare: What You Don't Know About Single Parent Women

The introduction to this chapter reflects on a personal experience of a 20 year old black woman taking her first trip to the welfare office. The welfare system belittled this woman the moment she walked out of the office to a feeling of dehumanization and humiliation. Although the welfare building built as an aid from the government given to those who need extra help, I feel that it is similar to charity. The welfare system allows many young women to get over on society because they will choose not to work and instead sit at home and wait for checks. They do not realize that the money that is being handed to them is being taken out of a hard working individuals check. Some women do not even us the money or assisstance they are being given to better themselves and their family, but instead expect it as a way to get by, some even sell food stamps. There are many women who do take welfare as an advantage because of the absence of their spouse. They are either in the process of looking for a job or have one but it does not pay that much. Welfare often times does not acknowledge black womens ability. Their history in school and functional literacy may be grade A, but they have been automatically degraded because of thier need of assisstance.
I have the greatest amount of honor and respect for single parent black women especially with all of the statistics that are going around today. It is very rare to see families together let alone married now a days, and if they are the household is often times "disfuntional". This means that the kids are out of control or there is step father taking the place of the father that has abandoned his children. Although the stpe father may care for the children, a lot of black women carry too much pride where they just feel like they don't need a man to do anything for this. In this article it talked about how black women place a strong value on church involvement. Independent mothers relationship with God is a sense of hope maybe even relief, but is generally a cry for guidance. Their connection to the church helps to build their confidence to be strong leaders and role models in our society.

Don't Judge Me

In life people are faced with unforeseen circumstances. Misfortune events are a part of life. To judge one based upon these situations is unwillingly wrong. The saying, “to assume makes an ass out of you and me” is proven true. If you do not firsthand know the troubles one is witnessing, then do not cast your judgment their way. In “Black and on Welfare: What You Don’t Know about Single-Parent Women” by Sandra Golden, many of the black females interviewed were prejudged by their self-sufficiency coaches and caseworkers without knowledgeable evidence. These welfare recipients were deemed uneducated, unmotivated, unskilled, and responsible for their current state. They were characterized and stereotyped based upon their race. Although there are certain cases in which a person is not trying hard enough on their own to make ends meet and are looking for an easy alternative in life, there are people who are truly going through a tough time and need a helping hand through this tough time in their life. These caseworkers who prejudge these African-American females create an issue that eventually stops the females who really need the help from asking for the assistance they need for their families. In the long run this hurts the black families. They fall further and further behind financially and as a result find themselves in an even worse state. If the caseworkers and self-sufficiency coaches were not so judgmental it would create less hesitation among the environment, allowing the opportunity for those who truly need help, to acquire help before times get too tough. Like Sandra Golden states, although the caseworkers are overworked and have high case loads, they must be required to recognize and respect the people they serve. Obtaining they job they have is a privilege, not a hierarchy and they have no authority to look down upon the people they help and treat them disrespectful. They never know, one day they may be in the same position as the people they serve.
- Brittney L. Echols

Reel Image or Not

Reading Reel Women: Black Women in Literacy and Feature Films by Joanne Kilgour Dowdy modified my perspective on black women in films and the roles that they choose to play. In fact, it made me think of how negatively other people could be viewing our race because of films. In the films that many black women are featured in or are the main character in, they are usually portrayed negatively, which puts our gender and race in one specific role that do not all fit into or play. In the movies the author chose to analyze there were only two movies that showed women in positive, very literate roles. This means that two out of nine movies display black women in compromising, illiterate, maybe even drug addicted roles. This could correlate to be a stereotype to someone out of the United States and make it as if inside the United States that only two out of every nine black women are successful and live positive lives. Even in the movies, advertisements, and media as a whole of our generation you could probably count on one hand things in the movies, advertisements, and media that portray black women in a positive ways, or movies that display black women as black, powerful leaders who make a difference. It is up to us to change this, we have to show people that characteristics seen in movies do not apply to every black women. Therefore, we have to stop letting people categorize us and show them black women who go against the grain of what is being show in films and in the media. The people of the world need to see free thinking black women with power, who make a difference in our society and in the world. It’s our choice, let’s choose correctly.

She was working like foreal

In reading she was working like foreal by Elaine Richardson, I found the research presented very intriguing. the girls that were in the study surprised be by their answers to most questions. I expected them to say, after watching the video, that the video was degrading towards women and be adamant about their statements; instead for the majority of the answers, the girls responded by “well yes and no” answers. I find this very sad that a woman can look at a music video such as this Nelly’s Tip Drill video and not consider it degrading. To ensure that I was being fair and that I could make a nonbiased decision on whether I personally thought the video was degrading to women or not, I did my own research and tried to look the video up to watch it myself. I could not even access it on youtube due to the explicit content. I did not realize the severity of this video. Compromising, I simply asked my roommate about what happened in the video and her remarks said enough. The girls also made an interesting comment to a question that Elaine Richardson asked. Their comment went as follows: “I don’t think that, people think that black women don’t have respect for they self as much as other women do” (p. 801) She then lists examples as too why her statement was valid: look how black women are portrayed on TV with no baby father, lots of kids, stripping, and poor. (801) I specifically remember the billboard that she describes. the billboard read, “break the cycle, don’t drop out of school” but it was talking about black pregnancy; thus, the billboard had a black girl on it. More importantly, the billboard was in a community where there were not any blacks. So as the white community looked at this billboard, they couldn’t help but think that black people only have “an eighth grade education and… many babies”. Because of images like this, other ethnic group are being taught wrong information and instead are forming like stereotypes.- Daria Clegg

We Shall Overcome

Going against the Grain describes the literacy and social change among African American women. These factors are the key factors that women are working to reform in our society today. In order to become well rounded and to basically change the perspective of Black Women, they must challenge themselves to overcome such statistics. It is not just about what people will think of an individual because of the mistakes they have made. The traditional roles of women have been modified from house wives and mammies to significant role models such as Michelle Obama and Kemba Smith. To be able to change and adapt to the world and its surroundings is remarkable. As time changes and new years go by, a new generation of people, style, and technology is constantly replacing the life that our ancestors experienced. The historical identity can dig so far into the bible, which portrays the life styles of the black culture. Individuals such as the Egyptians wanted to just live though the struggle instead of overcoming their own struggles. They would accept circumstances even when they didn’t agree with them. The laws may be set in store but its women like Kemba Smith who retained hope to teach a lesson to the upcoming generation. She is a role model to our society, teaching black women to never let a man come before their education. How fast her life went down the drain because she wanted to live that fast life instead of the life that her parent s had in store for her. Metaphorically speaking, Kemba Smith went against the grain and had to find a way replant the grains she had destroyed.

Appreciating the Sacrifices Made for Us

After reading Going Against The Grain, I feel that one of the most important elements of this text is to inform people, especially black females, of how difficult it was to receive and education. In the present, resources are open to everyone for getting an education and because of this I feel that many people in our generation do not take their education seriously. In many ways, we have become very lethargic in our quest for education. In fact, some people won’t even use the resources allotted to them because they feel that getting an education is not worth the time or money needed to achieve a degree. Personally, I feel that because we now have the necessary resources to get an education right in front of us that we should be using them and setting a higher standard for the generation that is coming up after us. When we achieve something great, we need to give back to our communities and help show good examples of what educated women are so that next generation will have someone to look up to and strive even harder and set the standard even higher than our generation could ever think of. After all, our ancestors had to fight for the right to be educated, and what is the most that we have to do. Get good grades, fill out an application, compete for a scholarship, and wait on an acceptance letter. Compared to what our ancestors had to go through I think we have a silver platter set out for us. We should understand that because they did so much to fight for a better future for us and for us to be able to use our rights to education that we should put more value and appreciation with getting our education. All we have to do is think of all the things they did and it will to strive harder to get our education and influence the next generation to do the same so that we can build a better tomorrow.

Going Against the Grain: Schools of Their Own

In reading Going Against the Grain, the sections entitled The Opening doors of Opportunity and Schools of their own really motivated me. I found it inspiring that African Americans could come together and create schools so that their children will be able to learn their history. “In this way, the African American community itself was largely responsible for laying the fertile foundation for universal literacy in the African American communities” (Going Against the Grain, 153). African Americans set the standard for themselves. This is very powerful because it proves that we as a people can succeed. We can educate, empower, and motivate other African Americans. Blacks did not want their children in white schools because the education would be biased. Instead schools were specifically founded with Blacks in mind. I believe that though going to a Historically Black College or University is wonderful, it is a disappointment that African Americans have to go to HBCU’s just to learn their history. Black history should be told at every university. Just like it is required to learn white history, it should also be required to learn black history. It bothers me that I know more about white history than I do about my own history. This is a prime example of why black history needs to be taught in every school. Why should a black individual have to go to an HBCU to learn about their history and culture? I think that it is just as important, if not more, for white’s to also learn about black history. The condensed black history lesions that public schools teach today are not an adequate representation of who we are as a people. Society needs to be educated; furthermore, our history should not be kept within our race; instead, we need to speak up and educate others outside of our ethnic group.

Is It I Who Holds Myself Back

In Going Against the Grain: The Acquisition and Use of Literacy by Jacqueline Jones Royster, revolts regarding the early 1800s are mentioned and emphasized when regarding the black race. White people who lived through the events of that time period began to fear the "sinister influences of enlightened negroes". This quote sheds light on why blacks, especially black women in particular, have intentionally been oppressed through the act of illiteracy. The slave masters felt that people like Nat Turner were able to lead such powerful revolts because they were literate. Literacy does not only involve the skills of reading and writing. It expands the mind to think and analyze the world in new perspective as well as in a progressive way. Because those that led revolts were literate they were able to see that the reality they lived in was not logical, therefore were driven for a change to come about. The same society that was supposedly built upon “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” was the same society that kept people in bondage; it just did not make sense. White slave owners knew this was illogical and inhumane and they also knew that literacy would allow blacks to see this and realize their social standing. Those who went “against the grain” were a serious threat to the status quo that sustained the “dynamic way” of America. This idea is still translated in today’s society. Many of the illogical inequalities that black people face would be greatly lessened if we as a people were more literate. As literate women of Spelman College, we see the obvious injustices that plague our communities when it comes to our economy, health, and educational well being. While being the "enlightened negro" is threatening to the status quo, that is what still oppresses us, it is necessary to want to achieve more for ourselves.
- Brittney L. Echols

Education: A Personal Journey that is Still Difficult to Travel

From Ms. Smith’s education to mine the one thing that correlates more than anything else is the statement that “My education, whatever shape it took, would be a lifelong process and would become a tool with which I could do the necessary activist in my community.” (Smith, 183) To be black, female, literate, and from another country must have been a hard journey to travel for Ms. Smith. In the same fashion to have these same qualities and be from America is just as equally difficult. Yes, we as Black woman are given opportunities to further our education; we still have certain discriminations that we will face along this journey to find “the key that will open up the imaginary door to our success.”

One important thing to mention is that the journey to success is still a rigid one in our society today because we still have certain boundaries that surround to us to try to limit our success, certain stereotypes we have to contradict to show that we are different, as well as certain bars that are set too low that we must raise in order to qualify and compete for the success that we each one to achieve. Furthermore, as black women there even more labels placed upon us and certain factors in our life determine whether or not we will be able to break the mold. For many of us, especially young black mothers the road to success had been barricaded and we no longer feel that it is the right road to travel in order to reach our dreams because the responsibility of being a mom is such a heavy load in itself. For those young mothers, if they don’t get convinced that education is the right road even though to travel it now would be twice as difficult, this could mean low rate jobs and living from pay check to pay check to survive.

For others of us, young mothers included, who have chosen to attend college, we are now starting on this journey to success. Its difficulties vary, from feeling alienated, to putting yourself in debt to fund a college education; we have some burdens to deal with. On top of all those worries we must worry about keeping our grades at a competitive standard and developing the skills needed in order to be able to compete in the real world with other people from all other walks of life. And even as we achieve a bachelor’s degree, we must constantly further our education so that can continue to sustain our competitiveness and survive in the real world. To be frank the reason I quoted that first statement from Ms. Smith’s writing is because I feel that my education at Spelman College will help to start my life long process of education and will be the first tool that I can use to do the necessary activist work in my community. Also, I believe my education from Spelman College will prove itself to be a durable one, one that will me book smarts as well as life lessons that will be concrete foundation to build the rest of my literacy and education on. Though it wasn’t my first choice, God has placed me here for a reason and I am happy I came. I know that this road will still be a difficult one to tread upon but I feel that the end of it there will be a key waiting for me that will open multiple doors have success waiting behind them.

A Connecting Factor Between the World

Within her interview with Joanne Kilgour Dowdy, Christina McVay emphasizes the uniqueness and the creativity of the “black language”. She expresses her concern to want blacks, especially females, to be able to realize they in actuality do like language; they just feel compelled to be able to only relate to the language that which surrounds them. Due to the school systems criticism on the proper etiquettes of the language presented to them, most blacks in essence make themselves believe they hate the language itself. During the interview Christina McVay comments on an assignment she gave her students pertaining to the play A Raisin in the Sun. I felt her comment being brought to attention within the interview symbolized more than she cog notated it to represent. I believe when one conveys the word language, they are rendering a sense of themselves as well. A part of them that is like no other human being: like a raisin in the sun. Depending upon where a particular person is from, they will speak using both a different dialect and vocabulary. No two people speak the exact same. In order to be able to relate yourself to another and the way they articulate, one must find a common ground in which the two share mutual resemblances. Once a person can relate to another they begin to let their guard down and as a result become comfortable with each other and are more open with the other and are able to express the true them. Another point from the interview proposed by Christina McVay was the idea of language connecting people. She stated although she was not black she was able to relate to the black students through language and literature. Through language people are able to teach one another unintentionally. Language will always be a brilliant, as well as fascinating aspect of life that will forever be evolving yet unexplainable. Language will always be that connecting factor of the world.
- Brittney L. Echols

Literacy and Black Women

Literacy plays a significant role in our society, which is not often required as much as it should be. To be literate means that one is capable of reading, writing, and therefore able to communicate with others. Those who are unable to interact with others are referred to as illiterate, which automatically creates a bias to place them in a lower class. It seems almost as if illiteracy and poverty tie hand in hand with one another because you obviously cannot get a good job without an education. Some say that education is the key to success, but for blacks especially women; there is no key, let alone a door. In addition to being illiterate, black women who cannot read or write obtain a double bias that usually puts them at a risk to struggle and live in poverty.
Black women were seen to have no purpose in society when it came to education, for their role did not require much wisdom. They were known as “workhorses” with liabilities because of their ability to bear children. Families were then faced with hardships since as economic issues, politics, and laws that all require individuals to be somewhat intellectually aware of the world around them. Teen pregnancy is one of the main reasons why young black girls drop out of school and become illiterate mothers. Illiterate mothers results in illiterate children with living conditions that can become unbearable.
Black women who were known to have both reading and writing skills were considered to be “intellectually inferior”. The sex-role stereotype is continually forcing an abundance of negative forces against women. Having such access to society could allow Blacks as a whole to grown in class. For blacks to be able to speak out and make changes in the world is the only way to fight the empowerment that literacy deprives from black people. Black people are generally forced into oppression.