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.