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.