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