Voices of our Foremothers

This story is a personal dedication from the author Sunny-Marie Birney that tells her story of how Black women, particularly in education, have led millions of people towards a better future. In this excerpt, Birney explains how she grew up without her birth mother and was instead raised by two Euro-Americans. Being an African American woman she always felt a void because of her situation. Birney goes on to tell her audience that although she did not have the strong black mother she was given this figure in the form of teachers and professors. She gives various examples of how women of the diaspora take their job seriously and have a passion for giving students the love and care that they need to succeed. She mentions one woman, Mary McLeod Bethune, who is an outstanding figure in African American education and has a track record of things such as creating a school for African American girls as well as eventually going on to open up a prestigious historically black college, Bethune Cookman.

Women like these have made a way for a successful future in the black community. She also goes on to say that she is homeschooling her daughter so that her daughter can not only learn numbers and letters, but will be immersed in the culture as well through her studies. She believes that by doing this she will be giving her the same education that she received from her black teachers. Birney’s story and interaction sounds a lot like my own experiences. As a student from Spelman College, I too have encountered some amazing professors that care about your well being more that anything else. These teachers are a reason for mine as well as my fellow sisters success in various areas. I believe that these educators are a huge part of how we have become as far as we are today.

Formal and Informal Lessons

The African American community used oral and written forms of communication to spread the word on how they would interact with the white population during the Civil Rights Movement. The power from the black community came from their unity and the church was a main location for them to gather together for strength. In Lessons From Down Under, it points out how religious leaders and the church played a prominent role in helping African Americans engage with the white community. In this article in goes over formal and informal literacy, which is something that has been over in another article earlier this semester. Formal literature being the education obtained in a school and informal/traditional is from storytelling. Because of the "separate but equal" policy, black students were given a lower quality of education than white students. After the overturn of the policy it is a long process, that continues today, to develop black majority schools for a better education. Having both traditional and formal literacy is important to have rooted in each individual. Through traditional literacy, a student can learn history through experiences and this is a way to learn from others mistakes and grow from the past. Storytelling from relatives play in a role in connecting to an individual's diaspora and their roots by knowing where they came from and their family history. Many lessons in the class room are enriched with facts and information that cannot be received at home. The combination of both types of education makes a person's education more well-rounded. A lesson that history has shown repetively is that is take s apolitical struggle to break from the injustices and inequalities of the government. The knowledge construction of the student affects the way they interact and handle the battles in the fight for their rights.

Unearthing Hidden Literacy:Seven lessons I learned in a cotton field

When thinking about the historical times of slavery, I think about the unpleasant events that happen. Working in a cotton field and being beaten are just a few events that happen during that time, but who would have thought that this haunted memory would be an appreciated lesson? In the reading “Unearthing Hidden Literacy: Seven lessons I learned in a cotton field” by Lillie Gayle Smith, she never thought she would be proud to do the work that her ancestors use to do. When she was growing up, her mom sent her brother and her to work with their cousins in her aunt’s cotton field. Being upset that she had to do this job every summer, Smith did not appreciate the experience. It wasn’t until she took a “Black Women’s Literacy” class, that she was grateful for the opportunity.

Studying what slavery did to black women, the teacher made Smith realize that she should embrace the opportunity of working in a cotton field. A few things that Smith learned from working in a cotton field is that black women were exploited as slaves, they developed greater independence and self-reliance than other races. She also learned that black girls retain a high degree of self-esteem in high school unlike their white and Hispanic peers because they lose their self-esteem throughout the school years. And another thing she learned was how to value a dollar. Being paid for her work made her appreciate what the job had to offer.
I can kind of indentify with Smith on how slavery benefit me today. Growing up, I didn’t appreciate slavery and still don’t to this day, however, the knowledge of the past has made me stronger as a person. Although I did not work in the cotton fields growing up, I did get made fun of for being black. And although it was hurtful, just like Smith learned, black women have an heir about them that makes them independent. The torment and harassment we go through does not shut us down, but makes us stronger, and I definitely see that in me when looking back on my life. When I was in high school, other races would immediately lose confidence, drop their heads in shame, or try to change their selves just so that other people would like them, but as for me I stayed the same. I didn’t let anyone’s negative comments get to me, even when they hurt. Reading what Smith learned while working in a cotton field, taught me to keep my head up and appreciate the pain my ancestors went through.

Forms of Literacy and Traditional Influences

When reading Dysfunctional Literacies of Exclusion, it had broken down the different types of literacy a person can obtain. One of the most old and ways of teaching is traditional literacy, this being through storytelling, myths and folks. This included historical accounts relatives pass down generations as a type of record keeping and teaching. Chikombero uses an example out of the narrative, Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga. In this reading the character Tambu experiences hardships and the sacrifices that need to be made in order to obtain a higher education. Tamboo sees being a woman as a burden because there are more tribulations because it is biological that we have the responsibility of carrying children. She resides in Africa and in an area where women are looked to specifically for bearing children and that alone. Cultures and traditions influence the extent of education a woman receives. Another type of education that was covered in the article is colonial/modern literacy. This is similar to traditional literacy in the sense that they both are based on traditions. Colonialism brought the missions to build schools with a Christian foundation which influences and individual because they are taught what favors the government and the religion. Gender has played a large role in many women’s lives because they are oppressed in some countries and limited to just being the mother of the house. This causes a large percentage of women being illiterate because in some countries they are not even provided the same education as a man. In the reading Nervous Conditions, Tamboo’s mother had such a limited education that she can’t even form an opinion on things that we discuss on the regular bases in class and out. Chikombero states that the level of importance of literacy cannot be over exaggerated because the level of education influences how we go about life and handle certain situations. A limited education and gender bearings continue to affect the level of education a woman receives today.

Single, Black, and a Mother: From her perspective.

“Welfare is a means to an improved quality of life, not the means to living a barely fulfilling existence.” Sandra Golden wrote an intriguing article about her journey as a single, black parent navigating the government’s system of welfare and the studies she conducted concerning other women in similar situations.  Golden states that when a woman, especially a black woman, goes to apply for government assistance they are given a horrible description of the characteristics they hold. In the eyes of “the man” they are uneducated, unmotivated, and unskilled. Unfortunately, this is the way they are treated when arriving to their offices instead of taking in consideration that these women have to had common sense or social literacy in order for the survival of themselves and their children to become apparent. Golden conducted a study on 12 women that received government assistance and found information about their educational experiences, work experience, and volunteer experience. She found that although many women had a deficient number of work and educational experience they were social beings of the community and had completed volunteer experience. These women are placed in jobs that do not promote growth and Golden debates that this is wrong because you are keeping women on the system.I had a serious connection to Golden’s excerpt, Black and on Welfare: What You Don’t Know About Single-Parent Women, because being a black woman myself I am surrounded by people who are either going through or went through this situation with the government. 



Precious, a young black
woman suspected to live her life
on welfare.

 In my opinion, the government cannot be judgmental in regards to these women because they do not know they whole story and therefore do not have the right to judge. Society has this bad perception as if black women who are single parents are jut good for nothing people. The reality of the situation is many have not asked to be in this position, but are forced to live and deal with it everyday.

Women & Literacy, The Color Purple.

In the excerpt, Women and Literacy in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, E. Yvette Walters goes into depth about a character that displayed many struggles that black women of that era went through and are still struggling past today. Black women as you know have been silenced since the beginning of time by their husbands or males around them as well as in white society. Being oppressed by two groups of people put a standstill on our literacy. They did not want us to be literate because we could rise above them. Therefore black women had to find other ways to liberate themselves from these people. Black women kept their stories alive through the art of storytelling. We had developed an expertise in this area and they were eventually allowed to publish stories. These stories have a central theme that was based on the development of the black woman. “In telling these stories, barriers, shackles, and obstacles typify an ever present element in the Black woman’s struggle for acceptances, power, respect, love, and self.”(137) Walters explains in detail the different types of feminism. Liberal feminism, the rights of individual woman who are trying to transform what it means to be a man or woman. Radical feminism, they say that the differences in our anatomy provide for a woman’s oppression. Pro-structural feminism, language patterns produce notions of gender. Social feminism, believe race, gender, and social status are all results of a patriarchal, capitalist society. She ends with black feminism, which is defining the African American woman’s struggle with race, social class, and gender. The Color Purple’s, Celie uses ways to rise to above her oppression and become the strong black woman we associate ourselves with today. Although, Celie was a silent woman at firsts she knew she had to speak up, not just for herself, but also for the rest of the women.

The Limited Leading Role for Black Women

Black women have been viewed to hold the same role in life in society. This is displayed through television and mass media. In Reel Black Women: Black Women and Literacy in Feature Films shares with the audience that the number one role for the black actresses is as the “mammy.” A mammy is displayed as a black women with a dark complexion who is the caretaker of normally a white family. It has been discussed in my other classes the way women have been portrayed in the same light throughout the decades but we have been psychologically adapted to being familiar and content with this role. The “mammy” role has also been shown in a bad light because it is displayed that caring for and helping others is a weakness. Another role that black women play commonly is the “jezebels” which is viewed as a more beautiful black woman with a lighter skin complexion. When producing films and sitcoms, writers take into consideration the literacy level of the characters. What was mentioned in the reading is how black women have taken on a large ratio of roles where the educational is minimal or not mentioned because the role of the woman in the film is as the housewife. Numerous successful movies that had a black woman with a leading role are mentioned to support this. In the movie, The Color Purple, the “mammy's” and “jezebel's” role is present in the literature and film. Whoopi played the uneducated “mammy” who was the housekeeper that learned how to read from her more beautiful and lighter skinned sister. I was most shocked to think that it is possible that the shows and movie that I enjoy are the same ones that oppress the black woman from being more that what is shown on films. I have never analyzed any of the films until now. I have realized that white actresses play the majority of the roles that involve a broader education and a job that is outside of the house. I would like to see more of a dramatic change in the way black women are viewed as. This is not only limited to the televesion screen but also art and through mass media products.  So many people have psychologically adapted to this role black women play in films, and it is time for the role to change.