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.