Devotion and Dedication

In Voices of our Foremothers, Birney makes a personal dedication to the educated Black women who played a vital role in her education process as well as other walks of her life. It was while in attendance at the College of Wooster where Birney encountered three Black female professors that made a lasting impression on her life. These Black female professors encouraged Birney to think beyond just the information that she was given and to instead think with all of her being. Other Black female teachers and professors throughout her school years had done the same. Birney noticed that her teachers and professors truly cared about her not only when it came to her academic success but they cared about her as an individual. Such caring and compassion from these women made Birney feel comfortable in her college environment which had become her “home away from home.” It was the presence of her collegiate professors that inspired Birney to become an educator so that she too could encourage other generations of young Black females.
Birney continues her dedication to our African-American Foremothers by writing of the legacy of educated Black women in history who devoted themselves to educating the African-American community. Such women that she mentions include: Emma Wilson, Lucy Laney, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Anna Julia Cooper just to name a few. These women found ways to serve their communities by means of education. As I read about the devotion to serve by these strong, educated Black women I reflected on my experience at Spelman College. Several of the professors at Spelman are Spelman alum; alum who were instilled with the idea to serve others and to serve the world while they were in attendance at Spelman College. Today these women are encouraging other young Black women to serve as well as to succeed as they matriculate through Spelman and enter the world outside of the college gates.

Kirah Brace

Voices of Our Foremothers: Celebrating the Legacy of African-American Women Educators: A Personal Dedication

By: Sunny-Marie Birney

I have a strong connection to Birney’s educational experiences. She relates her educational career to her African American heritage and the importance of having dedicated professors. Initially, she discusses this sense of isolationism which is relative to her upbringing. Birney was raised by two Caucasian parents, which made her feel isolated. She describes her upbringing as, “a long way from home. My adopted parents, two people of Euro-American descent, were wonderful people, but I always felt that a piece of me was missing (49).” Although I wasn’t raised by Caucasian parents, I can relate to this “missing piece” that she describes. Growing up in a predominantly white setting caused me to appreciate my African American heritage even more. I felt driven to attend an institution which uplifted me and the people around me. Birney noted that although she had excellent teachers in high school, she felt more uplifted when she took Black Studies in college. She also makes reference to the “problem-posing method of education,” which is a term that we studied in ADW last semester. Problem-posing discusses the relationship between students and their teachers. In effect, the teachers respect their students. The students respect their teachers while appreciating their learning experience. She describes her professors when she says, “My professors modeled not just exemplary teaching, but also a commitment that uplifted and helped transform myself and, in turn, the African American community (50).”
After introducing her upbringing and relating her experiences to college, she emphasizes the importance of Black women in history. There is a strong parallelism between Birney’s efforts in improving education amongst African American students. She shows that through her Black Studies education, she can help future generations become literate in different ways.

-Lauren T.

My New Knife and Fork

I found Dr. House-Soremekun’s Lessons from Down Under to be very interesting. I particularly appreciated the section, Formal and Informal Literacy. The experiences that she shared gave me vivid memories of my own childhood. In this section, she admits to feeling “voiceless” in a classroom that echoed with the sounds of a curriculum that had no familiarity in her world. I can remember sitting in the front of my history classes, (being taught by beautiful, young, black women) and feeling like an alien, thinking, “Where do I fit into this story?” I agree with her descriptive language. I can also identify with her acquisition of “Inherited Literacy.” Her grandmother lived until she was 103 years old and the wealth of knowledge that she obtained from her was amazing. My grandmother live to be 87 and I vividly remember sitting at her side listening and falling in love with her elaborate stories that tied in beauty, magic and our family history. Dr. House-Soremekun’s grandfather’s past also played a major role in her life. Once the Emancipation Proclimation was signed, he went out and bought a knife and fork set because he was tired of eating with his hands after performing hours of daunting field work. That purchase was the first step to him claiming his humility and independence. That story and many other stories passed down to her through her family lineage motivated her to pursue the highest academic degree possible and teach others that aspired to do the same. The connections that Dr. House-Soremekun makes between her family’s past and her own present success are beautiful. Her life is an example of the success that her grandparents dreamed about when they were enslaved and oppressed. I believe that as a professor, she now encourages students to find out more of their history and to use that knowledge as fuel for their endeavors.

-Phenomenal Woman
Danielle Winfrey

Black and on Welfare

Personally, it was difficult for me to relate to this reading because I’ve never had any sort of encounter with welfare. I didn’t really have any previous knowledge or concern of how the welfare program worked. If I’d heard the word “welfare” I would think that someone was unemployed, couldn’t get a decent job, and somehow received just enough money to get by. Although my understanding of what welfare is and how it works is still a bit hazy, Sandra Golden’s essay helped me to somewhat be aware of what welfare is, how it works, and who receives it. After reading Golden’s Black and on Welfare and listening to input from my classmates, I was able to get a better look into the welfare system.
From the reading, it seemed to me that the welfare system was flawed mainly in how it directed its attention, or lack thereof, to individuals in the system; especially Black female individuals. Caseworkers did not appear to give credit to Black females but instead looked down on them and saw them as lazy and not wanting to work. However, these women wanted to work in order to provide for themselves and their families. Though these women had a desire to work their caseworkers along with the welfare system put them in jobs or “organizations that provided no on-the-job training or in positions within organizations that had no growth potential.” I found this to be unfair. I think that an individual’s caseworker should pay attention to them and get to know them better in order to recognize that person’s strengths and abilities in order to be able to place them in jobs where they can be successful.
I believe Golden’s recommendations for the welfare system can help better the system so it in turn can help and better understand individuals. To see that people can have strengths in other literacy type areas rather than just academic literacy alone. I believe that when caseworkers make a connection with their clients then they can really help them and welfare will become more of a stepping stone rather than something people have to depend on entirely.

Kirah Brace

Unearthing Hidden Literacy: Seven Lessons I Learned in a Cotton Field

By: Lillie Gayle Smith
I strongly relate to Lillie Smith’s testimony on how she valued literacy outside of the classroom. Growing up, my parents taught me to be very appreciative. Both of my parents were born in Arkansas and suffered from living in the racist south. My parents relate to Smith because they picked cotton for their families. My mother often describes the horrors of being as young as 5 picking cotton. She described the intense summer heat and how picking the cotton would hurt her hands. She also has a strong fear of snakes which relates to her experiences of picking cotton on her family’s farm. In one instance, she describes how my grandfather had to kill this enormous snake right in front of her. This truly traumatized her. My father picked cotton at a very young age, which he often relates to his strong work ethic. I related my parent’s experiences to Smith’s essay. She notes that picking cotton was something that she never discussed when she says “[it] was something I wanted to forget, not extrapolate lessons from (37).” Initially, she felt that those particular memories were painful and she didn’t learn anything from the experiences. Later, she realizes that picking cotton benefitted her. She notes, “Unearthing memories of picking cotton and extrapolating lessons from the experience constitute two highlights of my graduate studies because the journey of discovery has led me to a deeper appreciation and understanding of past experiences and present perspectives (46).” She believes that although picking cotton represented a negative time in her life, she gained a sense of strength. This strength led her to understand the value of being a strong, Black woman. A majority of her essay discusses this class that she took entitled, “Black Women’s Literacy.”In this class, she felt comfortable in expanding her knowledge of the empowerment of Black Women’s literacy. She noted that in order to heighten Black women and their literacy, they must feel a sense of comfort and respect from their professors or teachers. Smith felt that her professor, “respected and validated knowledge acquired beyond the walls of the academy (38).” Because she felt respected from her professor, she enjoyed the class and learned more knowledge about uplifting Black women.
As her essay progresses, she relates literacy to her experiences picking cotton. She notes that these experiences led her to possess a good education. Smith says, “..because slave women were exploited, they developed greater independence and self-reliance than their nonslave counterparts (41).”She relates picking cotton to exploitation, thus she reveals her personal strengths. Smith talks about the values that she learned from her childhood. The money that she earned picking cotton was used to buy school supplies and clothing. She discussed how she would save this money and put it in a bank. She learned to appreciate the value of hard work and dedication. My parents’ experiences parallel to Smith. Because they learned to appreciate working hard, I also value hard work and dedication. I have a very strong work ethic and I am very appreciative. I believe that literacy can be strongly related to experiences that are not connected to education.

-Lauren Tripplett

When Does Superwoman Get Her Paycheck?

Reel Women: Black Women and Literacy in Feature Films
Joanne Kilgour Dowdy
_________________________
When will Hollywood release a movie that praises a successful black woman’s journey?

Why are black women depicted as illiterate in each of these movies? Is this the image we have in all films?

Will we ever recover from the crippling stereotype that we need to latch on to others to receive insufficient gratification?

Joanne Kilgour Dowdy does a phenomenal job at outlining the Black Woman’s image in the film industry from 1985-2001. She uses her own literacy and opinions of the film industry to instill techniques of critical analysis into her graduate students in their “Black Women and Literacy” course. She encourages her students to employ critical observation instead of slipping into the norm of naïve consumption. I enjoyed her. She opens her students’ eyes to the ways symbols shape the world’s view of all black women.

Even though all nine movies were centered around the rise of black women, they all shared the issue of illiteracy that plagues our society. In “WIT” Dowdy showed the struggle that black women face in the science and medical fields. Sue was a nurse that had to admit her “stupidity” when a patient said a word that she was not familiar with. “Sophorific” (very sleepy) was the word that the patient mentioned when asking about the side effects of her medication. The incident may have seemed small in the scene but this was a moment that set the black woman back two steps. Will black women ever be viewed as intelligent enough to practice medicine? As an aspiring physician I am striving everyday to put another crack in the imaginary glass ceiling that hovers over the heads of black women. We are intelligent enough! We can be nurses, but we need to strive to be doctors! I take this negative scene as a call to action. I do not agree with the nurse calling herself stupid because medicine is a field based on research. If I am ever put into a situation where the patient needs information that I cannot recall, I would gladly research it.

In another film analyzed, Music from the Heart, I found that the woman depicted was “book literate” but her lack of political influence foiled her attempt to innovate the music curriculum at her school. Principal Bassett worked hard to try to get a famous violin player to teach at her school. Budget constrains did not stop her, she put together several fundraisers help pay for her goal. Her story was very popular in the media, but unfortunately the Caucasian violin player was acknowledged as the hero. This was another tragic example of the way Black women are used and ignored in society. I felt as if she deserved acknowledgement for her efforts, but she got the short end of the stick.

When will we finally receive our due praise?

What is Hollywood’s roll in the continued degradation of our image?

How would the world change if Black women were depicted as the brilliant movers and shakers that they truly are?

-Danielle Winfrey

"She was workin like foreal..."

‘She was workin like foreal’: critical literacy and discourse practices of African American females in the age of hip hop written by Elaine Richardson focuses on a study based on racial, gender, and other social identities and expereinces encountered by four African American females. In correlation with these experiences, the author primarily calls attention to the portrayals of black folk via pop culture and mass media. One of the sentiments two interviewees expressed particularly caught my attention. The first girl stated that a lot of lyics in songs feautured in the hip hop community are degrading to women. In reference to tip drill, she stated that the artist was essentially saying that he and all of his friends were “down” for “running a train” on this particular girl. The second interviewee responds: “But that’s not degrading if the girls is wit it. It’s some girls who wit dat. I don’t think its degrading. It’s girls who is like that and they down for the git down, just how the boys is” (Richardson 799). I feel as though this remark attempts to justify the behavior on both parties’ parts. I dont agree with these sentiments because I feel as though who is to say that these girl are “down wit it?” Who is to say that these girls are not taking part in the action because they have to? And so what if the girls are “down wit it?” Does that make it right? I feel as though the male who takes part in this is in no way, shape, or form uplifting her. On the contrary, I feel as though he is not only degrading her, but he is disrespecting her. I have heard people say before, that these men in videos are not only disrespecting that particular featured girl in the video, but he is disrespecting the black race in general. This sentiment, however, I do not agree with. I believe that one singular artist cannot be responsible for acting as a personal representative for his entire race in that artists are their own people and their own individuals. In essence, I do not believe that it is fair to blaim the negative portrayal of black folk on these hip hop artists.

The Strength of the Black Woman

In the essay, Going Against the Grain, there is a strong emphasis on the empowerment of the Black woman. Black women have improved as a result of the negative images and stereotypes that we were faced with during slavery. Last semester, I read Angela Davis’s essay entitled, “Reflections on the Black Woman’s Role in the Community of Slaves.” Davis’s ideas were cited in Going Against the Grain. These ideas reinforced the images of Black women as it relates to our history and future. Davis discussed our roles as slaves and emphasized the value of being a Black woman. In the slave community, she notes that the Black woman had a strong influence over her family and the slave master’s family. Although she represented strength and power, she was often exploited and degraded. Davis discussed that female slaves had both male and female roles. Black women were “females” when they were being raped or forced to have more children, and they had "male" mentality when they endured intense struggles. In Davis’s essay, she also notes that because female slaves had “male roles” as the leader of their family, they were not treated as real women like their Caucasian counterparts. As a result, we were dehumanized and the image of the Black woman was tarred.
In effect, Black women were very valuable in slave society, but their value was overlooked. They represented strength, power and intelligence. These attributes were commonly ignored by slave masters and people of power. I strongly believe that these images ultimately helped us become empowered; starting in slavery. During slavery, Black women had a strong desire to become literate, but did not have this opportunity. Going Against the Grain truly emphasized the importance of literacy in the Black community and notes how it started during slavery. Over time, Black women became more aware of education and the importance of being intelligent. We fought the negative images associated with being Black and female. Davis suggested, “they were indeed beaten down, but they were not broken, and they actually managed to accumulate strengths and to re-create themselves under the lash, such that they emerged from slavery more whole than anyone could have expected (4).” Through these dark images, Black women learned to persevere and battle through racism during slavery and today. We continue to improve ourselves through literacy and education.

-Lauren Tripplett

Let Us Encourage and Uplift

For my blog on Going Against the Grain, I would like to focus on parts of the writing that show how past generations of African American women have become a literary backbone for future generations of Black females as well as the entire race. These past generations of women realized that they would have to strive in literacy in order to thrive in the United States. They recognized that in order for them to survive and be successful in the US, they would have to practice their literary skills. They also recognized that through achieving literacy and proper education they could make a difference in the African American community. “The quest for literacy was a symbolic manifestation of their desire for agency and autonomy…. In this quest they also accepted personal responsibility for securing their own rights and perceived their opportunities to learn to be an obligation to use the benefits of those opportunities for good and righteous work in solving an array of problems, not only for themselves but for the race as a whole(113).” As I read this part from Going Against the Grain I reflected on my literacy narrative and thought of the strong, black, literate females in my life who encouraged me to achieve literacy. My grandmothers, aunts, and my mother all took part in my learning how to read, write and comprehend the English language. As you continue reading Going Against the Grain think of the Black, literate women who have uplifted you and encouraged you to achieve literary skills and talents, and think of how you can pass that same encouragement to future generations of Black females.

Kirah Brace

FIRE!!! Going Against the Grain in FLAMES!

Powerful
Ambitious
Thirsty
Passionate
Diligent

These are all words that perfectly describe the Black Woman in her rawest form. These are simple words that personify her and give way to her strong mind. Powerful, ambitious, and thirsty for knowledge, the Black woman has effectively began to rise and melt the chains of ignorance and illiteracy that have kept her mind in slave quarters long after Emancipation.

As African American Women we have a testimony. We have overcome! We have successfully made it through the flames of racism, sexism and class-bound ideologies. Like grains of sand, scorched by these flames of oppression, we have matured into sharp pieces of glass, able to cut at the very ropes that continuously attempt to lynch our people. We are alive! We are human! We made it! “The quest for literacy was a symbolic manifestation of our desire for agency and autonomy.” Though our quest is not completely fulfilled, we are closer than ever before.

We have truly gone against the grain in our quest for literacy. In the face of opposition our foremothers took strides to ensure that we would be at this very place today- a place of security, knowing and wanting. “They were the storytellers” that lit up little faces on the plantation, issuing dreams and promises of the women that we are today. It is amazing to think that one day-not too long ago- some little girl dreamed of the freedom and power that we have today. Our history of struggling and persevering through the toils of slavery have molded us into ready-minded soldiers with our souls “fired with a holy zeal for freedom’s cause.”

“O, ye daughters of Africa, awake! Awake! Arise! No longer sleep nor slumber, but distinguish yourselves. Show forth to the world that ye are endowed with noble and exalted faculties… And where is the youth who has written upon his manly brow a thirst of knowledge; whose ambitious mind soars above trifles, and longs for the time to come, when he shall redress the wrongs of his father and plead the cause of his brethren?... Their souls would become fired with a holy zeal for freedom’s cause… Able advocates would arise in our defence. Knowledge would begin to flow, and the chains of slavery and ignorance would melt like wax before the flames” -Maria W. Stewart

Danielle Winfrey

Going Against the Grain: The Acquisition and Use of Literacy

African American history particularly that of black women is effectively illustrated in Going against the Grain: The Acquisition and Use of Literacy. As I was reading this text, I recalled the sentiments my peers expressed in regards to the advantages of living the life of a black woman on the first day of class. Royster relates that despite the two hundred years of oppression and dehumanization African American women endured, they came out with a sense of self worth and self reliance. I have read several articles that have equally illustrated the treacherous institution of slavery since I have been at Spelman; however, I thoroughly enjoyed this text. Although, Going against the Grain relays that the black race was raped, beaten and dehumanized, Royster too emphasizes that even in the face of oppression we, as black women, acted “with authority and power as intellectual beings” (114). I feel as though too often in the black community, we are told that we have been wronged and we have the right to be bitter. The acquisition of literacy was by no means an easy road and by titling this chapter “Going Against the Grain”, Royster relays to me that it is imperative that we continue to do so. Despite the fact that we were used and abused throughout the institution of slavery and viewed as inferior to all others long after, our acquired literacy was one of the primary skills in which we formed our distinction. We, as African American women, have beaten all odds--we are no longer on the plantation and we are no longer being held down. As we so diligently went against the grain before, it is imperative that we do not stop now. Here at Spelman, we have been given ample opportunity to utilize our literacy and become even more competent than the women before us therefore it is imperative that we continue to go against the grain as we refuse to succumb to the notion of victimization.

--Taylor Carter

The Personal Journey of a Literate Black Female

“To Be Black, Female, and Literate: A Personal Journey in Education and Alienation,” is a personal essay written by Leonie C.R. Smith on her individual experience in literacy and education beginning with her schooling in Antigua and her matriculation through American school systems. Smith breaks her journey into two parts. In the first part she describes her life as a young, black, and literate female growing up on the Caribbean island of Antigua, and in the second half of her journey she describes her challenges of being a black, literate female in America. Each part of her journey tells a unique story of what molded Smith into the person she has become.
Born into a large family on the island of Antigua, Smith learned the importance of being literate at a very young age. Her father instilled the importance of education into his children after he witnessed his own mother fall victim to illiteracy when she was cheated into selling her estate because she did not understand the content of a contract she agreed to. Through this event Smith saw literacy as a means of survival. She said, “My life long pursuit of education and academic literacy is a stepping stone on my way to independence.” During her early years of schooling in Antigua, Smith excelled in her classes and she was encouraged to succeed in her studies. The primary school education that Smith received was by way of British standards. She was taught British English and had to be able to differentiate when she was to speak British English or the local language of patois. This challenge in deciding which language was appropriate at which times was the first of many challenges Smith would face with identity.
In 1987, Smith immigrated to Brooklyn, New York where she began the seventh grade. In America, Smith came to be labeled as illiterate due to culturally biased American literacy test that did not fit with the standard British education she had received during her primary schooling. Through the rest of her secondary school years, Smith realized the cultural and racial differences between her Antiguan self and her American classmates. These differences became more challenging as she entered college life. Smith attended Hamilton College, “a private predominately White upper-class miniature Ivy League institution.” During her time spent at Hamilton College, Smith faced many a days of racism from both peers and professors. She describes her time at Hamilton as being marked with “intense loneliness and isolation.” Racism spread from her classroom time, into her athletics, her social life, and just about every other piece of who she was. However, Smith was determined to succeed despite the toll racism had on her day to day life.
Smith chose to push past the negative that surrounded her because she had a goal she wanted to achieve. She found the positives in her life that helped her like joining cultural organizations and finding strength in other women of color or Caribbean background who attended Hamilton College. Above all, she found strength in herself especially by holding on to her own Caribbean identity instead of completely assimilating in to a culture that had seemed to reject her. Smith survived and moved on past Hamilton and began working towards a doctorate degree in Health Education at Kent State University. Smith’s journey is a brave struggle of identity and racism and how endurance and focus prevails.

Kirah Brace

Black Women/Black Literature by Christina Mcvay & Joanne Kilgour Dowdy

In Joanne Dowdy’s interview with Christina Mcvay, they discuss Mcvay’s experiences as an instructor of Pan African studies. Mcvay is Caucasian, which raises the question: How can a White woman truly understand such a topic? She describes her life growing up when she says, “And it’s the fact that I grew up in a pretty tidy, White disciplined environment.” Although she lived in such an environment, she shows a genuine interest in the topic of Black Women and literature. I honestly admire her outlook on African American language and literature. She sees a sense of hope for young Black people, especially women. Mcvay uses unique strategies to help her students appreciate their culture as it relates to African American literature. She introduces a “slang dictionary” where her students list slang words and definitions for these words. As a result, these students begin to show an appreciation for their culture. By emphasizing the works of Zora Neale Hurston and Toni Morrison, Mcvay displays a world of Black, female intellectuals whom her students can relate to. Mcvay expresses the importance of Black, female authors and how she learns important lessons from them. She believes that studying the works of Morrison, Hurston and Alice Walker made her a different person. Because she learns life lessons from these authors, she can transmit these ideas to her students. In effect, she empowers them by relating these works to their lives and uplifting them. She says, “They’re making connections between what we read in this piece of literature and their own experiences.” I believe that literature should be analyzed by paralleling personal experiences to the stories presented in the text. In this case, her students understand the works by examining their own lives. I respect Mcvay as an instructor. She places her students on a heightened intellectual level where she not only teaches her students, but she learns from them. This idea is very important in terms of educating our youth. I strongly believe that Mcvay is a positive influence for not only her students but for other educators, who show an authentic desire to educate Black women. Interestingly, when she addresses her students she notes, “But I can’t bring the Blackness to what we’re doing. That’s your job. And in fact I learn from my students.” She goes on to say, “I’m never going to pretend to be an expert on Blackness. And they appreciate that.”She shows a level of respect for her students, which boosts their self-esteem. Young, Black women need this confidence in order to be successful. I believe that at Spelman College we are surrounded by professors who lead us in a positive direction.

-Phenomenal Woman LT

Lauren Tripplett

Literacy and the Black Woman

Literacy and the Black Woman by Sharon M. Darling




In the essay Literacy and the Black Woman Sharon M. Darling highlights the journey that we as Black women have persevered in order to achieve formal literacy. She maintains that from a historical perspective although our mostly oratory language of the past has not been conducive to our literacy today; several women have still successfully learned to read, write and communicate effectively. She argues that our illiteracy was an important factor in the effort of oppressing enslaved women and now, women of the twenty first century. Still we rise! Black women continue to seek formal education, in spite of the great obstacles put in place to discourage us. Our spirits of determination in caring and providing for our families and maintaining healthy social and professional lives should accredit to our literacy and thus propel us further in society, however we are ignored. After years of being ignored in the classroom as young girls and ignored in society as women, many black women lose interest in gaining the literacy that their oppressors hold above their heads. An astonishing 60% of the world’s illiterate population is comprised of women and Black women make up 44% of all illiterate women. Many factors contribute to this breath taking phenomenon. Inadequate educational experiences, high teenage pregnancy rates, and “sex-role stereotyping” are all examples of the negative social forces helping to keep our sisters illiterate. We as black women are warriors fighting against a multiple levels of oppression; we must first enter society as women and then again as black women. I still believe there is hope. If we merely uplift our sisters and place positive opportunities in the way, literacy’s acquisition would not seem so farfetched. There are already a few programs in place to combat the illiteracy rate in our communities like Head Start and the GED program that gives lagging students a realistic goal and a more concrete reason for wanting to learn. Even though only a solid 40% of the Black female population is considered formally literate, that forty percent is a solid representation of the potential that all of our sisters have. As Women of Spelman College, we are actively striving to acquire a higher level of literacy than that which our society has already established. We are climbing and working towards becoming Free-Thinking women that apply the knowledge we obtain to real world situations in hopes of propelling our sisterhood and community toward the ultimate goal of 100% literacy.





-Phenomenal Woman DW

Danielle Winfrey