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