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