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