Lessons From Down Under: Reflections on Meanings of Literacy and Knowlege from an African-American Fmale Growing up in Rural Alabama

Bessie House-Soremekun talks of the different forms of literacy that she encountered growing up in rural Alabama. House- Soremekun grew up in a small town called Lanett, Alabama where a majority of the citizens were African American and very religious. Growing up in the Civil Rights Movement, she saw how blacks were made to feel inferior to whites. Her family valued education and informed her of how important it was that she become a well educated woman. This is what she called formal literacy (school literacy). This provided her many advantages as she got older and wanted to further her education. However, there were informal forms of literacy as well. Oral tradition has been a preferred prctice of blacks since they came to this ocuntry as slaves. She recieved several examples of this such as hearing her preacher preach, speeches by Marin Luther King, jr., and hearing her grandmother, also named Besie, tell her stories. There were many rules, spoken and unspoken, that took place in Alabama. The written rules being Jim Crow Laws that supported the separate but equal clause. Unwritten rules were name salutations. Whites were referred to as Mr. or Mrs., while blacks were either called by their name or something derogatory such as "boy." Blacks were not given the same respect as whites and it was a way of life that never was to be quesioned. Many of these rule bothered Bessie as she swore to obtain the highest academic degree possible: a Ph.D. After obtaining this degree, she saw that there were still some rules that whites stll wantes to exercise as they tried to classify her only as a part of her race and not the human race. In doing so, she is now a professor at Kent State University in the Political Science Deparment. She has also written  three books as they pertain to subjects that mainly impact the African American race.

 I thought the aticle was very good. Alabama, during the Civil Rights Movement, had many, if not the most, racial tension out of  any state in the south. Being an African American woman in these times, it is amazing that she was able to succeed and accomplish as much as she did. Blacks had many limitations during these times and used other outlets as a way to rebel against the racism that they were faced with. Bessie has been very successful and has used her success as an outlet to give the world knowledge. This knowledge being about african Americans and their struggles as well as their history that has led them to where they are today.

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

Birney grew up in a home with her adopted parents since the age of two.  She shared how being in this situation affected her. She goes on to talk about her college experiences and the impact her college pprofessors had on her life.  She attended the College of Wooster and majored in Psychology and Black Studies.  She had three college professors who really impacted her life.  They were able to help her connect her knowledge to "a broader world and understand the dynamics of her ever-changing place within the world" (50).  I totally agree with the quote she gave from Irvine about how students say that they perform better in a course that is taught by a professor who cares about their academic success and their well-being.  I agree because I have had teachers to impact my life.  I grew up in a predominantly white school and I do not recall having any Black academic teachers, but I had a couple of teachers who really imacted my life.  The most recent was my chemistry teacher in high school.  I have always had a love for math and science.  She recognized that I had the ability to have outstanding grades in her class.  However, I was one of those students who kind of followed others and I always just went along with the ideas of other students when we would do group projects.  One day she gave a group assignment but this time she chose the group leaders and I was amonst them.  This was the point in my educational career where I realized that I had great ideas of my own and that I could really explore them.  After that day she began to really push me to be an overachiever.  I had never had a teacher who believed in me so much and made an effort to push me to set higher eduational goals and actually believe that I could accomplish them.  I agree with Birney when she says that students tend to perform better when they have teachers who really care.
 She goes on to talk about how our foremothers past down the torch to us, the present generation.  There were several influential women who greatly impacted our educational opportunities such as Mary Terrell, Mary Bethune, and Luy Laney.  These black women not only were pursuing education for themselves, but they also wanted to uplift and educate the rest of the black community.  These women undertood that students not only needed to be equipped with "factual knowledge" but it needed to be "coupled with critical thinking skills to assist them in navigating and transforming negative social conditions" (54). 
Birney concludes by reiterating how our foremothers impacted us and how her professors impacted her personally.  She shares how she has impacted the lives of the students and adults that she taught in ways she never imagined.  She also has a daughter that she educates at home and she shares how she has the opportunity to really tap in to her daughter's "powerful and creative mind, body and spirit, and to help her make cultural connections that are often neglected in public schools" (54).  I personally believe that all black women should be knowledgeable about the historical black women who impacted us and helped make education accessible to us.

The pimps, whores, and Welfare brats

                                                                  THE PIMPS
The pimps plainly put are the government socialists who believe man is basically good. They do not believe, however, that blacks have the smarts to make it on thier on. The name pimp fits them perfectly, because it seems as though thier motives are to control black america. Whenever a problem arose, the "pimps" of America only created more programs that only appeared to be solutions. These solutions were merely just webs they spun to trap thier "whores."

                                                              THE WHORES
So who are the whores? Black leaders who desired to make a difference and bring change were considered the whores that were caught in the web. Thier rewards consisted of a job in government, a power base in thier home district, and plenty of campaign money.


                                                             THE WELFARE BRATS
Welfare brats are those who feel like life is not worth living unless they have handouts from the society. They do not believe in sticking to the principals of hardwork that brought balcks out of slavery to begin with, but they have an "I want it now!" type of attitude.  Welfare in a sense is abused and makes Americans who use it weak. They become lazy and dependent. Black families believed that the "pimps" main concern was to assist them, but in actuality there were more problems placed on them from higher taxes that were created to "eliminate poverty." Several of these attempts caused breaks in the families between marriages of husband and wife, as well as parent to child. The government wanted the permanent underclass to believe that they could not survive without government help. Welfare in the black community has has transformed receiving public aid into an alternative lifestyle rather than what it was inended to be.

Sandra Golden starts her article off by first giving her own personal experience in the topic. She mentions the shocking experience that she encountered while seeking help from the County Department of Human Services. After her visit to the welfare office, she felt "dehumanized and humiliated." due to the treatment of the caseworker, who automatically placed a stereotype on her as a black woman. "A black single-parent female utilizes special literacy skills to negotiate within a social context that marginalizes and disenfranchises groups based on gender, race, education and class. Many black females carry the assumption of being uneducated, unskilled, and unmotivated just because they receive publicc assistance. They make it seem as if they are lazy and do not have the desire to work on  thier own. Sandra Golden decided to gather a group of women in order to get thier thoughts on the welfare system. It was clear to see that each woman had a negative comment to share. One participant stated "....SSC makes you feel stupid.". This is why literacy is so essential. Not everyone is able to obtain the common known literacy, but lets not forget that other literacies exist. These literacies are not recognized by the welfare system. Most of the women that Sandra Golden talked with had other literacies that were ignored, such as literacies from home and community. Sandra Golden believes that instead of automatically placing someone in a stereotypical situation, create an organization that will get to the root of the situation and find better solutions.

Reel Women: Black Women and Literacy in Feature Films

JoAnne Kilgour Dowdy talks of the importance of critical film literacy. Because our society is so media saavy, feature films are an important part of our life as they affect our literacy as black women. This affects how we view, more so she, films. Dowdy gives an overview of nine films ranging from 1985-2001. The emphasis that the stereotypical opinions of black women have not changed, as these movies show how little the media understands the literacy of the black woman. Dowdy stresses the importance of our knowledge of these films as they pertain to how we are viewed in not just society but Hollywood. For example, she mentions Eve's Bayou. The film is about a homemaker who struggles to keep her sanity as she deals with a cheating husband, her three children, and the standards of society.

This deals with a different aspect as it portrays the homemaker as a wealthy black woman of society. Although it is heavily disguised, she is given the sterotypical black woman role as a caregiver except she cares for her family and not an outside person. Her mother-in-law comes and helps her cope with the chaotics in her life, acting as "mammy." There is no evidence of her educational background provided in the movie. She is seen as just a beautiful wealthy housewife. Dowdy points out that our literacy is not viewed as important as it has not made an appearance on the movie screeen. As a society that lives through the media, this is sad as black women have still not been able to find a place where their literacy is portrayed in a pleaasing and accurate manner.

Movies are more than forms of entertainment, they are a message board that conveys the thoughts and opinions of society. Black women have long seen the struggle as they try to be more than caregivers and drug users in feature films. Dowdy makes it a point that we are not too young, as students, to take a look and see the pattern. Showmanship of black literacy is scarce in Hollywood as "Eve's Bayou" shows. Dowdy just wants people to bridge the gap between films and literacy, especially when talking about black women. Movies are used as a way of getting ideas across to people. We have to take notice that we are not portrayed in the best of light. These movies range from 1985-2001, and not a lot has changed. There just has to be an understanding that our literacy is few and far between. There have to be some changes if we ever want to be known as more than a maid or a caregiver for someone.

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

 

Usually when you hear someone say they used to pick cotton, you either think they were a slave or had a negative experience with the task. That was not the case with Lillie Gayle Smith as she recounts her experience of picking cotton on her aunt's farm during the summer. Smith took a graduate class called "Black Women's Literacy" which helped her to appreciate the values and teachings that she learned from being on the cotton field. The class helped her to recapture her literacy and to draw from past experiences that helped to shape her literacy as well. By doing this, she began to think deeply about her time on the cotton field. She made comparisons as to how black women were expected to be in the field alongside their men doing the same back-breaking work. This was added fuel to the independence, self-reliance, and survival skills that have defined the black woman. She later talks of how black women exude a certain confidence that women of other ethnicities do not. black women do not face the same self-esteem issues as women of the other races do for they have acquired a certain appreciation that the others have not. Besides this, there were many values that she learned on that cotton field that have helped shaped her into the woman that she is today. As she was picking cotton, she earned wages that she saved and budgeted for things such as clothes and books for school. Smith also learned of the strength and wisdom of the elders that she worked alongside. Their work may have been "degrading" but there was certain pride in it as they helped the younger workers and sang songs to help pass the time. She gained an understanding of their story and a bond that drew her closer to these people who she later viewed as her family. 

The essay was very good as it helped to give you an appreciation of being on a cotton field. Very few people understand the job other than standing in the hot sun and picking cotton in a crowded field. The people are more than workers. They are a family. They share the same work and many share the same experiences as well. They also guide the younger workers and provide a wisdom that cannot be matched in any other way. 

One of the experiences, this nation would rather forget, although it continues to haunt America today, is the immoral institution of slavery, Black Africans were brought to this nation sometimes for the express purpose of picking cotton. Arguably no job in the annals of American history has rested lower on the menial-labor ladder than that of picking cotton. Drudgery and back breaking are two words always associated with it, and the dominant picture in many minds remains one of Black slaves laboring in plantaion fields from sunup to sundown.

The one experience that America would love to erase from its history is the "immoral institution of slavery." No job has been lower on the todem pole than picking cotton. "Drudgery and back breaking" are mostly associated with the task. The most vivid picture that comes to mind is the black slaves working in the plantations from dusk to dawn (Smith 41). 

Smith, Lillie Gayle."Unearthing Hidden Literacy:Seven Lessons I learned in a Cotton Field." Readers of the Quilt: Essays on Being Black, Female, and Literate. Ed: JoAnne Kilgour Dowdy.  Cresskill, New Jersey:Hampton Press, Inc, 2005. 41. Print

 







Going Against The Grain pt.3

In this section we learn that most African American parents around this time did not approve of public schooling. Their reasons behind this were to avoid the humility of having to send their children through “the abuse of white southerners” or “to a southern-designed system of ‘black education’…..”  Instead of pressing their children to go to these schools, they preferred to send them off to private schools such as Morris Brown, Morehouse, and Spelman College. African Americans strived to become literate and each one has a story of how this came to be. For instance, let’s examine Clara Howards’ story. Born in Greenville, Georgia, Clara Howard was one of 9 siblings. Her father was a literate skilled worker and business man and refused to allow her to become illiterate. She was a member of the first graduating class of Spelman College and also one of the first graduates to teach as a missionary in Africa. She dedicated her time to help out communities in need due to her strong Christian values and beliefs. During her travels, she faced several dangers which included having to deal with wild animals as well as people. Her services were forced to an end in 1897. She returned to Spelman to become a staff member and an active member of the Atlanta community.  On November 23, 1969 Spelman College dedicated a building to her naming it Howard Harreld.  She has left behind an inspiring legacy that will continually go on.

Selena Sloan butler graduated from Spelman college class of 1888. She was born Thomasville, Georgia on January 4, 1872. Selena was educated by missionaries who encouraged her to go as far as possible in education. She was sponsored at Spelman College by her minister and received a diploma in Spelman’s 2^nd graduating class. For the next five years of her life, she taught English classes in the Atlanta public schools and later at Tallahassee, Florida. She later married a graduate of Lincoln University medical college named Henry Rutherford Butler. Some years after, Butler became a public speaker locally and nationally and as a community activist. She was a delegate representing the Atlanta woman’s club in 1896. In her very own home she organized the first kindergarten for African American children in Atlanta. Butler had many other accomplishments including being the founder and first president of the Georgia Congress of colored parents and teachers in 1920.

In that time opportunities for African American women in literacy was brought about many obstacles. Their opportunities were limited because of their race and sex. African American women were placed at the bottom of the scale and had negative stereotypes placed on them.