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.

To Be Black, Female, and Literate: A Personal Journey in Education and Alienation (Pt. 2)

In this section, Leonie C.R. Smith traces her literary experience upon moving to the United States. In 1987, she moved to New York and quickly realized that not only were there cultural but academic changes that she would have to adapt to. Her first struggle came when she failed a seventh grade reading test and was placed in a lower academic standing class. She soon learned that textbook answers were valued over her usual explanations in essay form. Another struggle she faced was culture. Many of the children made fun of her accent as well as her clothes. She began to see that name brand clothing was pereferred and that she was an immediate outsider. Smith was constantly teased and callled a geek because of her higher academic standing than her peers. Yet and still, she prevailed through adversity. She worked out an agreeement with the assistant principal and was able to return to her original homeroom. She ignored the teasing and was mature enough to understand that she was doing good and was helping to better herself and her future. She managed to graduate sixth in her entire class and proved that although she was different she was intelligent as well. Her Antiguan upbringing taught her that she need not to give up but to keep going as there was a bigger task that lay ahead and that task was her literacy and education.

The essay was very informative. I am sure that we have all at one time or another felt that we were an outsider or was wronged in some sort of way. Leonie C.R. Smith had many barriers in front of her. She was black, an immigrant, and she was a woman. Instead of making excuses, she decided to act and to make a way out of no way. She managed to get back into her class and later an honor's class. She is a true inspiration and has proven that no matter what the case, anything is possible. Just because you are a black woman does not mean that you have to accept that stereotype. You are as intelligent and educated as you make yourself. Sometimes if you want change, you have to grab it and change it yourself. Her literacy and education were worth the struggle and the fight. She is living proof that the only person that can hold you back is yourself.

Going Against the Grain pt. 2

Literacy Opportunities after 1800s

During this time many of the noted African-American women began to step up and start schools in their homes, cabins and churches.  They also were able to attend certain academies.  Miss Deveaux from Savannah was one of many of the women who ran a school in her home.  Some slaves even taught sewing classes for the younger slave children.
Along with direct teaching from the black women, they also "learned from their slave masters."  They would watch their masters and observe what they did and try to imitate them.  They also would wait outside the school of the master's childen and eavesdrop while they waited on the children to be dismissed from school.
Some slaves were taught directly from their masters because the master needed them for work that sometimes required them to have a certain level of literacy.  Some of the family members of the masters such as wives, children and sisters, would often teach the slaves in secret how to read and write. 
Even though they had opportunities to learn they still had to do it in secret.
After the Civil War The Atlanta University was opened in the South and African-Americans had teh opportunity to obtain higher education.  One of the first African-American women to be able to attend and take advantage of the opportunity was Adella Hunt. Following her many other African-Americans began to acquire simple skills such as reading and writing.
I actually enjoyed this section because it is so interesting to me because they had such a hunger to learn and be educated.  Many of the African-Americans today want to be educated but the motivation to learn does not compare to the motivation of these African-Americans.

To Be Black, Female, and Literate: A Personal Journey in Education and Alienation by Leonie C.R. Smith

  Leonie Smith tells us about her experience with literacy during her childhood to present day.  She was the youngest child and she grew up in a home with both her parents. Her father dropped out of school as a young boy so he could work and support his family.  Leonie's mother was a homemaker.  Leonie states that "[her] parents were very intelligent people who [were unable to complete their education due to their family situations]"(184).  Her family suffered because of the illiteracies that were in her family.  For example, because her grandmother was illiterate she was taken advantage of by a white woman.  leonie's grandmother gave the rights to her grandfather's land to a white woman not knowing what she was doing. The white woman told her grandmother that her "children would rob her" (184).  The white woman "paid" her with "bags of flour for her bakery and a $5 bill" (184). 

  Along with the tragic lose of her grandfather's land, Leonie suffered the loss of her mother at a very young age.  After her mother died, Leonie's father went into a state of depression.  The older children ended up caring for the younger ones.  Despite Leonie's struggles, she never allowed her education to suffer.  Her experience reminds me of myself and my journey to become a literate black woman.  just like Leonie, I endured through my struggles to become a literate black woman. 

 

Going Against the Grain: The Acquisition and Use of Literacy

It seems that the African American woman has seen nothing but stuggles and resilence over the past 200 years in regards to her education and literacy. It started early in our homeland Africa. Black women still had a secondary role to men yet they took that role and created something much greater. They were more than nurturers but storytellers and eucators as well. They were reponsible for the entire community out of an unassigned obligation. When brought to the United States as slaves, they were denied access to education and anything that would derail their identity as a labor force. During the American revolution, a time when America was establishing itself as a free nation and separate from England, many blacks were held in captivity denied the freedon and American dream as promised by founding father Thomas Jefferson. Despite this, many women threw cauttion to the wind and grabbed their freedom and literacy. Many women such as Lucy Terry Prince who used the government numerous times to salvage her possessions. When her family was threatened, she went to the governor and ordered protection and successfully defended herself to the Supreme Court when her property rights were being infringed. Although struggling for a literaic voice, there were many people who helped in the education of African Americans. Many abolitionists, ministers, and philosophers who did not condone slavery and felt it was immoral. They believed blacks should at least be educated if not set free by their captors. Numerous African American women has succeeded in becoming literate and uisng it to their advantage. However, for the increasing number of successful ones, there were just as many that were not so fortunate to receive this education and literacy.

The essay was very good and gave a broad means to how African American women were able to take their secondary roles and use them to benefit not only themselves but their community as well. They never forgot their primary role as a nurturer but decided that there was more to them than taking care of the house and raising children. They had a voice and no matter how difficult and daunting a task it was, they managed to prevail and to give not just themselves but their community as well a little access to literacy and fredom.

Black Women/Black Literature

This essay was done on the basis of JoAnne Kilgour Dowdy interviewing Christina McVay, an instructor who teaches English in the Pan-African Department. When reading this, you would probaly never guess that Christina McVay is white. She discusses her non-conventional ways when it comes to her career, classroom, and her life. For instance, she got a position in the department when she was having a beer in a bar. There she met Wiley Smith who then was a coordinator for Communications Skills and Arts Division. They talked, and he thought she be great to teach in the department. Less than a week later, she was! In her classroom, she felt it necessary for her students to become comfortable with the black language, but first felt that they needed to be comfortable with her. In doing so, she came up with many exercises, one being the slang dictionary. This was where the students took a plain dictionary and filled it with only slang words, but they had to give the definition and the part of speech. This helped them and challenged the theory that Black English is bad and has no place in the classroom. It also gave respect to what she calls Consensus English. In the end, she talks of wanting to look up an old college friend and wondering if she is still that empowered and involved woman that she knew her to be.

I was very surprised when I read the essasy. Besides the fact that Christina McVay is white, but that she seemed so fascinated with black culture and the fact that she seemed so unnerved by the way that society has treated and defined black language. I loved the slang dictionary and felt that was a great way to incorporate Consensus English with Black English and how it applies to the students. Christina McVay is a great teacher and has an uncanny way of creating a bridge for her students to learn. I think that she felt that there is no way the students could possibly learn anything from her class if they could not find themselves in the writing---the literature. She respected their culture and helped them to embrace not only the black language but a bit of their own culture as well.

Response to "Literacy and the Black Woman" by Joanne Dowdy

Dowdy starts off by defining the black woman from the point of view of society. The black woman was viewed as poor, illiterate, and "an overrepresented member of the Society's bottom tier"(15). Dowdy goes on to address the "historical perspective" of black women and literacy. When people thought of women being literate, they usually referred to the white woman. Black women were ignored to the point where it seemed like they did not exist. Black women were only useful when it came to house work and child-bearing. Eventually the black woman realized that the only difference between her and whites was being literate. Women like "Harriett Tubman and Sojurner Truth epitomize the image of what black women endured to become [literate balck women]" (16). Dowdy goes on and talks about the black woman's efforts to help her black community become literate. Eventually programs were established to help the black woman build on her level of literacy.
In conclusion, Dowdy states that, "The black woman has struggled long and hard in an effort to achieve the skills identified with literacy. Unfortunately, if it had to be judged by present statistics on formal literacy, one would be tempted to say she has failed. This is not due to her lack of will; obstacles often greater than her will have been imposed on her every step"(23). This portion of Dowdy's book stood out to me because as I reflect on the hard work of many of the influential black women such as Harriett Tubman, Phillis Wheatly, and Sojurner Truth, I think of the ungrateful African-Americans today who do not take advantage of the education that is offered to them. The African-Americans today tend to complain about attending school and have the highest drop-out rates. Our African-American ancestors took beatings, hazing, and many other forms of torture because of their attempt to become literate African-Americans. Because of the portion of our Black community that lack the desire to become literate, our entire black community is judged and degraded because of the few.
I also agree with Dowdy when she states that "it seems {she} has lost the war of achieving literacy to uplift herself and her race, she continues the battle every day." Although Black women were denied the access to learn how to read and write, she found other areas in which to become literate. Lteracy is not only the ability to read and write but also the ability to communicate. Black women learned to dance and through dance they used their bodies to communicate what they were feeling. Black women also used music and singing as a way of communication.


Dowdy, Joanne. Readers of the Quilt: Essays on Being Black, Female and Literate. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press Inc., 2005.

"To Protect And Serve"

It seems as though the words “to protect and serve” appear to be what a black woman is expected of. She is strong and nurturing, hence comes her ability to protect, and she is also caring and loyal giving her the expectancy to be able to serve. She is viewed as everything except who she really is. Instead of the powerful queen that she should represent, it seems as though she has lowered herself into a position that is pleasing to the world around her. Not even thinking about her true purpose nor the many attributes she can give to society. Instead she was giving names such as mammy, which means “the faithful, obedient, domestic servant”, as said by Patricia Hill Collins. (676) As a black woman, it is common to be looked upon as a sexual creature. We have come to a place in time where black woman both young and old are considered “loose and immoral” (676) Although all of these things are expected, I am proud to say that we are aiming to rise above it. Black women literacy is way more than just simple words being spoken out or written down on a piece of paper. Black women have found ways to expand the horizons and discover new options and new opportunities to better themselves. Spelman college is a great example of this action. By embracing the knowledge that has been set out before us and aggressively pulling ourselves toward literary freedom and success, we as a people have proven the world wrong. It is now up to the future generations to keep this legacy alive. No longer should we be looked upon and casted down as immoral animals, but we shall rise above it become the strong leaders that we were destined to be.