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.