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.