Teachings From One Student to Another.

In the essay, Transformative College Literacy of Literate Black Women Peer Counselors, Robin Wisniewski introduces us to Lauryn who is a first-semester peer counselor and a senior biology/pre-medicine major and Vania who is a third-semester peer counselor and a senior accounting major.  The essay begins with each of the two girl's definition of what being a literate Black women means.  I agree with both definitions because throughout the whole semester we have been discussing the different ways one might be considered literate.  Wisniewski started this peer counseling program which helped "provide literacy support for college students with disabilities, from low-income backgrounds, and in the first generation in their family to attend college".  In the program, math and writing tutoring was available.  Here, at Spelman, we have upperclassmen that help the first-year students in subjects like world foreign languages, english, math, biology and others.  We have the writing center and language resource center that allows us to get peer counseling from other students who have learned the same thing we are trying to understand now.  I personally like that we have these types of programs because it helps us all to become literate Black women together as peers.  Attending a predominantly Black school, like Spelman College, gives you access to many different literate Black women. I believe that having programs that involve peer counseling at colleges are very beneficial to everyone that is involved in the programs from the peer counselors to the other students. 

Missing A Part of You

In the essay, "Voices of Our Foremothers: Celebrating the Legacy of African-American Woman Educators" by Sunny-Marie Birney, you understand the importance of parents sharing and reflecting their heritage on their children. The essay discusses Birney's dependency on her teachers for understanding of her African descent. She was adopted at the age of 2 by Euro-American people who could not tell her much about the culture because they weren't black. An exert states, "Similar to the unknown author of the negro spiritual Motherless Child, I too found myself "a long way from home. My adopted parents, two people of Euro-American descent, were wonderful people, but I always felt that a piece of me was missing." From this exert, Birney expressed that she loved her parents and they were great but growing up she always felt that there was a part of her missing. Why should adopting parents be of similar ethnicity of the child? Growing up and watching movies such as Raising Isaiah, I didn't understand the importance of adopting a child how had the same race as the parents. I felt that it was not a vital role in parenting. Many of the movies I watched I assumed that the parents or the adoption agencies were just prejudice and did not understand that parenting was beyond the color of someone's skin tone. But now things seem to shine in a new light. I can understand how important it is to understand where you have come from to understand where you are going. Being raised in a African-American household I have gotten the chance to experience culture traditions and festivities. This things have helped mold me into the woman I am today and will definitely have an affect on the woman and mother I will be in the future. When I do have the chance to interact with other African-American students and I find out that they don't understand the traditions and festivities I become completely shocked. I also find myself using sayings as "oh your not black" to make fun of them in a joking way. I never realized how much I characterize someones's ethnicity on their behaviors but I do. I understand that the behaviors we perform and understand reflects who we are as a people. Growing up as a child and not getting the chance to experience this must have a big toll of the life of the child. It must make them feel lost or as Birney stated, "a piece of them is missing". So now when it comes to understanding the importance of being raise in a home where similar culture beliefs and traditions are shared. As the saying goes, "In order to know where you are going, you have to know where you came from".

Mothers Away from Home

Kaitlyn Jackson

In "Voices of Our Foremothers: Celebrating the Legacy of African-American Women Educators A Personal Dedication" by Sunny-Marie Birney, she talks about African American teachers who had a significant influence on her life.  In Part One: Laying the Foreground, Birney said that being brought up by European Americans impacted the way she viewed African Americans, especially since she is African American herself.  But, throughout her education, the African American teachers became her"mothers away from home"(Birney, 51).  It is because of the influence her teachers had that Birney decided to become a teacher and assist in preparing African American students for their futures.  While Birney's African American teachers taught her valuable lessons, they also did one thing that was very important to her development --they cared.  Not only did they care about her academics, but the teachers also cared for Birney as if she was one of their children. While reading this part, I reminisced on my childhood and influential teachers I have had.  One particular African American teacher stands out, my second grade teacher, Mrs. Smith-Willis.  Over the years, Mrs. Smith-Willis has continued to be a valuable member of my life and she has remained a family friend to this day.  According to Jacqueline Jordan Irvine in her article, "The Education of Children Whose Nightmare Came Both Day and Night" (1999), she believes that students "performed their best when they thought that teachers cared for them.  Students said that teachers cared when the laughed with them, trusted and respected them, and recognized them as individuals"(p.249).

In Part Two: The Art of Service, Birney discusses how African American teachers are servicing their community by caring about the well-being and education of each of their students.  Teachers are not doing their community a service because they have to, they do it because they want to see young African Americans succeed.  Carter G. Woodson describes a servant of the community as someone of the people who is a leader in the community and can help others.  Teachers are among those leaders who want to change their communities for the better.  There is a special connection between students and their teachers that cannot be reenacted.  This collaboration between teacher and student is referred to by Friere as "liberation education"(Birney, 52).  I believe that liberation education is the best way for students to learn and that teachers of all races should practice it.  Through a liberal education, students can learn to speak their minds and practice their freedom.

Lessons From Down Under

  Lessons From Down Under was intently informative on the ways African Americans attained literacy in the Civil Rights Era, compared to Bessie House- Soremekum. While I was reading the story of Soremekum I found parallels in her life that reflected in mine. “Lines of strict blood lineage were of blurred as my aunt treated me as if she were my mother.” (60) I began to laugh as I read this quote, for when I was growing up there was no real distinction with discipline; my aunt and grandmother acted as if they were my mother at times.  I hated this growing up but, as I look at it now I view it as a informal literacy of treating everybody equal. Another incident in Soremkum life brought up a moment in my life. “I made the decision, during my fourth-grade year in school that I wanted to obtain the highest degree awarded in academia.” (63) After reading this quote I saw myself when I had made the exact same vow upon my life at an early age. Seeing the parallels in my life with the author made this reading informative about the types of literacies with a pathos appeal.

One thing that appealed to me throughout the reading is how Soremekum used her life experiences to tie back into her meaning of the work. When the author talked about how she “learned everything about succeeding in life” from her great-grandmother storytelling I saw this fact resembling in African American families across the country. There is nothing like a great-grandmother storytelling for they are enriched with history and grand opportunities. Soremekum asserted her passion behind formal literacy with race rules as she expressed how her great-grandmother was not given the respect of her name when whites approached her. In her assertion I gained insight and a scholarly perspective in the account on “separate but not equal.”

Don't Use Your Temporary Crutches Forever.

This week’s reading was a chapter called “Pimps, Whores and Welfare Brats” inside of The Destruction of Black America.  My main focus while reading was the section about welfare brats.  My mother is a single parent with three children and she has never turned to the government for help.  She has too much pride to ask for help from anyone.  So when I read about how “welfare recipients are people who feel life is not worth living without a handout from the Great Society” (Parker 128) it is hard to believe that people would actually want to live their whole life on welfare or being “welfare brats” and not show society that they can be independent, hard workers for their earnings is very depressing.  I know that my mother didn’t want to get on welfare after she separated from my father is because society looks at the mother and child as victims when they are “receiving government assistance” (128).   From reading and understanding Black and on Welfare: What You Don’t Know About Single-Parent Women, I think Sandra Golden is a perfect example to show other black single-parent women how to use support and help from others to build into someone who doesn’t need help anymore.  When someone breaks their leg they use crutches for the support and help to walk and get around but after a while when they heal they don’t need those crutches anymore and can walk on their own.  Welfare should be the crutches for those on welfare going through many struggles but once they get their life together they should walk away from the government’s assistance with a proud, high head.

"Don't Bite the Hand that Feeds You"

In the essay, “Black and on Welfare: What You Don’t Know About Single-Parent Women” by Sandra Golden, it explains the lifestyles of black women who struggle with welfare. In the essay Golden states, “The study’s participants noted that they were not against the welfare reform law, rather they resented the discriminatory treatment from their self-sufficiency coaches (SSC)… the disrespect was a manifestation of public assistance are uneducated and lazy.” This statement posed a question in my mind that wonders whether what she studied in her participants is really the causing factor to their disrespect. When it comes to the respect that should be given from a “SSC” to a welfare participate should it be based on their education and personal behavior or simply should it be reflected from the respect given?  From a personal viewpoint I have interacted and I am acquaints to black women on welfare.  In observing their behavior and attitude towards people, majority of the women have a negative attitude to others. How can they expect someone to fully apply themselves in assisting you with the help you need if they treat have a bad temper? To a certain extent I can understand why some of the SSC may treat the women with less respect and it is because they earned it. Many of the women who struggle with financial issues that are single mothers have so much anger bottled up in them that they began to take it out on the people around them, especially those that may be in better situations than them.  Another thing to be mindful of is that many people have to depend on social services for assistance and it has nothing to do with their education. Some people who might have college degrees may be in the same predicament as someone who has a GED but that does not mean they should be treated with a higher degree of respect. It does not matter where they came from or what they have done in the past but it is where they are now. That now is being a single mother on welfare needing help and guide to have the ability to provide for herself and her children. Some of these women believe that the people that are helping them are obligated to help them and that is not true. They need to learn how to be respectful and not bite the hand that feeds them, while in this case help them. You do not need a high school diploma to understand the importance of manners, that should be a given.  I can understand Golden’s point as well as the participants with believing that a lot of mistreatment is rooted from the societal stigma that all black women on welfare are uneducated and have the “welfare mentality”. Some women who are mannerful are treated disrespectful because of that stereotype. Some "SSC" workers like to catergorize everyone in a certain catergory but not all. If you take the time to think about it, a lot of the SSC workers chose that job because they have a passion to help others in need not because they were stuck with it. So their focus is to provide the support that their participants need not to treat them with disrespect.

Literacy Through A Struggle

Kaitlyn Jackson

Unearthing Hidden Literacy: Seven Lessons I Learned in a Cotton Field by Lillie Gayle Smith was a pivotal reading that expressed just how much negative experiences can affect a person's literacy without their knowledge.  Smith told the audience about her childhood of picking cotton in her aunt's field in Alabama.  From the beginning, I noted how much she hated the experience because it just made her a part of a long line of cotton picking African Americans.  Although, as she grew older, she learned in a course titled "Black Women's Literacy"(Smith 37) that her experience actually contributed to her literacy and lifestyle even as a graduate student.  Smith wrote that, cotton picking and slavery had their positive impacts on African American women because these negative, low class actions made them stronger as a race and a sex, than the women who were not working hard to achieve their already positive place in society.
In discussing the struggles of African American women, Smith also discussed the negative treatment of women as a whole.  One of her examples that really struck me was the example involving a male teacher giving the male students special treatment.  The female students dared not address the teacher directly and, instead, chose to drop the class or accept that they would not be equally treated.  At first, I thought that these actions did not help the students achieve the desired goal of being treated equally.  They were giving the teacher exactly what he wanted, a class full of men.  But, as Smith explained, "I now view them as forms of oppositon against the education system where they feel  degraded and diminished"(p.39).  The women of that class thought that they could be valued and treated equally elsewhere.  I learned that if this man could not give them the education that they deserved, these women would find it in someone who was willing to.
Towards the end of her article, Smith realized that her experience in the cotton fields not only contributed to her literacy, but to the literacy of others.  It is for that reason that she decided to look back on it, learn from it and share it with others.  It was from the elders of the cotton fields that she learned the most.  She learned respect, responsibility and religion from them.  They had been active in the Civil Rights Movement and it was those elders that she and the other children looked up to.  Yes, Lillie Gayle Smith was picking cotton, just as African Americans before her had for centuries, but she was also gaining the same literacy as they had through the struggle.

The "understanding of past experiences and present perspectives"

In Unearthing Hidden Literacy: Seven Lessons I Learned in a Cotton Field by Lillie Smith, the reader obtains a clear understanding of the readers past experiences and how they transformed into lessons of the authours present perspectives. Smith gives the audience a whole hearted concise story of how her young adolescent days of picking cotton carried out into the women of who she is today. While Smith develops her story she asserts scholars to validate her point allowing the audience to be enriched with more than enough ingredients of Smiths story. As a reader Smith drew me in on several lines, “Before, having picked cotton was not an experience I would have wished to interrogate yet …I had perceived as a completely negative experience.”(Smith 38). The point that Smith makes in this quote is something that everyone can relate to. When people undergo experiences that they do not like, they do not see the essence and the effect that, that particular experience could have on their future right away.  

Smith drew me deeply into her passage when she cited scholars and used anecdotal stories to complete her message. The incorporation of these two methods evolved Smith’s piece, for it added more reasoning on top of what Smith was declaring. One in particular was when Smith was exemplifying "women’s resistance" in a graduate class that she had taken. “…women in the class complained about the instructor’s gender preference, but no one approached him about it.”(Smith 39).  This anecdote gave me an outlook on how women of different races are always overlooked, but all are not daring enough to address the issue.

Smith also made me realize some key learning methods. Smith taught me that lessons can and are developed from "nonacademic survival literacies" (Smith 40), and that taking risks to share a personal journey with others is helpful in motivating the self. Unearthing Hidden Literacy was Smith story and a helpful tool in my life. It made me think more about my life and how my experiences are developing into my characteristics. Smith story was inspiring and she is not the only one who viewed picking cotton as a negative image. I too thought picking cotton was negative, for it derives from the slavery times, yet Smith gave a positive perspective after she realized that picking cotton was helpful in the development of who she is. Although I have never picked cotton a day in my life, I could relate to how Smith’s picking cotton lessons related to my experiences and I profoundly appreciated hearing her story.

By: Megan Edmonds

No Positive, Literate Roles For Black Women in Movies

In Reel Women: Black Women and Literacy in Feature Films, Joanne Dowdy discusses how Black women haven't been featured in movies as characters that are literate and how the filmmaker makes sures the audience knows that the women are black by the women using dark skinned black women. Of the examples of movies that she gives descriptions about, there were two that I remembered watching: "The Color Purple" and "Losing Isaiah". I find this reading interesting because I never once thought about or questioned how black women were being portrayed in these movies. In "The Color Purple", Whoopi Goldberg portrays a young woman who was raped by who she thought was her father but was really her step-father. She does learn how to read and write from her sister. In "Losing Isaiah", Halle Berry portrays an unfit mother and crack cocaine addict who abandons her own son. While in rehabilitation we realize that she can't even read a children's book. Not once, while watching movies like this, have I questioned why only black woman portrayed like this in movies. I wonder how many people would have watched these movies if it was white women actors instead of black women actors.  Every woman is given challenges in life because of our society so I believe that any woman, white or black, could portray any mother or woman that is having struggles in any movie director’s movie script.  For now on when I am watching a movie I will take note on how the main character is being portrayed because it does make a difference to me now.

Finding Your Purpose Through God

In “Going against the Grain” by Jacqueline Jones Royster, the writing vividly express the strength of Black women and their fight to strengthen their race’s and gender’s literacy. In particularity she titles a piece of her work, “Coming to Voice: Maria W. Stewart, a Case in Point,” in which it explains how Maria Steward became a political and economic activist speaker.  Maria Steward became such a prominent pioneer in public speaking for black women all because of her obedience to God and her gift of encouraging women and blacks to take a stand for their equality. Before becoming a public speaker, Maria Steward lost her husband along with everything that he possessed.  Because she was black and a woman, she was not given justice in turns of what belonged to her. Her husband’s white business colleagues took everything that she owned and left her with nothing.  In the text it states, “She chose to cling to her spiritual beliefs, finding a strength and solace that compelled her to confess publicly her faith in Christ. . . Stewart had the desire to speak out publicly about discrimination and injustice and about the need for political and economic activism.” In this quote, we discover that Steward found out who she really was and her purpose by finding God.  In learning about her life I found it amazingly beautiful that beyond all that she went through she found someone who has always been there for her: God.  She began to realize that all that she is and is capable of doing is all due to God’s purpose for her. As a Christian and reflecting on this the first question that comes to mind is: Why is it that we forget who God is and that he is the created of all that is and all that will come?  I feel that for some people just was with Maria, we will begin to recognize God’s presence when we lose something that we admire or love that blocks out everything else. When that opaque object, that blocks our vision, is gone or lost out vision begins to increase. We are now able to see the things that were there in the beginning. When Stewart began to see God, she began to see herself and what she was able to do. She was no longer living in her husband’s shadow but she began to make her own footprints. She began to understand that without God, she wouldn’t have the strength that she possessed to not only make her better but to make the lives of others better!

African Americans Were Not Alone

Kaitlyn Jackson

In this final portion of the article "Going Against the Grain", the author talks about the educational institutions African Americans made for themselves, and some with the help of Literacy Activists.  Particularly, the instutions founded in the late 1800s, when slavery was coming to a close.  Three of these activists were Sophia B. Hackard, Harriett E. Giles and Father Frank Quarles.  Sophia B. Packard and Harriett E. Giles were two white women from Massachusetts who decided that it was time that African American women be educated.  They founded Spelman College in Atlanta, GA on April 11, 1881.  It was at this point in the reading that I truly gained an understanding and appreciation for the founding of my school, Spelman College, Morehouse College and other historically black colleges and universities.  African American literacy has become something that we take for granted.  But, in reading "Going Against the Grain", I have realized that it was not something that was just handed to us.  It is because of our determination and the work of people like Sophia B. Packard and Harriett E. Giles that African Americans, especially women, have the ability to read and write.  Yes, African Americans were gaining literacy on their own through their masters and secret African American schools, but without the help of the Literacy Abolitionists, African Americans would not have the social and functional literacy that helps them survive in today's complex society.  During the times of slavery, African Americans had their own form of literacy, but I think that with that literacy alone, African American society would not have been able break into the rest of society.  Literacy Activists taught the African Americans of that time to read and write, much like parents and peers teach children, so that they can survive in the community.  This example defines social literacy.  Without social literacy, we would not be able to be members of this complex society that we, African Americans, survive so well in today.  So, I thank the African Americans who began the literacy revolution and the Literacy Activists who helped them reach their goals because without them, Spelman College would not exist and I would not be who I am today.  

Literacy Activists and the Beginning of Higher Learning

After reading the second quarter of Going Against the Grain, there were two interesting topics that stood out to me.  One of the interesting topics was the three literacy activists and what they did to promote the teaching of African Americans.  Slaveholders felt it was necessary to have laws that prohibited the teaching of slaves to read and write because these were skills that were considered to be contributed to disorder and they maintained the levels of obedience.  The three literacy activists were Reverend Samuel Thomas, Reverend Doctor Thomas Bray and Elias Neau.  The one who kept my interest was Reverend Samuel Thomas because after 10 years in South Carolina his successes consisted of “… twenty African Americans who could read and write and who knew the English language well; at least one thousand who could read the Bible; and a cadre of white plantation women who were enlisted in the educational cause and who worked with him.” (Royster 130) I never knew of these literacy activists and Royster tells us about their mission to come to the colonies and work among African Americans and Indians.

                The other interesting topic was the start of higher learning for African Americans.  African Americans had access to higher education after the Civil War and the opening of Atlanta University for African Americans.  Royster introduces us to Adella Hunt who is biracial and the granddaughter of Nathan Sayre and Susan Hunt.  Adella enrolled at Atlanta University and graduated in 1881 from the Normal Department.  She was one of the first African American women to receive a degree from Atlanta University.  Stories like Adella Hunt’s began to be coming from other institutions such as Oberlin College, Wilberforce University, Fisk University and many others.  The institutions that offered educational opportunities to African Americans are now what are known as HBCU or Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Survival in the present and Prosperity in the future--Going Against the Grain

“O ye, daughters of Africa awake! Awake! Arise! No longer sleep nor slumber, but distinguish yourselves” (Maria W. Stewart) This quote resembles love, power and a calling to all women of African descent. In reading Maria Stewart passage, in the opening fourth chapter of Going Against the Grain, I felt a connection with the tone of her voice, as she emphasizes her passion behind each exclamation point. I thought to myself well if this is the opening up of chapter four, then I’m sure in for a nice treat.
In pages 108-125 Royster paints an outline of African American women, how they had a spirit of activism, “ an agenda for new world survival” fought within the slavery community, as well as the how these women had a quest for literacy. Royster also touches on the history of the country and how our forefathers were opposed to slavery but only few acted against it. Reading these pages left me feeling prouder to be an African American woman. Because these women that had been beaten, looked upon as capital, sexist, racist, class, and the list continues; however these unique special women during the slavery period did not break down, instead they “…re-created themselves under the oppression in ways people did not expect…” This notion is so profound, for it examines why African American women have distinctive survival characteristics and how they always seem to astonish the world time after time.
Although Roysters examines women of African descent during, I feel that some of the quotes mentioned could easily be emphasized in today’s day and age- 21st century. For instance, “…Survival in the present and prosperity in the future”. When it comes to survival women of color plan out their agenda’s. The agenda of making do- not breaking down completely, even with struggles and hardships, and the agenda of foreseeing prosperity- keeping faith that a brighter day is soon to come. The feeling that I grasped from the reading was strength. Strength in black Americans were strong in the slavery days and still is today.

Education: The Passing of the Torch

In the essay, To Be Black, Female, Literate, A Personal Journey in Education and Alienation by Leonie C.R. Smith, Smith describes how she understood the importance of literacy in her early childhood but focusing on black women literacy wasn't considered. Since everyone in her class was the same race, it never occurred to her nor was it brought up. Growing up in Antigua she understood that literacy was important. A life lesson that she learned was never giving up on education. She expressed how her father was very intelligent at a young age but as he had gotten older and finances became rough, he was had to eventually give up on his education to survive. But years later when it came to raising his children, he expressed to them that the best way to survive is to get an education, not the other way around. Growing up, Smith stayed in the public educating school system which was under the British English influence. She did not think about how important it was not to only be literate but to be black, a woman, and literate until she came to America. Although Smith lived in another country, there are still some people who live in America that really do not understand the importance of being a black woman in literacy. Now the question I raise to you is; Why do those who are aware of the ethnical and culture differences fail to understand the importance of their cultural and gender literacy?

In the text, Leonie Smith stated, "Education is the key that opens the imaginary door to success. Education, therefore, is supposed to uplift us from misery -- to improve our economic situation in life." This statement explains briefly that education without any doubt will improve the economic situation of an individual. So if black women in America learned how to become literate and earned a degree, they would not be as low as they are on America's economic scale. From personal experience, I have witnessed black women giving up on literacy. Growing up in the urban city of Newark, New Jersey I have heard women say that their only want to be a wife and a mother. They believe that men are supposed to get the education and work the real job. That mentality that they have limits who they can be. Truthfully they have given up on themselves in the inside. They need to learn and understand that they can't give up and count on someone else to provide for them. Even if they do inspire to be care takers, they still have to nature their children. They still have to be literate to teach their children what they will be deprived of in public school systems and society.

Striving Forward: Black Women and Literacy

     Black Women are said to represent strength, endurance, risk and poverty yet she is the most ignored within the structure of society according to Darling from her excerpt Literacy and the Black Woman. Why is this so? How could it be possible for Black Women to have these high attributes and qualifications, but at the outlook of her entire well being, she is overlooked by society? Why are Black Women a member of the underclass? These questions along with others were fumbling around in my head as I read the first page of Literacy and the Black Woman. And just like a fairytale ending all of my questions were answered as I kept reading. The answers to the posed questions are as follows… Black Women must attain the literate skills that are offered. Black Women must endure her long journey as a lessoned learned. Black Women must not stop at her working progress, once she has hit rock bottom. And if she continues to strive for herself, then more changes will be made, and these questions will no longer define black women.

The shocking statistics in the excerpt widens the arena of Black Women and Literacy. “…25 % of the world’s population is illiterate….Black women comprise 44%....” (Darling, 19) The statistics shows that women of color are in need of help, but I desperately believe that only we can help ourselves. There is nothing that a black woman has not been through-- her journey is and was long, filled with positive energy as well as negative energy. But to the oppressors astonishment Black Women press on through all of their struggles. Some women are going to accept the roles that the media publicize such as: video vixen, crack head, illiterate and the list continues; however it is up to us (black women) to strive forward, for a better outlook of our own race and classification. As a result to these ingredients, Black Women look good and feel good and that is where and how we like it.

"To Protect and Serve": African American Female Literacies

While reading Elaine Richardson's "To Protect and Serve": African American Female Literacies the beginning was the most captivating. The opening kept my attention and was on my mind throughout the rest of the reading. The term "Mother Tongue stood out to me. I am still wondering if there is a certain definition that can clearly give an explanation of the essential meaning of the term. According to Elaine Richardson, “The term mother tongue can be understood on several levels” (677).
From the reading I can basically argue a definition of mother tongue in my own words. My level of understanding of mother tongue would be that is a type of literacy that is taught through the tongues of maternal figures. Elaine Richardson writes, “Woman is the child’s first teacher, who protects it even in her womb and begins to socialize it” (677). This quote helps me support my reason for composing a certain definition of mother tongue. She also adds, “But, more basically, our language, our mother tongue, is at least partly how we know what we know.” (677)
I agree with Elaine Richardson’s arguments about the concept of mother tongue literacy. There are different types of literacy we are introduced to throughout our lives. The main literacy that I believe most of us are taught first is maternal literacy. The nurture of a mother to her child is a wonderful and never-ending experience because it is full of knowledge that sticks with you which allows you to pass it down to your own children. I still learn a lot from my mother just from watching her interact with my siblings and I. As a young child, your mother was your first teacher. Everything your mother taught you was what you took with you on the first day of school and continued to add on to the knowledge that was given to you from mother tongue literacy.

The Power of African American Women

After reading “’To Protect and Serve’: African American Female Literacies”, I was able to understand how powerful Black women really are as opposed to how they are perceived. In this literature, Elaine Richardson begins by acknowledging the stereotypes of African American women. She states how they are referred to as promiscuous and risqué, but also as motherly, wholesome, selfless beings. Throughout the text, the portion that really spoke to me was about just how hard an African American woman can love. In the days of chattel slavery, African American women were the ones who took care of their children, their master and their master’s children. This caring, maternal trait has been passed from generation to generation and is now a common trait among young women of color. As nurturing, selfless women, African American women also wanted to prove the stereotypes of them and their people wrong. But, through all the hatred and stereotypes, the question still remains: why be so caring and noble towards someone who has caused you so much pain? The African American women of our past used their loving nature to advance themselves, their families and anyone else who struggled as they did. African American women took care of others, but they did it to survive and be treated with respect in the long run. They may have been perceived as “Mammy” (Richardson, 676), the caregiver who would do anything for her master, but Mammy was also doing whatever it took to make a better name for African Americans everywhere. Throughout slavery until now, African American women have been striving to create a better reputation for themselves. In the media today, some women of color have begun to accept the lowly status they were given many years ago. But, what they need to realize, as Richardson states, is that they have just as many rights as the European Americans and race has nothing to do with your position is society. This reading helped me understand that
African American women are much stronger than they have been taught to believe. We as African American women should not stand by and let stereotypes and other negative ideas stand in our way. African American women are very powerful because of what they have experienced and others should not reject them, but listen to what they have to say.

Why use a "Guide to Living an American Life" When You Are an African American?

In the text, “To Protect and Serve: African America Female Literacies” by Elaine Richardson the idea of women expressing themselves through literacy is highly supported. Having literature that not only reflects an African American’s point of view but an African American woman’s point of view is needed for the domestic world. In the article Richardson states, “African women controlled the domestic sphere. The women took care of their own children as well as others.” Having the accessibility of African American literature builds a black women’s knowledge of the importance of how to be a nurturer and protector. In this article, Richardson explains through the additions of other text, the struggle and debate African American women have when it comes to telling their story. White supremacists have a great influence on today’s society that they somehow convince black women today that the lives that their ancestor’s have fulfilled were meaningless. Women seem to have a sense of being story tellers. In particular, elders such as grandmothers and great grandmothers have a passion for telling stories of their past. These stories are not told just so they can have something to do or more or less be entertained in with the company of another but it is to be heard. Our African American mothers and grandmothers have such meaningful and life-fulfilled experiences that need to be share and embedded into our minds so that we will never forget. We shall never forget who we are or where we came from. Listening and learning from African American literacy reminds us of who we are and what are responsibilities are as African American women. As the article is title, we have to protect and serve! Not by the American terms of our country but for our families and your legacy. From my personal experience, listening to the long and dragging but above all interesting stories and experiences of my grandmother and mother, I have realized by purpose in life. “Should we respect our language and ways of knowing as little girls or in our homes as we develop into women? Or should we gradually have our minds erased with each passing year of formal school?” This quote taking from the article raises an important question. I believe we shouldn’t. If we let the American literature control our thinking and lose our knowledge that we have gained from our African American women we will be nothing. Think about it. A doctor can’t read the manual of an architect to do its work and we as African American can’t be filled with the “Guide to Living an American Life” to understand our purpose and who we are as African American women who protect and serve!

"To Protect and Serve": African American Female Literacy’s

In the mist of reading this selection Robinson kept my interest and curiosity fueled with the different perspectives connected to her work as a whole. In the beginning of the work images of black women were described. The images that captivated me the most are in the following quote. “…images of “money hungry heartless bitch,” “Jezzeble,” and the good ole Mamma…” (Richardson 676). These images connected to me on an emotional level because these negative stereotypes for black women are still looked upon as such till this day. My question to this quote is how do we strive to change such negative and derogative images that seem to override the black women’s literacy in the media and the tabloids? I say that we keep proving the system wrong against these “stereotypes and controlling images”! I strongly believe in a positive outlook for women no matter the race. I hold a strong belief in women because they are the dominant factors when it comes to embracing the love that they have for their familes and sharing that love. Even through miles of pain and suffering that may come up, Women of color is steadfast in protecting their children by any means necessary. “…as a nurturer and agricultural head, childrearing and nurturing were shared by women, including extended breastfeeding. …Black females experiences drove them to use whatever they had to protect their children…” (Richardson 682, 683). These quotes are good topics that answer my question; Literacy’s of nurturing, protecting and agriculture are amongst African American Females. As a whole "To Protect and Serve": African American Female Literacy’s affects me positively. Mainly toward the end when the African American female strengths and educational issues were being discussed. The ultimate point that I got from reading this selection is as follows, “sometimes as a human race we are going to come upon battlefields that try to bring us down, but it’s up to the self-sufficiency of the human race to prove the system or power that is enforcing such degrade wrong, by reaching for what is right and needed”.