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.