S.O.S (Save our Sisters)

In Elaine Richardson's article, "She was working like Forreal", she interviews three young African-American women on the subject of Nelly's Tip Drill video. At a glance of this video you would simply think that it was plain nasty but the degrading scenes of women in this video goes way beyond being just nasty. Elaine explores the different possibilities of why the women choose to reveal themselves in such a un-kept way. The three ladies that are being interviewed simply states that it's a stripper song made or strippers, which to me means that the ladies in the video knew what they were doing and knew they were being degraded so it’s not such a big deal. And it is. What led us, as a society, to think that his behavior is the norm? How did those women end up in that kind of video? And most importantly why do we accept such degrading things from our own race?


Elaine goes into detail to say that sometimes it's the women up bringing that leads them there and basically it's all they may know or think their capable of. I know that that isn't true. No matter how you were raised, if you want to be more than that then you can. Society also have a hand in the exploitation of women because the paint the picture that "sex sells". So we think that in order to get a head and to get attention and move up in the entertainment business hat we have to show our bodies. It is also mentioned in the article that some blame can go to the white executive producers that exploit the black women in these videos. But I think that it is very essential to point the finger at the Black race as well. We somehow have accepted the role of the typical video "ho" and we often judge it instead of doing something about. We think that hey it's their bodies, but their bodies are our bodies and it shapes the mind to think that all black women are like that. I think that it's going to take more than Spelman College to make a change. It's time to get the word out because obviously someone's slipping.



-Kiah Ellis

Learning Traditional Love..

In Voices of Our Foremothers: Celebrating the Legacy of African-American Woman Educators A Personal Dedication, author Sunny-Marie Birney discusses how the nuturing characterisitics of her African American teachers has shaped her into the African American woman she is today. Birney was adopted at the tender age of two. At such a youthful age she did not have any remeberance of her African American mother as she was adopted by two parents of Euro-American descent. Unable to further relate to her Euro-American parents, Birney found herself lost for eighteen years of her life. She states that three of her college professors, three African American women teachers, Drs. Susan Fraizer-Kouassi, Yvonne Williams and Mary Young strongly impacted her life. She discusses how these teachers were not only exemplary teachers but, they were nurturers and truly cared about her well being.  Birney states that because her teachers were the same complexion and race as she was, they understood the struggle to get where they were in life. She states that also foremothers such as, Emma Wilson, Lucy Laney, and Mary McLeod Bethune were all interconnected by providing literacy to one another. Birney talks about Paulo Friere's Pedagogy of the Opressed which states that, " Problem posing education involves a constant unveiling of reality. [It] affirms men and women as beings inthe process of becoming - unfinished, uncomplete beings in and with a likewise unfinished reality. Problem-posing eduaction is revoluntionary futurity. Hence, it is prophetic (and as such,hopeful). hence it corressponds to the historical nature of humankind. Hence, it affirms women and men as beings who transcend themselves, who move forward and look ahead..a historical movement..a deepened consciousness oftheir situation leads people to apprehend that situation..." (Birney 50). I believe that statment is true. Earlier this year, I had the chance to read Friere and that waas the first time that I thought and knew of pedagogy and of pedagogy from that point of view. Looking back on my life, I can relate to Birney's feeling of womanist and African American uplifting from African American female teachers. In my first semester here at Spelman I saw this in my former African Diaspora in the World teacher Professor Beth Sarah Wright. She taught us with a open mind and she challenged us. Being an African American herself, it appeaared she related to our obstacles as young woman at a all-women's historically black college. Alike, in this class I see thaat by our readings and Professor Greene's discussions in class she is trying to "pass the torch" to us her students. Our teachers are trying to get us enriched in our literacies and in the deepest aspect of our womanhood, self-idenity and empowerment. For they like Birney and Woodson know, " The servant of the people is down among them, living as they live, doing what they do and enjoying what they enjoy. He may be a little better informed than some other members of the group; it may be that he has had some experience that they have not had, but in spite of this advantage he should have more humility than those whom he serves, for we are told, 'Whosoever is greatest among you,let him be your servant." (p. 131) Our teachers believe we can be one of those servants.

-Jacquelyn D. Patterson

Free at last! Free at Last! Thank God Almighty, we're free at last?!

" The desire for literacy has characterized the culture of African Americans since their arrival here under the myriad brutalities of slavery."

- Dyson ( 1973, p. 31)

In Lessons From Down Under: Reflections on Meanings of Literacy and Knowledge From an African-American Female Growing Up in Rural Alabama author Bessie House- Soremekum discusses growing up in Alabama onthe cupse of the Civil Rights Movement.She diiscusses the Civil Rights Movement and the start of it all, the refusal to sit at the back of the bus by Rosa Parks in Montgomery, Alambama. Soremekum states that African Americans have been degraded and surpressed by Whites since the brinks of slavery. The oppression of Blacks almost appears to be inevitable. Soremekum alludes to her own life and tells of the time in the fourth grade when a teacher suggested that she be promoted to a higher grade. Soremekum's mother refuses the offer because she feels that her child should stay in a class setting with individuals and futhermore African American children who are on her level. She feels that by promoting her child, Bessie House-Soremekum would have been deprived of natural emotional and intellectual development.Soremekum also discusses formal and informal literacy by alluding to the way her grandmother was addressed by Whites. She stated that while she held Whites to a degree of respect and formality while, whites simply addressed her grandmother as Bessie with no such Mrs., or Ms. before her name. Soremekum suggests that it all boils down to knowledge and knowing. Some individuals are knowledgeable about the events around them but, do not act on them. While knowing of a situation, futhermore a situation pertaining to you as an individual makes you want to act on it. Soremekum came from a middle class family where education was advocated for. Her grandmother told her stories of the bouts African Americans have overcome to get to this point in life. I can relate to Soremekum. In the ninth grade, I was told by my Honors english teacher that I did not belong in a Honors course and that I belonged in a core class. Needless to say, her reasoning behind advising me to do such was not my scholastic ability but, rather my complexion. I was the sole minority in the class. I did not give up or give into the stereotype being thrown at me by my teacher. I did my best in my class to pass. So, I fully believe in Soremekum's story and her actions taken to become a professor and writer. But, do I think African Americans are no longer oppressed. NO! I think like Soremekum stated- it is the difference between being knowledgeable and knowing and the choose of whether or not to stand up and advocate for the rights of African Americans.







- Jacquelyn D. Patterson

Making Lemons into Lemonade and changing Cotton to Cotton Candy

In the article, "Unearthing Hidden Literacies: Seven Lessons I Learned in a Cotton Field", Smith shows us that there are other ways to obtain literacies outside of school. This topic was touched on in some of our class discussions as well. The difference with this article is the place that she obtained her literacy is one that black people are often ashamed of. Working in the cotton field is something that we often look down on because we feel like it symbolizes the slavery and oppression that our ancestors went through.


Smith's interpretation of the cotton field however is one that tells us that there should be no shame because everything that we usually learn in school...she learned there.

I feel like the black race should also look at what we view as negative pieces of our past, and turn them into positives ones, like Smith did in this article. Everything happens for a reason, so why not make it into a good one instead of one that always negative? Granted, everything that happened to blacks in the past, cannot always be looked at as something that could be turned around as positive (degradation of female slaves, abuse, etc.) but we shouldn't be pessimistic about the past anymore. For example, if blacks weren't brought into America, there would be no need for historically black institutions. So as a people, we should turn our cotton into cotton candy and feel assured that there is a reason why we are here, and why we experienced what we did. Personally, I feel like the trials and tribulations of the past are what helped us to become one of the strongest races of people in the world.
~Chene' Greene

What's The Big Deal?

For years many people have heard about welfare, and when they did several different thoughts came into their mind. Most believed that people on welfare, were lazy, were typically minorities, and were lazy bums who did not want to do anything with their lives. In some cases that stereotype is completely correct. There are many people who believe that the government should pay for everything they do, and they choose to sit waistside and let them do exactly that. Welfare is a tool that it not supposed to be a crutch, although that is what many people use it for. Welfare is an idea that was created to help people who could not truly provide for themselves and their families. Over the years it has transformed into something completely different it has been made to not give people the push in the right direction and try to find a job, and a way to have a better life,but has pushed the people away and made them believe that they could sit around on teh couch all day because they knew they would have someone that could help with the bills.

On the other hand there are people who do not take advantage of welfare. There are still honest people in the world who are truly looking for  a job, and are trying to better themselves and their family, but just need a little assistance at the moment. I believe that although there are people who do take advantage of the system, welfare should remain to help those honest people who are trying to do something with their lives. And I believe they should not have to pay for the laziness and ignorance of others.

-Penelope Drumming

Black and on Welfare

Black people, black women in particular, are discriminated against and frown upon as soon as they mention that they are on welfare. Golden provides us with a hands on account of her encounter with the welfare system; one that left her feeeling "dehumanizing and humiliated."  In the article she explained how the self-suffiency coaches, also known as SSCs, were very demeaning and disrespectful. There is no compassion or sense of understanding from the caseworkers. They gave little thought to the education background of the welfare recipients before placing them into a job, which was normally a low-paying housekeeping or laudry service job. The caseworkers were insensitive to the black women on welfare. This insensitivity was primarily due to the preconceived notions and stereotypical ideas held by many of the welfare employees. Black women on welfare were deemed as illiterate, poor, unmotivated, lazy, and irresponsible. However, the opposite is true. Golden explains that "single-parent femailes are likely to have a strong resource base of friends and community advocates. Managing all these levels of interpersonal relationships is the cornerstone for a solid career in any field." The interpersonal relationships she speaks of in this quote are the skills such as time management, budgeting, conflict resolution, and home maintenance skills which are all required by these single parent women to maintain a stable household. Furthermore, the idea that black single women are incapable of literacy should be rejected. "Motherhood is another form of learning that shapes the lens that single women apply to their lives." Traditionally, motherhood is seen as an important, natural, and nurturing role, however, no one ever really goes in-depth of the management skills, communications skills, and caring ability required from these mothers. These skills are normally aquired after trial and error and  a couple of years. First time mothers are not given a guide nor do they take a class or given a set of rules, they are in a sense, just thrown in there to raise children. Little value goes to the maternal literacy and ablity mothers possess. If we thought about the skills needed, time required, and ablity of mothers, we could look at it as a full time job, and if you are a single parent, think of it as a full time job plus countless hours of overtime.  Most single parent mothers need help; whether it's financial, emotional, or eduational. Although many do abuse the system, welfare should be a trustworthy, compassionate system that caters to the need of these strong black women. Not black women alone, but the every citizen in need in the United States. They should implement a time frame in which recipients are allowed to receive government assistance and also provide a set of regulatory rules to prevent abuse. Altogether, the system should be a boost to people, something to get them started, a resource used in order to better themselves, not a cushion or way of living. As a whole, the welfare system in the United States needs vast improvements. It starts with the welfare worker then trascends to the recipients and the taxpayers.



-Tiara Denson

Portrayal of Betrayal: Featured African American Actresses

    Dowdy speaks about how black women have been portrayed in featured films over a sixteen year time span (1985-2001). She critiques films that gave some of the most famous black female actresses roles in which they were not seen as particularly “book smart” or roles in which their literacy does not help them because of the socio-economic position they hold in the their society. I thought that Dowdy’s analyses of these films were very eye opening and provocative. While reading her thoughts on these films I began asking myself the question are we as black women being portrayed or betrayed? As previously mentioned, Dowdy points out the fact that all the leading black actresses in the films that she is critiquing are wither illiterate in the academic sense or their literacy does not matter in the face of political or social standards that succeed in keeping them from achieving their goals.



     In all the movies, in some way or another, the black female characters are completely dependent upon some greater power. To me, this send the message that black women are never completely in control of their own destiny or they are never able to completely control the acquisition of their goals. So this brings me back to the question of are we as black women being portrayed or betrayed in the films that we star in? I would venture to say that we have been betrayed by the featured film industry. Very rarely do we see black women that are in a position of power and capable of being humble and gracious it is either or, there are no ‘happy mediums’. Either a black woman is portrayed as being dependent on a man or some other societal power or she is independent of any outside controlling force and acts like she does not know where she came from. The roles that black women play in movies should be generalized, just because we are good at taking care of everyone else before ourselves does not mean that that is all that we do. We are multifaceted, diverse and strong; I would like to see more movies depict us as having and using our literacies to show these characteristics that we have.