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.

The Celebration of Black English

“Black students have been told by teachers, by the whole school system, frequently by their own parents, that Black English is bad, improper.” -Christina McVay

Often times as African-Americans, we are told that our language is improper or even sometimes “ghetto”. That our way of expressing ourselves in our own dialogue is wrong and in order to talk proper you have to talk “white”. This conception of the black dialogue as been this way since the beginning of time but as time progresses we learn that our language is considered literature and proper English. Black English.

The Black English should be celebrated because it comes from so many generations of strong African-Americans, particularly African-American women. One of the best black woman authors is Zora Neal Hurston because she doesn’t sugar-coat the dialogue. She writes as if she’s listening in on a black person’s dialect. Some people may criticize her for using so called “slang” in her text but that is the beauty of the Black language. The beauty of the Black English is that so called “slang” and the way we form our words and sentences is all a part of our background and a part of who we are as a race. It distinguishes us from the rest.

Mcvay points out that black women reading Black literacy helps them make a connection between what they’ve read to their personal situations. It is so important for us, not only as black women but as a black race, to realize that we do not have to feel isolated because of the way we talk. In actuality the way we talk is the right way because it’s our culture. It’s our uniqueness. It’s essential for the Black race to not get caught up in pronouncing every syllable correctly or thinking that “white is always right” because at the end Black English is right, it’s us.
                                                                                                                                  -Kiah Ellis

African American Women in Movie Plots

"Because black women still live within the barriers that mainstream American society organizes through decisions made on the basis of skin color, language, financial background, and educational preparation, it is sometimes difficult to construct the social circumstances within which a Black female character is depicted in a movie." - Dowdy

In the article Reel Women: Black Women and Literacy in Feature Films by Joanne Kilgour Dowdy, Dowdy analyzed how society depicts African American women in feature films and how they literacy skills are not as sufficient in script. Trying to understand the literacy that the filmakers represents for each main character in the plot, Dowdy and her students find that the Afrcian American women in each movie struggle with literacy skills. We, as the audience expect to know the different types of literacy.

After Dowdy and her students viewed the movies that represented African American woman, they found that most of the characters were poor, they took care of others, and were not literate. African American woman who star in mives are always being portrayed as having low literacy skills. In some ways, they better themselves with common sense but not book sense.

Films portay black women as being illiterate but not all women are that way. We can learn a lot about black women roles and how literacy facilitates the life of a woman of color in the white world painted in these stories of struggles and success. Black woman can get the opportunity to portay drug addicts, school teachers, maids, and nurses but have a deeper meaning behind the character that can draw in the audience. The only question that I have is why do we always find black characters, epsecially African Americna women who play these roles in these plots? We always have to go through some certain situations just to make it to the top instead of living a better lifestyle. Like Dowdy stated, " In these womens lives, is book sense a means to a better lifestyle or a future with socioeconomic priveleges?" I would love to see more positive and inspiring roles of African American women that can set examples of stayin in school and getting an education for generations to come.

-Manisha Gilliam

" She Was Working Like Fo' Real" but, what is she working for?

In the article She Was Working Like Fo' Real  by Elaine Richardson, Richardson analysis how the media plays a role in the perception of Black/ African American females. Richardson believes that media feeds into such politics on gender, sexuality, and new racism.  Richardson goes on to say that the African Americans that feed such stereotypes come from improvished homes, lack formal education, lack of place of employment, have dysfunctional households and poor health conditions. These conditions derive from the times of slavery and colonialism. Hip-hop videos replicate acts of slavery. The video vixen alluding to wench or Jezbel, women who were sexually loose and manipulate. The modern day gangsta brotha equal to a brute who was good at impregnanting. Richardson interviews four African-American females and their interpretation of R & B rapper Nelly's St. Lunatics video Tip Drill. Richardson interviews 3 African American youth and they come to a concensus that the video is demeaning but, the strippers are just that strippers. Ultimately the blame is placed on the White, patriarchal sexists.
I agree that majority of degrading music is promoted by the White company executives. I feel that many of the women in the videos come from the inmprovished conditions that Richardson speaks of but, that is  no reason to do the things they do. Throughout this course we have read that Black women sometimes lack the voice to advocatee from themselves but, once they do their voice is heard. During NSO week I found out that Spelman protesteed Nelly's video also and their voice was heard because they banned him from the campus and also did not donate marrow to his sick sister. That is a fine example of  how if Black women advocate and stop feeding into the steereotypes promoted by the media their voice can be heard because besides the green thats what they are working for...a voice.

-Jacquelyn D. Patterson

Being Thankful for the Struggle

After reading this article, any black woman would really consider how blessed we are. We should be really proud that our struggle for literacy isn't the one that it once was. Yes, we learned that there is still a considerable amount of illiterate black women in our society, but considering other cultures, the black women in the United States are privileged. We have black women working in hospitals, black women teaching in schools and universities, and there are even some women who are government officials! I think that our mothers who were leaders in helping us obtain our literacy (Catherine Ferguson, Anne Marie Becroft, Sarah Mapps Douglas, etc.) would be proud to see how far black women have come, and that their work was worth it. They would also be proud that some of their work is still serving its purpose (my parents went to Lucy C. Laney high school, which is still open today and helping black students to obtain their literacy). Also, I think it is important that as black women of today, we should remember what these women of our past have done to make this opportunity available to us(Spelman College for example). We should continue to be grateful and accept what has been offered to us because it didn't have to be this way. There are women who are being oppressed in their own homeland today by their own men. We as black women should get all of the knowledge that we can and succeed with it in return for the women who worked so hard for us to be able to do this; it's the least we could do!

                                                                                                                         -Chene' Greene

Progress Through Literacy

Throughout the century, African American women have been on a never ending conquest for human rights, education, and literacy. Literacy is a tool; African American women, both past and current, have mastered this apparatus as a mechanism for survival. The most notable quote of the article was “The quest for literacy was a symbolic manifestation of their desire for agency and autonomy- as human beings who should have rights and privileges.” This explains many things: black women could only get their due recognition through educating themselves and families. Although they were not allowed to read or write during slavery, they were determined to teach and learn through stories, oral tradition, and wise sayings. Throughout history, black women have always understood the power of language and learning. This also explains the idea of black women as visionaries. Unlike the traditional patriarchal society of America, tribes in Africa were matriarchies. It was the woman’s responsible to communicate tradition, history, and writing to the families. This allowed for the continuance of that phenomenon once they reached America. In slavery, the women and men worked together in the fields, but the women made it their priority to stay up and read. They also had to push forward the images of mothers, sisters and daughters. They were not only stripped of education, but also of their womanhood. A powerful excerpt in the article written by Angela Davis explained that women were only treated as women when deemed appropriate for the slaves masters, i.e. breeding and sexual exploitation. That hit home because although slave masters are not relevant in our society today, black women as still treated as sex tools and valued mostly by their sexuality. Royster explains that “Black women were beaten but not broken”, the torment, pain, and constant adversities were not enough to keep black women down. The strength, determination, and courage displayed in women such as Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, and Ida B. Wells, should serve as exceptional examples for all black women. Overall, the article explained how black women used literacy acquired throughout the years to change generations. They developed the necessary tools in order to change the policies and law created to oppress them. Through “activism, advocacy, and actions”, they were able to pave the way for black women across the world today.

-Tiara Denson

Literacy and its Importance

Leonie C.R. Smith once stated that, "My education whatever shape it took, would be a lifelong process and would become a tool with which I could do the necessary activist work in my community."


How often do we hear about a family whose mother and father did not stress the importance of education to their kids and in turn the children never worked hard to be successful academically? I'm sure many times, because that is typically how it works. If a child sees their parents not caring about their education and they are supposed to be their role models, why should they be so inclined to follow a different path? They shouldn't, but there always are those few exceptions of kids who see one thing from their parents and realize that that is not what they want for themselves, and strive for something better. In Smith’s story she grew up with education being her number one focus. Her grandmother was illiterate and her parents couldn’t finish their education, but she knew that she wanted better for herself. She worked hard in school in Antigua and later left her country and headed for the United States. She struggled when she arrived to the U.S., but she did not let that stop her. She worked harder than she had ever had to before, so that she could come out on top and have a success story that too many African Americans have. I believe that education should always come first because that is one of the few things that people cannot take away from you. As a minority we should look around at our people and decide if we like what we see. If we don’t and we shouldn’t we should change it, and make a new name for ourselves, so that we are not always thought as the ones who never finish what they start, or aren’t going to have any education higher than a high school diploma. We should come together and fight these stereotypes. As Smith said, “an education is a lifelong process” and it is, but it is one process that we should all have no matter what race, gender, socioeconomic class, or religion we are.

-Penelope Drumming

Black Women and Black English

As Leonie C. R. Smith says, " Education, we are told, is the key that opens the imaginary door to success. Eucation, therefore, is supposed to uplift us from misery - to improve our economic situation in life. However, the path to acquiring an education advanced academic literacy is fraught with difficulty, and opening the door to success comes with a price."

For many genreations, African Americans, especially woman, have been told that the way we use language is called slang. Many African American women authors such as Zora Neal Hurston and Maya Angelou are best examples of keeping it real and telling it like it is in their books. They are not afraid to let people know how they feel and how it is. Words that we use, how we express ourselves through music and books is interpratated as slang. The way we express our culture and the way we see the world in our own words is different from everyone else. We keep it real and never sugar coat anything. With black women literacy and the connection to the reading, we can compare that our stories are very personal and that they have some type of meaning to it.

Instead of feeling that the "white man" is tearing us down, we should embrace the beauty of black english and not feel so bad about what we say and how we portay it. Our language at the end of the day is proper english because its black english.

- Manisha Gilliam

A Raised Hand in Darkness

In most schools you will find many books that tell how Americans were colonized, about conversion from one religion to another, our Founders this and our Founders that but, you seldomly see any books on African Americans. Do you ever wonder why? In thee excerpt Black Women/ Black Liteerature Joanne Kilgour Dowdy interviews Christina McVay, a whitee instructor who praises Black Language and thus teaches it as her career. McVay tells how at a young age she was introduced to Black Language.  Her interest derived from discovering that Black Language unlike proper English does not have rules but, flows with creativity and self expression. McVay goes on to pose the same question, when will Black Langauage be recognized? As a teacher of Pan African students McVay says it is the lack of motivation given to Black students. Much like educator Paulo Freire feels there is "pedagogy of the opressed" McVay shares the same ideology. McVay feels that teachers teach and never allow the students to reciprocate. I to share this thought with McVay, that if we are never prompted we can not raise our hands in the darkness, our voice can not be heard, we can not teach the teacher as they teach us.

-Jacquelyn D. Patterson

To be Literate: More than Just Reading and Writing in the Black Community?....

"Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise, I rise, I rise."

 - Maya Angelou.

Rising above the the normal stereotype as not being as literate as other cultures has always been a struggle for people in the African American community. But what does literacy really mean? It means the quality of state or being literate, where literate means one who can read and write. As we enter the 21st century, literacy has taken on many different meanings in this highly technological, global society. Many people have different interpretations of multiple intelligences to mutiple interpretaions of what it means to be literate as if you were to refer it to a literacy renaissance of some sort.

When I think of literacy among the African American community, I think of public and personal meanings of literacy. African Americans dtermine the functional significamce of literacy based on their successful negotiaton based on eduaction, economics, family envirinments, and social impacts on today's society. African Amercian literacy means that yes, you can read and write but, it also means that it has requisite for human existence and successful survival among other different cultures.  Liteacry is powerful among African Americans, it unifies us as a people, it separates us from other different backgrounds and cultures, and it liberates us to be more mindful and to know more about social and economic problems.

So looking on the Maya Angelou quote, as we rise above situations and setbacks that have come are way through generations and generations, we also bring the gifts and talents that our ancestors taught us which is to think outside the box and to expand the way we think and the way the world sees us.

- Manisha Gilliam

I Am Better Than The Ideas You Have of Me...

"Women should be tough, tender, laugh as much as possible, and live long lives. The struggle for equality continues unabated and the woman warrior who is armed with wit and courage will be among the first to celebrate victory." -Maya Angelou



This quote from Maya Angelou I believe is an amazing quote because it encompasses everything many people feel that women should be, especially a black woman. I agree because I refuse to be a woman that just sits by waistside and allows things to just happen to her. I am not a woman who is passive and does not nor will not stand up for herself. I grew up in a single parent home; my mother raised my little brother and I by herself, and she never complained about it. I believe that she is the most amazing woman I have ever come by. She taught me that I did not need a man to be happy, and that I can do anything and everything as long as I put my mind to it. She taught me how to be tough and to hold my own and not let anyone walk over me, yet she showed me when to be vulnerable and let others in. She was a very serious person, but she knew how to laugh and be happy when I needed to relax. I refuse to be a stereotypical black woman who is thought to be illiterate and passive, but I will be the woman who comes out on top because I know that is something that I am capable of.

-Penelope Drumming

Is or Ain't I Heard?

"To be Black and a woman also means that you strive to resist the narrow limitations of traditional expectations..." (Dowdy 4)

Who am I? I am a young adolescent African American woman and furthermore , I am educated. I am a Black woman who in response to Dowdy's above quote is striving to "resist the narrow limitations of traditional expectations..". In the introduction of Reader's Quilt Dowdy expresses the limitations being placed on women's literacy. She discusses how women have been opressed since being brought here in the early 16th century. She alludes to great historical leaders like Soujouner Truth , Harriet Tubman, Phyllis Wheatley, Fannie Lou Hamer, Septima Clarke, Wilma Randolph, and Marian Anderson.She talks of how these women broke into the realm of literacy during a time when men treated them as inferior and there were class, race, and judicial laws keeping them from breaking through. Yet, they did it. I believe Dowdy is right when she saids that women have a place in life and that literacy is important. when I look back on my life, my parents began reading to me when I was a little girl. I was taught early that life is no crystal stair. I was taught that as a Blak women I was at a disavdantage. In society with the advancement of technology and job development it does appear Black women are being left behind. In the work field I've seen the struggle to not only go against white males but, Asians and Hispanics also. In education, I've seen other Black adolescent women feed into the statistics of dropping out of college and having children at an early age. Seeing these conditions around me make me strive to fight against these limitations like Dowdy charged us readers to, makes me proud to say I go to one of the nation's historically Black liberal arts college for women, and it makes me want my voice to be heard. I am and will be heard.
-Jacquelyn D. Patterson