"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
I completely agree with everything you said. I believe that you gave great detail and spoke well about how you refuse to be another stereotype of a black woman and that you can and will resist limitations that are often placed on black women. I like how you keep you stance and you say that you will not be illiterate in any way. I support you desire to be heard, and I believe that you will.
ReplyDeleteI believe that black women are at a disadvantage in life and that it is harder to reach your goals as a black woman. Even though black woman try not to fit into the stereotype they tend to fall into it anyway. I think that what the blogger had to say is completely true.
ReplyDeleteI was also taught that i at a young was at a disadvantange because i was black and because i was female. In todays day and age, we as black women fight everday to break stereotypes and the glass ceiling.I completely agree with your message and this generation of black women will be heard.
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