Tuesday, September 22, 2009

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

6 comments:

  1. I agree Black women in society have perserved through the hardtimes in America. They have made a way when others told them there was no way. The acquistion of reading has changed generations, the fight of the slaves, women during the Civil Rights movement have opened doors for people like myself. They broke the barriers and now I am able to go to school and more importantly an historically Black all women institution that allows me to obtain the education they fought so hard for.

    -Jacquelyn D. Patterson

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  2. I love the article! Black women have gone through so much to become eduacted and well spoken. I feel that today, black women know how to stand up for themselves and we have come a long way from being ridiculed and tormented because we are black women.

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  3. i definetly agree with everything you wrote, you broke down that 70 page chapter into about 300 words. thats an art. Black women have for years been fighting to gain literacy and overcome that oppression that everyone has put on them. I especially love your ending sentence, it pieced it all together. GOOD STUFF!

    -Jheanelle Miller

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  4. The Black woman has always been the back bone in several situations. Not only back during the time of slavery but also in todays society we constantly are the ones who are looked to take care of everyone else. We keep up the home, take care of the kids, help them with homework, do work just like the men, while completly dissregarding ourselves. We own it to the women that went before us to continue our education. They did not fight as hard as they did for our generation to throw it all way. Wake up Young Black America, its time to make a difference.
    -Adrienne Carlisle

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  5. What I found interesting was in the excerpt, Angela Davis said that women worked side by side men in the fields as if they were genderless, but when master was having a sexual affair with a slave woman, she was a gender that could be used over and over agian like a rag. That makes me think about today's society. Women work with men in corporate america, but men have small talks with each other making side jokes about a woman and her appearance. When will women be looked at as genderless. Why do some people immediatley think of sexual acts when the word 'woman' is used?

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  6. I agree with you completely. The fact that we as black women and men were referred to as animals absolutely disgusts me. There is no reason what so ever why we should be only seen as means for breeding. That is absolutely ridiculous!

    -Ashley Sims

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