Black Women/Black Literature

Dowdy’s interview with educator Christina McVay is a fresh perspective on the teaching of Black women in Pan-African Studies. What strikes me as unique is that the study of Black women and Black literature is discussed in this piece through the eyes of a White professor, one who praises Black oral and written language despite her ethnic background or previous formal education.
One of the ideas that McVay presented is that of mistrust. Black students enter the Pan-African Department disliking language and English because of the way earlier school systems have presented the two. Why must we look at language as a fixed thing with rules we must follow? Although McVay understands the Black community to possess the greatest oral dexterity with a flow and creativity unlike others, I believe that the Whites who constructed our English programs dismissed this truth only to reduce Black language to an inadequate subject of study. To untangle her students of this untruth, McVay works hard to create assignments that make her students more comfortable with their language ability.McVay mentions one of her students’ assignments to create a slang dictionary. To do the assignment, one must simulate an actual dictionary by including the part of speech and definition. Another option to this project is to write dialogue in slang with an accompanying translation in what McVay calls “consensus English”. Both tasks are designed to help her students relax and apply a part of themselves to the class. As we tried the assignment ourselves on Monday of this week, I actually gained another insight other than the one that McVay tries to convey. I understand that Black slang is actually another language, a derivative of American English with its own tradition and background.

Literacy and the Black Woman

Black, Poor, and Illiterate

-Nehemie Villarceau

Literacy and the Black Woman explored the different motives and results of a black women being illiterate. The author Sharon M Darling begins her piece by describing what a black woman represents. Her definition is not the cookie cutter image that authors sometimes want to portray, “The black woman represents strength and endurance, yet she also represents what we consider to be at risk and poverty.” The Black women though strong and resilient she still faced many challenges in life one of which is illiteracy.

Sharon M Darling introduces many aspects as to why black women are still suffering. Teen pregnancies and the drastic difference between the educations of white women versus black women are the result of illiteracy black women. Looking back to slavery black people were illegally seeking education. Education was as an outlet to slavery with hopes of one day overcoming their oppressors. The Black woman stayed resilient wanting to educate their babies. Overtime that illiterate girl would soon become an illiterate women and mother thus creating a cycle of destruction.

Another culprit is teen pregnancy. Improvised teen mothers are sometimes forced to drop out of school and get a job or become a stay at home mom. The cycle of dead end jobs begins from that point forward. With no High School Diploma or GED, that young woman is stuck receiving minimum wage. I witnessed this first hand in my community where many of the girls I grew up with are now teen moms and High School dropouts’ .Already poverty-stricken they result to working dead end jobs to support their baby. Moreover, with no programs available to help the struggling teen mother many are often stuck in the predicament. In order to help black women we have to address their needs. By creating programs, we will be able to assist and educate black women. These programs educate both mother and child under the same roof. Not only do these programs aid the mother but puts a roadblock in the cycle of illiteracy and the black woman.