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.
Being I know first hand two members of the blog group ACE came from single parent homes, we first hand understand the struggle of the black woman when faced with inadequate education. We recognize that age plays a large role in the way black single mothers respond to their situation. Although we were blessed with the opportunity to rise above our statistic, coming from a single parent household, some of our fellow sisters did not. It is very relevant that we could have easily slipped though cracks and followed in out mothers' footsteps.
ReplyDeleteAminta' Parker, Erica Paige, and Candice Frazier
Brittney L. Echols
ReplyDeleteIt is very true black women overcome many obstacles, however it does not necessarily have to trickle down to the children. My mother was a teen mother who too had to drop out of high school, but that was not my future. Although she did not push me to excel in the classroom as other mother's had,I was determined to be all that I could be despite of her past. I wanted to become what she was not capable of becoming due to me. Although it is stereotypically a result for children of teen mothers to fail through the cracks of society, there are a few exceptions, like myself, who learn from the misfortunes of their parent's mistakes. There are also some mothers who teach their children of their mistakes and in esence strive for their children to do that much better than them as a result. It all depends on the mindset after the incident, not the occurance of the incident itself.
This is definately true, especially in todays society. Teen mothers usually do not have the opportunity to complete their eudcation due to obvious reasons, so many times they fail to teach their own children many things. In other words, they cannot teach what they do not know.
ReplyDeleteI also have witnessed firsthand the affects of teen pregnancy. I can remember going to middle school with my fellow classmates and seeing them pregnant. I agree that this begins the downward spiral that many teen mothers face and fall subject to. The ideas of programs that are best suited for the Black woman and her child are vital to the success of the family. Teaching both the child and the mother under the same roof allows the for the bond to be kept between the family. Oftentimes the child is able to grasp concepts and therefore leaves the adult behind. Teaching them under the same roof enables them to maximize their success.
ReplyDelete- By Daria Parice Clegg