Going Against the Grain (Part 4)



     Education was not always an opportunity for African American students. Elizabeth Ihle, an author, reported that "until relatively recently in our history, the most widespread schooling for any group was elementary schooling" and "for the first four decades after the Civil War, a black person with just three or four years for formal schooling was considered educated..."(pg. 159). The idea of Blacks going to school and becoming equally educated as whites was considered a taboo. In so, to stop Black students from obtaining the education needed to move up in society, only 64 public schools were established during 1900-915 in the South, whereas over 1200 public schools were established for white students. In rural areas, where most of Blacks lived, education opportunities were limited but in the cites, literacy development was more accepted.

     In the 19th century, Blacks "hungered for knowledge" (pg. 161) in order to better themselves and their community. In order to build each other, they would assist each other in reaching their literary success. In this effort of becoming literate, "a sense of self-in-society traditional patterns of belief and action" (pg. 161) arose. These people became the pioneers of some of African Americans' traditions, such as using "language and literacy to meet expressive and transactional needs" (pg. 161). Therefore, even though school education was not obtained, Blacks found other routes to still become knowledgeable.

Going Against the Grain (Part 3)

 There were three events put together from November 7, 1861-January 1, 1863 to form the history in the making. The first event occurred on January 1, 1863 where President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation known as the Emancipation of Proclamation which gave all states in rebellion the time between September 22, 1862, and January 1, 1863, to declare their allegiance to the United States and if they failed to do so their slaves would have been taken away and freed. So as the Civil War went on, several million slaves were freed. The war symbolically and practically became a crusade against slavery.

Even before the Emancipation of Proclamation, the first important event was the victory of Union troops over Confederate troops on Hilton Head Island. The second event was the Port Royal Experiment which was launched by Treasury secretary Salmon P. Chase and others including abolitionist Robert Purvis, Forten’s uncle. The experiment had two parts. One part was the economic: “the thinking of the day was that the freed people on the Sea Islands needed to be managed in order to expedite the claiming of the land that they occupied by the U.S. government and also to expedite the development of the critical resources on the islands”(p.144). The second part of the experiment was focused on the “contraband” of the people. This was the distribution from the government of teachers, ministers, and superintendents to aid in the assistance of the freed people.

On September 16, 1863 President Lincoln sent instructions to the Board of Tax Commissioners for the District of South Carolina. This support of education marked the first federal funding for educational opportunity for African Americans.

Missionaries thought of African Americans as deserving freedom and educational opportunity, but they found it difficult to think of African Americans as being equal or to treat them as such. Charlotte did not view freed slaves as either contraband or unequal. She viewed them as downtrodden members of her own race, as her own people, and she felt obligated, as a person who had benefited from greater opportunity, to lend a helping hand. Forten demonstrated her love of learning, keeping an amazing account of the books she read and other literacy activities. At the age of 25 Forten was the first African American woman to participate in the very first federal-tax supported effort to educate African Americans. Forten became the first African American to teach at the Epes Grammar School in Salem, Massachusetts. Forten was also an active member of the Salem Female Anti-Slavery Society. In the meantime, she taught the freed slaves reading, writing, oral recitation, numbers, music, and whatever else she felt handy to share.

Laura Towne described the freed people she met as being strange, ignorant, barbaric, and unrefined. Talking about two African American women who was educated and talked well, Towne states “I actually forget these people are black, and it is only when I see them at a distance and cannot recognize their features that I remember it. The conversation at dinner flowed just as naturally as if it were Northern whites” (pg.150).

My response to this reading was with all the bias behavior from the Northern whites and disgust in the whites, I am shocked they stayed around to complete the mission. I feel that Charlotte Forten was strong enough to take on such a mission and stick with it even though she had medical problems that could have stopped her.



Works Cited

         

Royster, Jacqueline J. "Going Against the Grain: The Acquisition and Use of

                 Literacy" in Traces of Stream: Literacy and Social Change Among

                African American Women. U of Pittsburgh Press, 2000.

Going Against the Grain (Part 1 & 2)

Considered to be the interpreters and re-interpreters of the world, African American women have established a history of themselves as the caregivers and mothers of the world. African American women struggled tremendously in the history of becoming American people. However, the struggles that they endured allowed them to develop an inner strength that gave them the ability to become the activists that they are today. The women of the first generation of courageous women created opportunities for future African American women to carry out “good and righteous” work to better the community (race). In “Going against the Grain,” the author categorizes African Americans as teachers, instructors, storytellers, healers, lovers, and caregivers. The ability for women to resist the oppression and still be a vital part of the economy gave them the strength they needed to obtain literacy. “They recognized that literacy was a skill, a talent, and ability appropriate to their new environment” (114) African American Women knew the importance of strength and literacy, in order to have a voice in the world. With many people against them, such as, James Madison, they continued to fight for rights. Eventually people like Madison, were convinced by these education activists and we have been able to make a place for ourselves.

Making a place in America and trying to gain an education was not an easy task in early American History.  There were many stages that the African Americans had to go through to get to where we are today.  Toward the end of the eighteenth century, the rise of the Industrial Age and the rise in revolts within the slaves contributed to the restriction of literacy among blacks.  With the new inventions during this time, the whites only wanted cheap workers, and didn’t find the need to educate the slaves.  Also, the white slave owners were in fear of teaching the blacks how to read and write. They thought that enriching them with knowledge would add to the insurrections and give the slaves more power to eventually gain control and take over.  However, there was a new mindset that emerged after the Revolutionary War.  A group of revolutionary leaders wanted to rescue the enslaved blacks and offer them an opportunity to free their minds through education.  Free-born children were allowed to attend public school or other places available for them to gain literacy.  This was a privilege deemed more for the North.  The South was not granted the same opportunity as quickly as the North due to the types of environment both locations were embedded in.   This system and the rise of literacy among African Americans were strengthened as a result of the American Revolutionary War, and the foundational principles of the nation.  By the turn of the nineteenth century, there were a large amount of literate blacks, in both the North and South and African American women were a big factor that contributed to this. 
Many black women started schools for the youth because they knew the importance of an education.  “They demonstrated, in fact, a passionate determination to reduce ignorance, develop literacy, and encourage intellectual development for males and females alike” (137).  If an African American woman didn’t have the ability to open up her own school, she still made time to teach her children.  She spread her knowledge to others so they would be able to understand what is going on around them and become more aware.  A black woman’s determination caused her to overcome obstacles and do what she knew was best for her kids and their future.  Today a large portion of the black community has access to an education thanks to the hard work of the early slaves and the black women (and others) that pushed for a better life for their people.  This reading affected us positively because it shows the hard work that our ancestors put in for us to have access to an education.  Yet, it is sad to see how many people in our community take this opportunity for granted.

Works Cited

Royster, Jacqueline J. "Going Against the Grain: The Acquisition and Use of Literacy" in Traces of Stream: Literacy and Social Change Among African American Women. U of Pittsburgh Press, 2000.

To Be Black, Female and Literate

   In "To Be Black, Female, and Literate: A Personal Journey in Education and Alienation" Leonie C. R. Smith talks about her transformation as a little girl from the island of Antigua to New York City as an adult. The contents of being literate in Antigua were so much different than in America. In Antigua to be considered literate you only needed to know how to read and write, but in America if you came from somewhere else and tested differently you were considered illiterate. Coming from an island that did not focus on African American history and knew nothing about multiple choice tests, little Leonie failed a test in the seventh grade and was labeled as illiterate and was demoted. "It never occurred to this assistant principal that someone like me, raised in the Caribbean and educated under a different system, would respond differently to U.S. testing methods."(189) After a short while of after school tutoring and getting familiar with the tests and history she took the test again and improved by 50 points. "The difference in learning styles and the context of my literacy education were never taken into account."(189)

   Aside from academic education Leonie was taught a lesson on social education as well. In Antigua race and skin tone was not an issue but when she moved to New York she began to realize she "had to learn what it meant to be black in the United States." (189) Coming from a place where everyone was the same complexion to a place where everyone came in different shades of brown, she realized people preferred light skin and long, straight hair and name brand shoes and clothes. This was all knew to her because none of those things mattered to her in Antigua.
   My view on this is simple understanding because from a family that comes from the Caribbean and West Indies I know how it is to transform. The transformation is never easy because when you leave your homeland you are immediately considered an alien in your new hometown. Due to your poor accent and lack of clothing you will constantly be frowned upon and talked about. So I know how Leonie felt transferring from her small island to coming to a big city and having to learn everything all over again from academics to being social.


Works Cited:

Dowdy, Joanne Kilgour., and Leonie C. R. Smith. Readers of the Quilt: Essays on Being Black, Female, and Literate. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton, 2005. Print.

Black Women / Black Literature

In Dowdy's interview to Christina McVay, she discovered the reason behind her work with Black Literature and the journey to helping Black students, especially female, understand the significance of understanding and appreciating your history. Even though her career choice wasn't to teach "The Legacy of Slavery in Literature, Pan-African Women's Literature, African-American Masterpieces, [and] Black Autobiography" (88), McVay stumbled upon it while studying and learning languages. Majoring in German and Russian, McVay realized that language is not a "pretty fixed thing" (89) and that "one of the communities that has the greatest oral dexterity is the Black community" (89). The Black language is "tradition" and giving students the ability to "celebrate their own language" (92) will allow them to "draw comparisons" between correct English and slang English. McVay expresses how when she teaches her students to look at English in a different perspective, their appreciation for it changes. The "Black language" is looked down upon because of the belief that it is ignorant and incorrect use of language which can be true at times, if used at the wrong place and time, but giving Black students a chance to embrace it, can alter behaviors and even point of views. McVay enjoys the readings of Toni Morrison, Zora Neale Hurston, and many other Black writers and she shows her students how community and tradition can shape a person both academically and spiritually. In my opinion, I applaud McVay for her service in teaching Black females about both English and history. I believe that if colleges and universities nationwide had teachers with her philosophy and drive, more students (not just Black females) would know and understand more about how Black Literature affects us today.

To Protect And Serve

It is sad to see how the Black woman is perceived in society today. In the past, they were once valued as powerful heavy hitters and essential to our community as protectors, providers, teachers and advisers. Even though, some are still viewed this way, many are not. There are multiple elements brought on by the media that depicts our powerful, Black women in a negative view. For example, the television network, Black Entertainment Television (BET) is suppose to empower the Black people and bring forth growth and prosperity, but instead its music videos portray Black women as whores, thugs, gold diggers, hood rats, crackheads, prostitutes, etc. It is imperative for us, as a people, to transform this depiction because if we don't, our future opportunities are limited. For instance, President Barack Obama's abilities to successfully run this country are doubted by white people who think that we are incapable of accomplishing tasks, taking control of difficult situations and making a difference for a generation. This view on Blacks affects our youth, especially in school because Black kids are not provided the same opportunities and equal support as White children. Many Black students refuse to ask questions in class in fear of being seen as having a deficiency or not as intimidating. It is vital that teachers help Black youth in the education process so they can move forward in the world, communicate with Whites in business settings, placed on equal playing fields as all other races and not degraded and looked down upon. These steps will lead towards halting the media's rant of tearing down the Black woman. In our opinions, this analysis of society today is a wake up call for Black women to modify their behavior and to persuade society to view them differently. The road to redemption is long and arduous one but with perseverance, dedication and courage, we (Black women) will see the end.



Literacy And The Black Woman

 In this reading, Sharon M. Darling describes the struggles that women endured in order to have the same education as white women. White women saw the black women as inferior, and it was hard for Black women to gain respect as a literate being. Darling explains how a system was put in place in order to continue the inferiority of blacks, by neglecting them in teaching equal reading and writing skills. Whites felt that if they denied blacks from the same level of skills as whites, they could forever label blacks as illiterate.There is a dominant relation between poverty, illiteracy, and control. It's hard for black women to gain control because the whites are more advanced in education, and will not listen to or respect an individual that is not as equally literate. Therefore it's easy to continue cycles amongst generations because at that time there was no breakage for gaining knowledge. Just as "Protect and Serve", Darling connects the mother's knowledge to the language of her children because of the automatic transmission from a mother to her child, known as "the mother tongue."

This reading was of some interest to see the different words to describe the circumstances of the black woman. However, this information is connected to some type of information we have all learned before, which appears to be redundancy of opinions.