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.