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.