Going Against the Grain Part I

The achievement of African American women is not always recognized. In the article, Going Against the Grain, it discusses how black women have always had to fight just to get something as simple as recognition, citizenship, and a voice. Throughout time black women have demonstrated their intellectual powers through storytelling, their actions, and strength. They obtained a will to be literate, not only to better themselves, but others around them. In the article it talks about how black women were used as breeders during slavery and how they used to work side by side with a man. They were described as being "genderless" only treated as ladies when they were sexually abused or needed to reproduce. Another aspect of black women is our ability to create worlds and images through our stories. We are dreamers and we are able to interpret and construct words as a form of communication to others.

"Each movement toward literacy was a signal that these women were going very much against the grain of prevailing cultural beliefs, practices, and expectation (Going Against the Grain 114)." Black women knew that in order to be prosperous in the world, education and literacy was a requirement. The education of black women would lead to activism and leaders such as Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and Charlotte Forte Grimke to come into existence. These women fought for their rights and their intellect helped them on the way to freedom and equality. Through years of oppression African American women still find a way to rise through and quench their thirst for power, entitlement, and recognition.  I find it difficult to even decipher that black women were seen as nothing more than reproduction machines to most people. To see our progress now from hundreds of years of slavery is remarkable! We are educated, strong, independent women who would not allow others to dictate our future. Going Against the Grain really summarized how black women rose above all the barriers presented to them and became greater than anybody could ever imagine .Not allowing anyone to define them, black women will continue their journey to make opportunities for education and make literacy a power.