Voices of Our Foremothers

 As an adopted child, Sunny-Marie Birney never had a black mother figure present in her life. She was shown and given love by her Euro-American parents, but always had a piece of herself missing. She describes how she became attached to her black teachers and viewed them not only as a mentor but a figure she could look up to. It was than that she decided she wanted to become an educator and impact others as she was impacted. Black female teachers do not just teach their students and give them the minimal education and attention they need, but they honestly care for their students.

Black teachers make it an obligation to not just improve a child’s grade, but uplift them spiritually and mentally. Sunny-Marie Birney was astonished with the compassion and love she was given by her teachers. They filled in the missing puzzle piece that she was searching for her whole life. “Black teachers view mothering as a communal responsibility and an act of service. My teachers filled a void I had searched to fill all of my life (Birney 51).”This idea of going beyond your duties as a teacher and developing the whole child stems back to past educators.

Mary McLeod Bethune, Lucy Laney, and Emma Wilson were all educators that served the black community through their actions to education. There was a connection made between all three of the women, which were a womanist pedagogy.

A womanist pedagogy is made up of three elements which is, understanding that oppression is a continuous system, empowerment by an individual combined with help from others is the key for social transformation to change, and understanding the concept of humanism. All of these ideas are built on a foundation which consists of sisterhood, mentorship, and friendship. Components such as those build a person’s character and when given to a child, can really change their life. The impact that Sunny-Marie Birney received from her black teachers caused her to help and touch the lives of other children and adults who might have been in the same situation as she was.

As an educator, Sunny-Marie Birney formed her three concepts to teach and live by, liberation, individualization, and holistic education. She now instills the same values and compassion in her daughter that she was taught and continues to embody the womanist pedagogy.

Lessons From Down Under: Reflections on Meanings of Literacy and Knowledge From an African-American Female Growing Up in Rural Alabama

This selection is by the author Bessie House-Soremekun. "It examines the development of several forms of literacy in rural Alabama during the years immediately following the civil rights movement."The civil rights movement affected the lives of thousands during the late 1950's and was centered in Alabama. When the topic of the civil rights movement is brought up i get goosebumps, the numerous counts of injustice and suffering of those that came before me highly upsets me. I hate seeing the pictures and hearing the sad stories of the terrible things the white people did. The historical factors that were incorporated with the slave-ocracy caused a major gap in the literacy well after slavery ended. This major set back was mostly seen in the southern societies who still after slavery made it very difficult for African Americans to vote, become literate, or get a job. Another example of the set backs can be compared to that of the black and white televisions. This portrayal of the "black & white" image just emphasized the society and how it was at the time. Dr Martin Luther King Jr. said "Negroes have been intimidated and humiliated and oppressed because of the sheer fact that they were Negroes." This quote made me so inferior to the topic of the civil rights movement and the unfair treatment blossomed in response to slavery. Finally "changes" were being made, things like the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the establishment of Affirmative Action started the chain effect for the equality of all citizens.

As House-Soremekun reflects on her childhood she remembers the strong emphasis on the learning professions and the importance of learning how to read and write. She was offered to skip a grade because of her strong academic work and ability to read. The offer was declined in spite of her mothers knowledge and how she thought it would be better for her to stay in her age group of peers. She then goes into detail about formal and informal literacy. Formal literacy is knowledge gained from educational modes and activities. Informal literacy consists of knowledge gained from family and storytelling. In addition to these literacies it is clear that our culture uses storytelling as its most trusted form of communication. I feel as though the knowledge of the different types of literacy help to determine what path you would like to endure in your journey to gaining your literacy. I enjoyed this passage and was very touched by the back round information and facts that were stated supporting the thesis of relationship among race, knowledge and power. African Americans have triumphed through so many difficult times. The idea of race and the "equality" of all people is still very controversial today. The racism, sexism and stereotypes fill the mass media, and somewhat "mirror" the same inequality that was seen during the civil rights movement just not as drastically.

Unearthing Hidden Literacy

Throughout the chapter, the author Lillie Gayle Smith, talks about her memories working in the cotton fields as a minor even though it was not in the 18^th and 19^th century. She valued lessons from cotton picking during her childhood. Her lessons in the cotton field taught her to “unearth” her true understanding of life, and how it is a privilege to stand where we are today. I feel like the overall message she gives in the chapter explains that there are literacies that can be taught better outside of the classroom.  She notes, “Unearthing memories of picking cotton and extrapolating lessons from the experience constitute two highlights of my graduate studies because the journey of discovery has led me to a deeper appreciation and understanding of past experiences and present perspectives (46).” She believes that although picking cotton represented a negative time in her life, she gained a sense of strength. This strength led her to understand the value of being a strong Black woman.

A majority of her essay discusses this class that she took entitled, “Black Women’s Literacy.” In this class, she felt comfortable in expanding her knowledge of the empowerment of Black Women’s literacy. She noted that in order to heighten Black women and their literacy, they must feel a sense of comfort and respect from their professors or teachers. Smith felt her professor “respected and validated knowledge acquired beyond the walls of the academy (38).” Because she felt respected from her professor, she enjoyed the class and learned more knowledge about uplifting Black women. 

As her essay progresses, she relates literacy to her experiences picking cotton. She notes that these experiences led her to possess a good education. Smith says, “.Because slave women were exploited, they developed greater independence and self-reliance than their nonslave counterparts (41).”She relates picking cotton to exploitation, thus she reveals her personal strengths. Smith talks about the values that she learned from her childhood. The money that she earned picking cotton was used to buy school supplies and clothing. She discussed how she would save this money and put it in a bank. She learned to appreciate the value of hard work and dedication. From this reading, I believe that literacy can be strongly related to experiences that are not connected to education.

Pimps, Whores and Welfare Brats

The reliability of welfare or government aid is increasing rapidly year by year. What first started out at as a program to aid people who were making little to no income has become a dependency for some. In the black community welfare has become a lifestyle for many. The “socialist pimp” described by Star Parker is the reason why dependency is expanding to the younger generations. Relying on the government and others to fund their everyday needs is the only thing they know and it originates from their parents, who have imprinted their same mentality onto their children. African Americans in the United States today account for 13% of the population. The number of black households that are on the AFDC roll is 36.6%. That is an extremely high rate for a group of people who don’t even make up a fourth of the total population in the nation.  Now as women are more eager to work, instead of converting to the traditional, stay at home role many family values are nonexistent. Divorce rates are at an all time high and single women are left to raise their families. Fathers are actually encouraged to leave their families so that they can receive their welfare benefits from the government. Situations like those do not give our kids a great example of what they should strive and achieve in life.

Star Parker continues to go on about her dislike of affirmative action. She explains how affirmative action did open doors for blacks that were not available once before, but our people began to rely on affirmative action to get them somewhere in life.  This showed that the black race needed another form of government assistance for things we could do with some good, basic hard work.  Abortion was another topic discussed by Star Parker. She believed that the mistakes of others shouldn’t be pinned on innocent tax payers. She calls organizations such as Planned Parenthood “legal genocide” and continues to say, “It’s my opinion that they are making a huge profit from dead flesh and that is a crime against humanity (Parker 137).”

In many states such as California, it is legal for a school nurse to refer a pregnant girl to an abortion clinic without the parent’s consent. The roles of families have been stripped in our society today and if they do not have a say in such a matter as taking one’s life, than what is really their role and purpose of being parents. Star Parker thinks it would be more beneficial to take the money that is used to fund programs, such as Planned Parenthood into making a group home that teaches young women responsibility, values, job skills, and self image. Parker believes organizations like those would dramatically decrease the rate of abortions and teen pregnancies. Dependency on the government and welfare is going to take a while to get rid of, but with innovative ideas and education to others, I believe change can happen in the future.