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.