Lessons from Down Under By: Bessie House-Soremekun



Bessie House-Soremekun take on growing up in the South during the Civil Rights movement. The affects of slavery led to different forms of literacies such as protesting, storytelling, etc. These forms of literacies are the reasoning of the change of literacy in the black community. The blacks understood that the white man could take almost anything materialistic away from you but was unable to touch your intelligence and your form of literacy. When I usually think of literacy I usually think of reading, writing, environment, and culture. However, Soremekun opened my eyes to a different perspective of literacy. She introduced a new form of literacy to me such as boycotting and protesting. When people started to get involved with the civil rights movement white people realized that blacks were getting more into politics and understanding it.

Reel Women: Black Women and Literacy in Feature Films

In Joanne Dowdy's Reel Women: Black Women and Literacy in Feature Films, she asks her students watch a few films and to look at them from a different perspective than if they were simply watching them for enjoyment. Many of the films portrayed the women in negative ways such as being abused, ignorant, and under the control of men. I think that this is very degrading because this is not all that Black women are. We have produced very successful women who have accomplished great things and were all very different from the characters that were portrayed in the movies. Not all Black women will allow themselves to be controlled and abused by a man , or hold a powerful position yet still act in ignorance, in fact most of us would never allow it. 

I believe that there should be more films about the strengths and accomplishments of Black women because this will this will cause the rest of the world to view us differently from what is portrayed in films. It will cause the world to see us not only for our bodies, but for our minds and hearts, therefore helping to put an end to and change this terrible label that has been placed on us for so many years. We must step up  and fight for the strong women that we truly are and not the weak and ignorant women that they think we are.  

Dysfunctional Literacies of Exclusion

In Mandi Chikombero's Dysfuctional Literacies of Exclusion: An Exploration of the Burdens of Literacy in Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Condition, she explains that there are two different types of groups of literacies that people can be placed in.These groups are traditional literacies and colonial literacies. Traditional literacies are the literacies acquired through things that we've learned based on our personal or family traditions. Colonial traditions are ones that are acquired by what we are taught, mostly in the broad spectrum of the "accepted" way of being taught in our nation. She also explains "different literacies have various implications for understanding Black women's struggle for acceptance and inclusion in male-dominated societies". Implying that the Black woman's struggle is never really understood in a world that is seemingly "male-dominant". This example can also be geared towards education. Black women have a different way of understanding things, so while being taught, they will have different perceptions and viewpoints than other people, and based on our upbringing and history,we have and acquire many different literacies than males.
This article was very interesting because it made me think about my own literacy acquisition and how my own personal struggles and traditions have affected this acquisition. I believe that there should be teaching techniques implemented to help Black women to better understand the things that we are being taught.

Black Women/ Black Literature

In the interview between Joanna Kilgour Dowdy and Christina McVay, Dowdy drove to get a clear understanding as to why and how Ms. McVay got into teaching about Black women and Literature in the Pan-African Department and McVay. She speaks of never having the intentions of teaching in that department, but claims that she kind of "fell into it". While drinking at a bar, she met a man that would help to open her eyes to many new things, which ultimately led her to change her educational teaching pathway. This is so interesting to me, because she claims," It kind of aggravated me that there is a freshman English program over there in Pan-African because I never got any Black students in my class, so if I do Black literature, its White me standing in front of a White classroom, and it's like we're talking about some alien universe". This is very interesting to me because, I don't understand how, at that time, a university could arrange to have teachers teach these lessons, but the people who relate to it the most aren't even able to listen in all because of racial discrimination.
I think that McVay's method of teaching is very interesting and effective. She asks her students to create a "slang dictionary", by adding their own examples and definitions of certain words, and then making a translation using the "proper" definition. In my opinion, this is very effective because it creates a colloquialism between to different types of "languages" ( which relates back to the importance of the "mother tongue" as explained in Richardson's To Protect and Serve).
I really enjoyed reading this article, and I feel that every teacher that is in the English department show add some of McVay's teaching techniques to their curriculum.

Pimps Whores and Welfarebrats

This article takes a different point of view on the negativity that has been cast upon African Americans. Many people want to blame the government and society for their problems however; in this article the blame is on the community. It states how the government is the correlation of the pimp and African Americans is the correlation of the ho. Therefore; we have put ourselves in a postion where we depend on the government for financial assistance, food, and etc. Instead of makiing our lives better after the civil rights movement we took an easier way out by becoming the government's hoes. Instead of owning up to our own faults the article states that we blame it on racism. However; racism is not the case everytime the black community is pointed out for something like this. This article allowed me to see the viewpoint from the otherside. However; I use to think about it all the time. My mother used to call me a Republican because I was able to see their viewpoints on these matters. I believe that we can not just continue to blame the government for things that we have taken a huge part into as well. It is time that we own up to our laziness and greed and move forward by uplifting our black community. 

Storytelling

Storytelling depicts many different scenarios that all deal with the art of telling stories. Storytelling is very prominent throughout the world; For example, tribes in African tell many stories of their ancestors and children are told fairy tales and nursery rhymes. This form of communication is very important because traditions and heritage are passed down which helps to continue the many legacies that have come before us. Storytelling also features the story of someone who has told a lie. This type of storytelling is also very popular, whether it be a "little white lie" or something a little more serious, everybody does it from time to time. Story telling is considered to be one of the most popular forms of communication throughout the world. Without it, most of our history and traditions would be lost.

To Protect and Serve:African American Female Literacies

 In Elaine Richardson's To Protect and Serve:African American Female Literacies, she speaks on how African American children are brought up and raised to speak with a "mother tongue". This language is important to African Americans, especially women because it helps to mold and shape us. Consequently, it can be a setback because society stereotypes us through this language, and some women become intimidated and hurt by this instead of going against it and speaking out. We have to speak out and help people to understand that this is an important part of who we are.
 This language is also important because it is a true representation of how we are raised and taught. African American women in Literacy have and advantage because they have an understanding of how we view the world as well as the rest of society's views, so they are able to effectively depict and portray both viewpoints in their writings.

The "mother tongue" should not be ruled out as irrelevant and incorrect  according to the rest of the world because it is very important to the African American society and ruling it out rules out an important portion or piece of the black community. If the rest of society can learn to accept and understand our "other language", they will have a better understanding of who we are.