Willful Servants

“The servant of the people is down among them, living as they live, doing what they do and enjoying what they enjoy…such beliefs are the very elements that distinguish true teaching as an art of service (Dowdy 51). This particular quote as a resounding affect on any and everybody who reads it. I have found that the greatest leaders, Pastors, Doctors, Lawyers and yes, teachers are those who look past the title that was afforded to them and stand in the gap to inspire those who follow them. Through this belief not only do those who follow these inspirational individuals change, but they also become inspired to one day be leaders themselves. Maybe not in the realm of leadership that the one that once inspired them occupied, but a leader in what they were called to do rather that be a missionary, mailman, counselor, dance instructor. These individuals take in so much by watching these “servants” that they decided to serve themselves and the theme of “Teaching to touch a life forever” becomes “Leading to touch a life forever!” Even today in my life, those teachers and leaders who were and are passionate about what they are doing in their lives always inspire me to do my very best and in school always cause me to like a subject such as U.S. History way more than I did before I entered their classroom. It is our job as the current generation to prepare to inspire and leave lasting impacts on those in the next generation and by being a willful servant we will accomplish just that.

Lessons from Down Under

In the article the author describes her literary experiences in the south. She explains how her oral literary experiences shaped her as a African American female. She concludes that what she learned in school did not teach nor enrich her culturally. In the article it also describes how she feels about oral traditions and how this has preserved our history as African Americans over the years. I completely agree with this article. I feel as though school prepares you to handle the real world but the literary experiences you have with those who look like you are the most important. When you are not culturally astute how will you function around those who are culturally different from you. In the article the author also explains how oral tradition is discredited by mainstream society. I completely agree with her opinion, some believe that it is inaccurate because of human error. Most of African cultural traditions are rooted in oral history. Hence, by American standards African American culture is obsolete. For so long blacks in America were not allowed to read and write. Was there any other way we could safely communicate? The article also describes race in America and how she experience racial struggles with literacy. The author explain how she was complementing for making her race "look good" due to her intelligence. She questioned this statement and wondered why she couldn't make society look good. I feel that often times this is the case with most African Americans. Whites will only see you as a token to your race. They will never see you as contributing to society in any way. It hurts me to see that black people even now are not excepted because of their literary capabilities. At the same time I do believe that black perpetuate negative stereotypes about themselves. Until African Americans educate themselves as a whole and strive to be literate we cannot change the standards put on us as a community.

Black and on Welfare Blog

Black and on Welfare: What You Don’t Know About Single-Parent Women by Sandra Golden was an eye opening essay about the often neglected personal side to women on welfare. She started the essay with the following quote from Maya Angelou, “Women should be tough, tender, laugh as much as possible and live long lives. The struggle for equality continues unabated, and the woman warrior who is armed with wit and courage will be among the first to celebrate victory”. Angelou is a renowned writer who is known for inspiring black women to be aware of their strength and use all of their positive attributes to build on to their self esteem. Golden dissolved the barriers among black women from different financial backgrounds by pulling from a writer we could all relate to.

In the essay Golden recalls her experience being on welfare. She starts by outlining her pregnant, unemployed, and homeless circumstances. At the time Golden was 20 years old and she vividly expresses how she felt dehumanized and humiliated after leaving the welfare office. Golden goes further to claim black women are stereotyped as ignorant and lazy with minimum education or skills by the social workers. Like a good writer she is vulnerable in her testimony and used her personal experiences to make the story of a single woman on welfare more compelling to the reader. Like a great writer she followed her account with several accounts from different black women, and writers to report similar stories. Golden even used the welfare reform law of 1996 to discredit welfare training programs designed without integrally learning about the women who need them.

I enjoyed the essay because I could relate to Golden’s experiences. The women told stories that reminded me of things my mother had said. Being polite despite a person looking down on you was a big one. My mother knew she needed to take care of her family and sometimes smiling when you wanted to cry was necessary. Honestly I did not like going down to those offices and in some ways this experience inspired me to do better. Golden was 20 and on welfare and now is pursuing a doctorate degree in curriculum.

“Why Negotiate?”

“How do young African American females negotiate stereotypical representations of African American culture, gender, labor, and sexual values in rap music videos?” (Richardson Pg 791). To evaluate or estimate the nature, quality, ability, extent or significance of something is the value of something. Values and standards are two very important traits to have. In legal matters negotiating may be a positive choice, but when it comes to representation, modesty, respect and let’s not neglect being our sister’s keeper, we must take a stand and stand for what is right! A common phrase always said is if you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything! I don’t plan to allow myself to fall or my sisters; for this reason we must all take a stand! Stand for respect, stand for lady life qualities and attributes, stand for literacy and intelligence! Take a stand! A music video should never define who we are as women or dictate to the world around us who we are and how we act! Instead we should show this in our every day actions and attitudes. We must stop settling for less, we must stop degrading ourselves for money, male attention, or self gratification, we must take a stand! We always hear that when we entered the gates to Spelman we made a choice to change the world! I say take a stand that will inspire a desire for what is right, ignite a fire for respect and dignity and educate others to change the world!!

"Reel Women: Black Women and Literacy in Feature Films"

This article explains the portrayal of black women's literacy in mainstream film. I thoroughly enjoyed the article because it made me think more in depth about how black women are viewed by white society and how this image is paralleled in motion pictures. An interesting fact that I obtained from the article was that a recurring theme in movies with a black female lead is that a black woman can only succeed with the assistance of a white benefactor. A majority of black women on screen are illiterate or posses minimal literary capabilities. Dowdy explains in the article that a particular character's literacy in a film can be determined by who the character surrounds themselves with or what type of situation they are in. For example, if a character surrounds themselves by drug dealers and prostitutes this particular character is most likely a high school dropout. Another example, is if a character is facing a pending eviction notice they probably have not attained a high school diploma. Dowdy continues with explaining nine films that were released over a sixteen year period. Each film has a black female lead but no character is without a major flaw. Most seem to have slight literary proficiency to none at all. (With the exception of a teacher who eventually commits suicide. So I have come to the conclusion she doesn't count.) However I do disagree with Dowdy's critique on how Celie from The Color Purple did not posses much literacy in the film. I highly disagree because in the film and in the book the main character learns how to read and write through her sister Nettie. Also when she was unfortunately separated from her she faithfully wrote letters to her sister on a weekly basis.
When reading the critiques on each film I found that all were indeed very similar. A majority of black women portrayed did not have a college degree nor were interested in pursuing higher education. Most seemed to be determined but helpless without the assistance or support of a white benefactor. Many abandoned their responsibilities to help a white person in need. After reading this article I feel like I will become more critical of films and the filmmakers intent. I never realized that nearly every black woman in film was heavily burdened by the woes of illiteracy. I might not notice the situation this of a black female character but someone of a different culture might think that all blacks are this way in reality. Through this article I have realized that film perpetuates the stereotypical views that white society has about black culture. In addition I have realized how important it is for black people to get involved in the media to reverse the stereotypes presented in films. Until then I feel as though black women in particular will be portrayed distastefully. -Maya Dixon

She was Workin Like Foreal Blog

Rap and black music videos have recently undergone major criticism. All at once, parents, students, professors and media personalities appeared to be concerned with the content used by these hip hop artists. More specifically I recall uproar at Spelman College. Rap artist Nelly visited the school to perform some of his latest hits and to find a compatible bone marrow donor for his sister. Spelman students used the opportunity to question Nelly face to face about his Tip Drill video. Anyone who has seen the video would definitely understand the concern these students had. He defended the video by explaining it was simply a form of entertainment. For obvious reasons the meeting did not go well and the situation spiraled out of control with news clippings bashing the Saint-Lewis artist. It is hard to pick a side in this story because both sides made convincing arguments.

I am certain that Nelly’s intentions for visiting the school outweighed the importance to bombard him with an unscheduled and inappropriate meeting about his video. How can we change the world if we are always going against the grain with inappropriate offensive techniques? My mother always tells me you can get more bees with honey than you can with vinegar. The all or nothing mentality will not work every time and in the end you are making enemies and not forming alliances for the future. Not only did we burn bridges with a major artist who could have helped our school make major changes in the presentation of hip hop but we made it harder to work with any other major artists in the future.

After the incident there was a small symposium at Spelman College. During this time we looked at pictures of black women to identify our ideas of beauty. We analyzed rap lyrics and videos that degraded black women. There was a Spelman student there who told us about a party she went to and her experience. She told us that while she was on the dance floor a guy pulled his penis out and attempted to have sex with her. Everyone in the room immediately turned in her favor without thinking about the entire encounter. I asked her how was she dancing and she looked at me and started laughing. My point to her was you cannot provoke a person and be completely surprised by their reaction. Sure he was wrong but at what point will women take responsibility for their own actions. The biggest issue is a lack of morals, priorities and self esteem among many of these women. We look at celebrities and expect them to be the role models and world saviors in our communities. Ok and that is fine but we should hold those same expectations for ourselves.

"Building on a Firm Foundation"

“African American women were inspired in a context of resistance, as Stewart implores, to show forth to the world that ye are endowed with noble and exalted faculties” ( Going Against the Grain Pg 110). Wow! What a firm foundation that has been set before us! The aim of these African American women, through acquiring different forms of literacy was to gain the knowledge that they knew would help them in their future endeavors. Despite there conditions, they rose above and decided to claim what was rightfully there’s, and that is an education. Today, in my generation, I feel that instead of my peers taking that sturdy foundation and building on it, and taking this world by storm to change it, I feel as though we have stayed in the same mindset of inferiority and degradation causing a drop in our graduation rates and a rise in things not pertaining to the advancement of our society. I feel as though if every individual desired on the level that our ancestors did to become educated and to show our society that we are great contributors, I feel that this mindset would benefit all as a whole. During this time many, “… the acquisition of literacy by African American women is very much a story of struggle, resistance, and resiliency” (Going Against the Grain pg 114). With this being said, it is important to note that the acquiring of literacy today compared to the struggle and hardship of acquiring literacy back then can not compare. This generation had been allotted far more opportunities to advance themselves in such ways so that now we can become not only strong women who take care of the household duties, which is an awesome job by it self, but we also can be executives and CEO’s of huge companies, Doctors, Lawyers, inspiring teachers and dynamic writers! We are capable of so much as a people, and I feel that it is time for us to take our place, walk in who God created us to be, and plan to change the world!