Storytelling

Storytelling is one of the main vehicles used in many cultures to pass along important messages to future generations. This definitely holds truth in African and African-American cultures today. The short essay, Storytelling, written by Wanda J. Franklin and Joanne Kilgour Dowdy explores the variety of these stories in personal accounts. In this essay the the audience experiences different approaches to how storytelling has varied throughout the decades. From a personal perspective, I connected with the authors' experiences well enough to understand the history and meanings behind the stories. I comprehended the message being conveyed; it does not matter how you tell the story, as long as the point gets across. In addition to all of the stories being told in a different manner, they also are told to convey different moods. These moods include happiness, joy, hope, humorous, and many more. I found it intriguing that there are two primary divisions of African-American storytelling when it comes to tales of struggle. The first division is based on the history of African-American's in the United States and the second is religion. It did not shock me, but I thought it interesting that the division was even distinguished. Both divisions hold great value and importance in the African-American culture. Do you remember hearing stories from your elders that are similar to the ones told in this essay? The answer to this question may vary, but most likely you have heard stories from elders in your family that holds some sort of significance. 

To Be Black, Female, and Literate

         In modern day society people of color have always been the minority in the United States. The 'perfect picture' of an average American girl is a white, blonde haired, blue-eyed upperclass woman. When Leonie C. R. Smith (author of To Be Black, Female, and Literate:A personal Journey in Education and Alienation) moved to the United States she then realized that she was different and did not meet up to the characteristic standards of the American culture. In her short narrative about her life she expresses the daily struggle she endured as a Caribbean native living in New York. She quotes that being a woman of color, she happened to be the wrong shade or hue. The acceptable black woman are those with light brown skin, hazel eyes, and long hair. She speaks about the transition between being black, female, and literate in Antigua and the differences in America.
      In her native land she was notible for exceling in academics. In America her knowledge was put to the test when she didn't place as well as she expected on standardized tests. She was labeled illiterate and placed in classes well below her academic level. Smith worked hard to prove her literate capabilities and graduated fifth in a class of 500. As Smith began to get older and broaden her education she continued to endure racism. "I had a battle with the cancer of racism, sexism, and classism along with the ignorance of my identity in the culture of the United States."
      Smith quotes "Education we are told is the key that opens the imaginary door to success." What type of success? True enough she gained success in her education, but did she feel as if she succeded in her battle with the cancer of racism, sexism, and classism? Today this same 'battle' is still being fought and cure for this 'cancer' has not yet been found. We as literate women of color have to find success and confidence within, before we can accomplish anything in this society.

To Protect and Serve

            Throughout the world, there always seems to be one dominant voice. A voice that tells one story depicted by certain individuals and their perspectives. In the reading To Protect and Serve the author Elaine Richardson speaks about the image of black women created by the dominant white voice. An image represented by sexually exploited black women with heartless characters. Ghetto, heart nigger bitches, and wenches are a few names once associated with black females. Black women were once important figures in slavery although to white supremacy were seen as unladylike, unfit, and immortal. Despite the demeaning names given by the once superior white group, black women struggle to overcome the negative image perceived by the world.
            One main reason why the world continues to view black females as ghetto, sexually active, and heartless is because many black women themselves continue to think of themselves in that way. Black women during the age of slavery were forced to suffer through a lot. They were forced to become domestic servants and often times were forced into sexual activity by their masters. From that point on the term Jezebel was coined to describe black women whose sexual behavior was loose and immoral. The problem today although is that young black continue to exploit themselves rather than choosing to make a better life for themselves. At every corner of the American society negative images derived from slavery continue to be transferred onto television, music, and the media.

            This is one of the central themes Richardson speaks upon in the reading. She recognizes the importance of black literacy. There is a lack of material that exposes the beauty in all that black women are. Although they are shaped by historical memory and social conditioning, they do not have to limit themselves to a life of opportunity. Joycelyn Moody depicts the concept of African American literacy as knowing, acting and the development of skills, vernacular expressive art and crafts that help females to advance and protect themselves. This one statement may be the key that unlocks black women from the shackles that once held them back. Not allowing negative images of their past become their future is a key eliminate to the positive development all black females as a whole.