Literacy and the Black Woman

Sharon M. Darling speaks about the literacy of the black woman in her essay entitled Literacy and the Black Woman. She begins by going back into the days of slavery and speaking about  a black woman from a historical perspective. At this day and time, Darling says, "The importance of reading and writing skills were recognized early". A black woman was viewed as a workhorse with liabilities. Her liabilities was her ability to bear children and thus be burdened by rearing children. She was not given the choice or option to posess reading and writing skills. In today's society everyone is given the oppurtunity to attain literacy skills. Lim (1996) reported that 25% of the world's population is illiterate, 60% being women, and 44% being black women. Darling speaks about the high percentage rate of illiterate black women due to teenage pregnancy causing the to give up on school. Which goes back to slavery days when the child was viewed as being a burden.