Going Against the Grain

From the reading, “Going Against the Grain: The Acquisition and Use of Literacy,” and the recent assignment of writing a Literacy Narrative, I fully support the claim made by Maria W. Stewart that African American women of the post-Emancipation era “recognized that literacy was a skill, a talent, an ability appropriate to their new environment. Their mandate, therefore, was to learn, to enhance talents, and to mandate abilities, with many of them holding deep-seated desires to participate proactively in both the making and the implementing of an agenda for new world survival.” In the Slavery institution, women were forced to fill multiple roles. Women were field hands, house slaves, cooks, mammies, ect. Because they were held responsible for all of these tasks, African American women naturally developed multiple literacies. The ability to juggle multiple duties has been passed from generation to generation. Today, many Black women have been able to become successful without obtaining what society believes to be a “standard education.” Although they may not meet society’s standards of education, Black Women have relied on wisdom and work ethic to define their literacy. The most literate Black woman in my life is my grandmother. Although she is not a College graduate, the sacrifices she made for her family, the work ethic she displayed as a Atlanta Police Officer for more than fifteen years, and her unfathomable interest in music and literature are recognized as acquired literacy. Moreover, Black women, pre-Emancipation and post-emancipation, have demonstrated various proficiencies that define literacy.

-Jasmine E. Williams