From Literacy Opportunities After 1800
This section in Going Against the Grain explains how Black women have always taken advantage of different opportunities to learn. During times of slavery, some Black women ran schools out of their homes, some used sewing class as a cover to teach, while some observed whites and eavesdropped at the schools of the white children. Many of these women were in the environment to learn, whether it was on purpose or not. In many cases, White masters did not know what was going on with their slaves, because Blacks moved around unnoticed by whites while literacy activities went on. Slave owners even believed that having literate slaves was an advantage because they were able to better conduct business and gave them a religious structure. Though Black women were not formally taught how to read and write they “picked it up informally.”
This section also explains that free blacks had barrier to literacy, just as slaves, but some opportunities were available. These opportunities came, for the most part, from the commitment of Black women to this educational cause. The text states, “African American women began founding schools as early as 1793.” During 1793, and for many years after, it was against the law to educate a Black person. People could be thrown in jail, beaten, and even killed for teaching Blacks to read and write. Women like, Ann Marie Becroft, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Myrtilla Miner were all educated and established their own schools. Ann Marie Becroft got her education in Washington D.C. at Potter School and later attended the New Georgetown School; which was closed after Demark Vesey’s revolt. Mary McLeod Bethune established the Daytona Educational and Industrial School for Negro Girls in Florida. This school is now a well known and respected HBCU, Bethune-Cookman University. Myrtilla Miner established the Normal School for Colored Girls in 1851 in Washington D.C. Although she was ridiculed and her school was set on fire she continued on. It is today Miner Teachers College at University of the District of Columbia.
The achievements of women like Miner, Bethune, and Becroft have given our generation so many opportunities to become literate and make ourselves successful.
~Alaina Walton (Writers of the Quilt)
I agree with the blog because our ancestors fought for the longest so that we could have to advantage to read and write. As in todays century, I think that we shouls take advantage of that. Our ancestors were killed or tortured if they were caught reading and writing. As blacks gained literacy alone, they didnt only show improvement in themselves but also for the minority as a whole.
ReplyDelete- Sa'Myra Bradford