Our Obligation to Protect the Mother Tongue

All the way up to the time the child goes off to school the “mother tongue” has already taught the child life lessons and literacy skills. When the child gets to school they are then introduced to the white language. The white language is the language that society has created and expects the African American student to adapt to.
We as African American must protect the “mother tongue” just as the author contends in the reading. Learning proper English is essential to life but one must not forget about the language you were first taught. In the reading the author gives a solution to protecting the e “mother tongue”: black teachers.

Richardson,”black teachers who can codeswitch can help students to decode texts and contexts, offering them models of learners who go both ways-across the borders.” She is saying that teachers can be that bridge in between the two languages they can link both worlds for students. Service comes in when the child continues you to teach the “mother tongue” to their children. So continue to protect

"To Protect and Serve African American Literacies"

This reading was the best reading I have read in this class. The reason I love it so was because it was so real. Also I have learned another type of literacy: Mother tongue. The author’s main point or thesis is: mother tongue literacy is central to literacy education. Mother tongue is the mother’s way to transmit their language into their children who develop facility with it. In “To Protect and Serve African American Literacies,” Richardson conveys, “Women is the child’s first teacher, who protects it even in her womb and begins to socialize it.

When a child is first born he/she learns from their parents or mother (most likely). Even in the womb the baby is familiarized itself to the voice of its mother. All the way up to the time the child goes off to school the “mother tongue” has already taught the child life lessons and literacy skills. When the child gets to school they are then introduced to the white language. The white language is the language that society has created and expects the African American student to adapt to.
We as African American must protect the “mother tongue” just as the author contends in the reading. Learning proper English is essential to life but one must not forget about the language you were first taught. In the reading the author gives a solution to protecting the e “mother tongue”: black teachers.

Richardson,”black teachers who can codeswitch can help students to decode texts and contexts, offering them models of learners who go both ways-across the borders.” She is saying that teachers can be that bridge in between the two languages they can link both worlds for students. Service comes in when the child continues you to teach the “mother tongue” to their children. So continue to protect and serve the language that has shaped the African American community.
By: Shaniqua Burton

'She was workin like foreal': critcal literacy and discourse practices of African American females in the age of hip hop

Main question: How do young African American females negotiate stereotypical representation of African American culture, gender, labor, and sexual values in rap music videos (Richardson 790)? Four African American females aged 17, 19, 19, and the author 43 produced the discourse presented in this study. The video that was analyzed was Nelly and the St. Lunatics’ ‘Tip Drill’. Throughout the whole reading the three lady’s degraded “working Women” I was especially out with these comments:

BE: I think Nelly wouldn’t say, ‘It ain’t no fun if the homies can’t have none.’
ER: uh hmmm
ED: right.
BE: One who he thought was class, a girl who he really wanted to talk to, he wouldn’t say that.

I was angry because here are three young ladies judging a fellow sister. It should not matter if the girl was “class” or not what Nelly stated in his video was wrong. Yes, I understand these women put themselves in this place but for those ladies going along with what Nelly said is crazy. I feel as black women we go through enough and you never know someone’s situation. So to be judging women you do no t even know is not real to me. Then later in the interview one person say that they like the video. The video is just music. Wrong, along with that music came some woman’s pride. Even if the woman enjoys being called a ‘Tip Drill’ at least show her the respect that she does not show herself.
My answer to the main question that the author is trying to find is: Young African American females are worse then males at stereotyping black women. Think about it where do the men get it; from other women. A black woman is a black woman at the end of the day whether she is a stripper of a dance teacher. Both deserve respect from other black women.
By: Shaniqua Burton

Lessons from Down Under: Reflections on Meaning of Literacy and Knowledge from an African-American Female Growing Up in Rural Alabama

Literacy is not just being able to read and write. As shown in the reading, “Lesson From Down Under: Reflections on Meanings of Literacy and Knowledge From an African-American Female Growing Up in Rural Alabama,” the author Bessie House-Soremekun describes her literacy. While living in Alabama after the Civil Rights Movement House-Soremekun developed several forms of literacy.
Formal literacy was a form of her literacies learned from her family. Formal literacy refers to the various types of knowledge and knowing that is acquired through formal educational modes and activities (e.g., attending school and reading texts) (House-Soremekun 60). House-Soremekun had a middle class family that valued education highly. All her family went to college and became teachers. Reading became the author’s favorite hobby; which made her so advance in school. Her teachers also helped in shaping her literacy in particular though was her first grade teacher Mrs. Annie P. Sykes. The author stated, “Many of the things I learned in her class remain with me even today” (House-Soremekun 60). The author was so intellectual that her fourth grade teacher wanted to skip her one grade, but her mother denied the offer. Her mother felt that children needed to stay with there own age group.
As the author continues to speak on her literacy and how it was obtained I thought of my own. My mother is a strong woman. She is even stronger in the lord. She taught me the importance of having a relationship with God. By her instilling that in me I consider myself religion literate. That same woman also was unable to finish college because she became pregnant with me. So she instilled in me the importance of a college degree. My point is just as the author is trying to convey your upbringing and family shape your literacies. So don’t hide your background embrace it for it is the reason you are who you are.
By: Shaniqua Burton

Black Literate Women:can speak and it shall be heard.Heard for she knows of what she speaks.On rare occasions when she does not she find out

“You need to be educated so you can be this influence so you can help others. So you can go out and not be somebody’s quota. So you can go out and be able to stand and be who you are and also be a great influence.” (Vania, fall 2002) The greatest gift one can receive when graduating from College is not the degree (even though you will be excited) it is those times you set aside self for others. In this article Robin Wisniewski is conducting a research about transformation. Transformative College literacy was the title. She created a peer counselors group starting out with four people and expanded to fifteen. Two young women were the focus of her studies which was to see how the peer counselors would be transformed from just literate but a literate black woman. Lauryn and Vania were the two lucky peer counselors. Lauryn and Vania were totally different women, different backgrounds, different majors, and ideas. So this gave the reader two different perspectives. Peer counselors job is to help with what ever the student is struggling with or need more understanding. Wisniewski proposed the Pedagogy theory were the teacher is not only that but also the student you have to both be open. The two peer counselors talked about how they gave their students more help when they themselves involved their own personal life. These ladies realized that being a literate black women did not only mean being able to know and speak of what you know. It also means speaking what you know to others so in return they can speak of things you have not yet heard. By: Shaniqua Burton
April 5, 2010 7:17 PM

Black and on Welfare

“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” - Maya Angelou

From the reading of Black and Welfare I pulled this quote because it stood out to me. Not only because Maya Angelou said it, but because of the volumes it speaks without even knowing the person who wrote.

Maya Angelou says that the woman should be tough and tender. Many women especially african american women, are forced into the role of mother as well as father. A mother and a father have different ways of loving their child. A father has a more rough and 'tough' approach to caring and loving their children. Mother's are the compassionate caring and sympathetic side of the parental spectrum. Angelou also gives hope to the woman by proclaiming women to be "the first to celebrate victory". I see this statement as encouragement for women to continue being the warrior that they are.
-C.R.

“One must be supported by a history of excellence such as the legacy of African-American women educators.” (Sunny-Marie Birney)

Sunny-Marie Birney, who wrote that powerful statement, was a young woman who was motherless. Imagine a moment without your own mother. Even though they are sometimes a little to much, what would our life be without them. Our lives would have forever been changed. For the place that we are now would have never been reached without the help of strong black mothers. Well in Sunny-Marie’s case she did not have that mother in her life. She was adopted by Euro-American parents. Yes she had love and a mother figure, but she did not have that strong black mother to embrace her blackness. Sunny-Marie wrote that she felt out of place, alone, and without value. It was not until she went to college that she began her journey to finding what she had missed out on all those years. Sunny-Marie’s desire and yearning for that black love was filled through her teachers. You see, African American teachers teach with a certain perspective. They see a young black female student and see their own child. This is a greater experience for they will not only teach you but nurture you. The void that weighed Sunny-Maries heart was filled with black teacher who cared. Not only was it about literacies but the mind, body, and spirit that the teachers expressed to her.One must be supported by a history of excellence such as the legacy of African-American women educators. We all are reaping the benefit of our mother’s, grandmothers, and great grandmother’s support. For these women too were educators they may not held a teaching degree but they educated us on our mind, body, and spirit. Just like Sunny-Marie we too would have felt out of place, alone, and without value but we had these excellent black women to guide us when we were adopted by the Euro-American world. We too had educators who shaped us into the young intelligent women we are today.