Slightly Broken, but not Bent Out of Shape

This week’s reading was To Be Black, Female, and Literate: A personal Journey in Education and Alienation. In this reading Leonie C. R. Smith reflects on her childhood in Antigua. She also reflects on her transition from Antigua to the United States.
In this essay, Smith tells the reader that her grandparents were illiterate. Her parents were literate and very intelligent, but for family reasons they could not complete their education. While growing up, Smith’s parents instilled in her the importance of education. I can relate to smith’s story. Although my grandparents and parents were literate, no one in my family completed an education beyond high school. My parents started college, but did not finish. Growing up, my parents always told me that I had to go to college and continue my education. Now that I have made it to college, they are focused on me completing college and continuing until I receive my Doctorate.
Smith also talks about the school systems that she attended in Antigua. In Antigua, a British colony smith tells how she had never learned about her blackness or African history. I can relate to this as well. I did not have a classed focused on the history of people of African descent until ADW. The only time Black history was taught in my school was during February. During this month, we only learned about MLK and Rosa Parks. I had to do research on my own to find out about other black leaders.
During Smith’s life she experienced several challenges. Her mother died when she was young and her father was too depressed to stay an active parent. After moving to New York, she was constantly teased and isolated. Although she experienced a rough time during her childhood, it wasn’t until she entered college that she experienced racism. She attended a predominately white school, and shared with the reader the problems she had to face. She was often told that she didn’t belong, she was accused of cheating and the other students would not even acknowledge her presence. The cancer of racism infected her academics, sports teams and her social life. Although she experienced racism in college, it did not get in the way of her goals of earning a degree. She did not allow the ignorant actions of her peers break her. On page 195, she says “my experience left me slightly broken, but not bent out of shape.”