Reel Women In Film

Black women have always struggled with literacy. From slavery, black women have been faced with the option to gain an education or take the maternal role in society. Reading the different synopsis of each movie in, Reel Women: Black Women and Literacy in Feature Films I noticed that in majority of the movies, Black women were portrayed as illiterate. Each were faced the lack the advancement of education that others gained since emancipation. (Dowdy 177) Although, many had the opportunity to gain literacy, the results did not benefit them all because the lack of support and opportunities for Black woman during the 1900s. Even still today, Black women are constantly battling between education and social status due to the double negation we face in society as being Black and a women.
I remember reading Color Purpleby Alice Walker in high school, and despising her for writing in a vernacular of a ignorant Black woman. It bothered me, that a publishing company would publish such ignorance,because not all black women were plagued by illiteracy. The true meaning of the story,that against adversities, Black women always rose above them. It was not until the end of the book that I realized how her choice to write in that vernacular, had an overall effect on the novel. She was expressing the Black women in the early 1900s, which contrasted with the literate Black woman today. Black women have come a long way since emancipation, although it has been a struggle.
Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg are two influential black women that are respected throughout society. Each have reached respectable social statuses due to their work toward literacy for blacks. They work in not only film, but literature depict that against the odds, Black women can succeed.