Black Women Essay

The act of resistance and defiance is one of the most used human reactions that we as Americans often use this to express ourselves in society today. These reactions are also used when some one fee3ls that they are being treated unfairly or in an unjust manner. America is supposed to be a land of equal value and opportunity when it comes to being human. Obviously this is not the way that things are in society today but things were a lot worse off not so long ago. From the late eighteenth century up until now a struggle for equality has been being fought by women, especially the black woman. Now it may sound funny to talk about equality and then turn around and identify a specific group of women. There is I think good reason to acknowledge this difference, this being that this particular group of women has been the most outspoken and influential group of women during this power struggle. I can explain this be saying that the black Black women had to pout up with one: being black from the times of slavery in which blacks were treated as less than human, and two: they are in fact women whom had no respect in society and are still looked at as inferior to the male in today’s society. So the Black woman has had to endure double the hard ships throughout their struggle in America. They fought this battle with resistance by means of resiliency they as a collective group have refuses to accept unjust unequal treatment. As I progressed through our class I realized that there are many different methods of resisting and refusing to accept things for the way they are. One of the most effective methods that women in general have used over the years is writing. Writing in itself is so expressive if ones feelings and opinions, and women have used this method to educate and relate to all audience and social classes. Black women have provided us with a plethora of different genres of writing from the slave narrative to books that specialize in educating the black woman of today’s society they are all effective and critical mechanisms used by the Black woman and culture in society today. So the Black woman has the ability evolve and adapt to the different requirement of society today all of this in the black woman’s psyche and is instilled in her from child birth. One of the most influential characters involved in this molding of thought process of the black child is the Black mother. From my personal experience and from my knowledge gathered from the readings and lectures the black mother is the greatest form of resiliency and positive voice that I can identify. A mother in general is a nurturing person that has the task of raising a child and making sure that the child grows up learning right form wrong. The black mother is this, but there is another el3ement that she has that other mother’s do not the kids that she is raising and teaching are Black children. Therefore she has to be strong for them and teach them outside the American norm because they are in fact not looked at as belonging to this norm. my mother instilled in me and my brothers the fact that we were Black men and that we were always to be proud of that, my mothers favorite thing to say is â€Å"Boy don’t let no body walk over you† this was often the advice that she gave me as a child I used to think of it as â€Å"wow mama why you so confrontational? † but as I got older I understood that that is how she operated all the time in today’s society as a black woman day by day she is constantly tried by numerous things but she refuses to be broken down by any thing. I also recognized this in Dust tracks on a road, not only in the book but also in the writing itself. Zoras mama’s dialogue throughout the story is represented as a strong woman that takes care of her family and keeps things in order. That is the role of the black mother in today’s society also except in our society today the black mother also active in the work force and not just a stay at home mother adding another task to their agenda. As far as the dialogue in the story it was written exactly as they talked back then. This is because for so long the black woman was silenced and forced to talk and behave in a manner that was not their own. This form of writing is clearly an act of resilience because of the simple fact that they are writing in a form that they were told was unaccepted and not civilized. This form of writing says that â€Å"this is how we as a people used to talk and we are proud of it†, people often look down upon the African American vernacular of that time but it was the result of learning a new language second and third and illiteracy in which both these were factors of oppression that were resisted and defied by our people. In today’s society there are similarities to this they can be found inside the school systems. The schools that are in dominantly minority areas are neglected financially and also under staffed this causes students to not learn exactly what they should be learning to be successful. To over come this there are a lot more Black woman teachers that see that this is not where we want our children to go and that a change is needed. They can also relate to black students and educate those outside our race or those who do not understand the struggle and what has come from it. In my experiences a good Black woman teacher acts as a kind of mama away from home for students and a positive female figure for young female students. Over all I can say that this course was really enlightening as far as acknowledging the Black woman I have always thought that most black woman of today’s society were strong and goal oriented but I have never really sat back and thought about why and where this extremely strong sense of self originated. Black woman have endured and persevered for years in America from days of slavery and Harriet Tubman to the civil right movement and Rosa Parks the Black woman has develop[ed an attitude of refusing to accept meritocracy and unjust treatment seeing this has helped me to understand that is where the black woman’s sense of resiliency comes from today.