The Black Woman's Strength

 Literacy and education go hand in hand. What is important is that these two concepts are often deprived from black women, leaving them to struggle in society. Black women are generalized and categorized as the stereotypical inferior counterparts of society. Even in the historical perspective women of color faced difficulties in education, besides the long period where they were not taught how to read or write, when they had the legal right to society shut them off. Education was seen as a privalege and not needed for a woman because her ultimate goal was to give birth and raise children, those women who persued education were abnormalities for society. This mentality of inferiority in education has silently progressed into today's society. In this century, "25% of the world's population is illiterate. Women comprise 60% of this group, and Black women comprise 44% of all illiterate women," meaning that the majority of the illiterate population is comprised of black women (19). This fact emphasizes the severity of needing to educate our black women. All in all it is crucial that we uplift the stereotypical black women and not only educate her, but provide her with the resources to recieve a quality education. "Perhaps the black womanis tired, perhaps sha has given up, or perhaps neither is true. Hundreds of years after being brought to the United States, the Black women seems to be worse off than ever. There are glimmers of hope that she will overcome, but they are simply glimmers." The hope comes from the fact that "she continues to survive, and she survives the best she can given her circumstance. She continues to struggle because she believes in the promises for social equity" (23).

-How do you think it is that after all of this time it is still a struggle for the Black woman to educate herself?


-Do you believe that it is a societal hinderance or a mental one?


-Do you see illiteracy as a problem now like the essay emphasizes it to be?