To Be Black, Female and Literate

To be literate in today's society is one thing, to be black, female and literate is another. In today's world literacy is crucial in everyday living. "To Be Black, Female, and Literate" by Leonie C. R. Smith takes readers on a journey throughout a young black girl's childhood and her relationship with education. She tells readers, "my education, whatever shape it took, would be a life long process and would become a tool with which I could do the necessary activist work in my community. (183)


Reading Smith's story opened my eyes to see how literacy affected me as a black woman. Smith tells us about her education throughtout middle school. She tells us about the limits women have in choosing a career. They were limited to being nurses, secretaries, or teachers. The author tells us how education and literacy was important to her and her parents, she also tells us how she was forced out of her regular homeroom into another class who was of lower caliber.


She goes on in telling how her move from Antigua to New York was mindblowing. "I had to learn what it meant to be Black in the United States." Although she was of color, she tells readers how Black American children made fun of the way she spoke and the dark pigment of her skin. Smith felt extreme isolation. The isolation and ridicule helped her gain focus on what was important, her education.


Her adulthood consisted of a number of black organizations that helped her through the racism she faced on a day to day basis. A number of us take literacy and education for granted. A large percentage of Black teens today are highschool drop outs. If we help each other see that education is in fact liberation, we can go on to achieve our goals one after the other, just as Leonie C. R. Smith did. "With my daughter at my side, I remain focused on the task at hand -- getting my PhD." (199)