Literate Black Women Peer Counselors

The essay, “Transformation College Literacy of Literate Black Women Peer Counselors,” started off with Robin Wisniewski’s definition of a literate black woman. “[Being a literate Black woman means] that I can speak and what I have to say will be hear because I know what I am talking about (69). She then goes on to tell readers of the importance of knowledge and education. Wisniewski planned to successfully create a peer counseling program for students with disabilities, from low-income families, and who were the first from their families to attend college. Her methods were not of the traditional note-taking method.

Robin realized she wanted to do this transformation when she herself began feeling change. “My transformative journey began with the awareness of my own expectation for change in myself” (71). She tells readers that her college literacy arose from knowledge and learning new things. She thought of it as freedom, as “liberation” (71).

She starts her story with two young Black women, Lauryn who came from an all black school, and Vania who came from an all white school. Both Lauryn and Vania thought of the program as less of a program, more of a family environment. As the students were being taught, they were also doing the teaching. In this program everyone learned from everyone. Robin tells us that those two women taught her the best method of liberating black women, and that is knowledge through family orientation. These women made the program more family-like and each student was based off of their personality, not their major or grade point average. Each student was tutored without being judged. Robin Wisniewski just wanted to educate young people. “Knowledge is power, so if you’re literate you can make your own way. It is freedom.”