An explanation in its purest form of “What it’s like to be a Black Girl (for those of you who aren’t)” by Patricia Smith, is just that, an explanation. From the first three syllables “First of all,” the author gives a sense of a story being told. She uses jagged sentence structure and strong forceful language to also show the reader the seriousness of her topic. Smiths poem gives the audience an insider’s view into a young black girl’s transition into black woman-hood at a time where both being a black girl and a black woman was not as welcomed.…
In conclusion, black history has always been important, but never regarded as such. The education system needs to begin teaching black history the same time it begins to teach white. Although, oppression and triumph are a part of our history, black history does not begin in America. In Keisha Bentley-Edwards article, Black History Month: Change how we teach Black History, she acknowledges that black children need to know much more about who they are. “When the telling or teaching of black history begins with slavery, it ignores their humanity now, just as their humanity was denied in the past.” (Bentley-Edwards 3) Black children face enough adversity in the real world, so why not alleviate the burden by teaching them that their history does…
| Most of the people I know including myself waste so much food. Reading this section of the book made me realize how hard they had it and how hard I was to find food especially if you didn’t have money. I personally feel so ungrateful because I can’t eat fruit if it’s bruised but here are these people eating almost spoiled tomatoes.…
When reflecting on history, it is evident that there has been much struggle for Black people, especially woman. The poem, “I am A Black Woman,” by Mari Evans, portrays a relationship between Black women of our history and today’s society. By the usage of vivid and inspiring words, Evans is able to capture the reader’s attention. It is clear that the speaker is a very strong black woman. She portrays this in a way that she describes moments where she has struggled and when other black women of history have struggled as well. She implies that those hard times have made her the person she is today, which is the main point of this poem.…
As a child I believed that someone’s physical appearance made them “different” from the next person, but that is not true. I could list plenty of things that describe my physical aspects as an African-American female. My skin is brown , my hair is kinky, and my lips are full. Unfortunately, those characteristics does not technically make me “different” from any other African-American female. Diversity can refer to someone's economic or geographical background, religion, and even their sexual orientation. In this manner, being African-American did not make me who I am, but being who I am made me African-American. People see me as an African-American female, but I am more than that. I am African-American. I am a female. I am homosexual.…
Gender was always a very tricky subject for me until I finally realized gender and sex are two different things. So, gender was never something I ever really thought about. I was a girl and that was that. It was definitely assumed for me based on my biological “label” of female at birth. I grew up with two sisters so there were lots of baby dolls and Barbies. But as I got older, aspects of other gender(s) became aware to me that I decided I wanted to incorporate into my own gender. I did not like wearing dresses so that “norm” was thrown out of my wardrobe options. I was much more comfortable in pants and a t-shirt playing outside. I became very interested in sports and always wanted to be outside shooting baskets or throwing around…
To be a Black Woman in America is a peculiar experience; it is both masterfully beautiful and painfully destructive. In the wake of the 2016 Olympics, one could see Black Women dominating in a multitude of competitive arenas including track and field, gymnastics, swimming, basketball, tennis, boxing, and fencing. Powerful athletes like Simone Biles, Allyson Felix, Clarissa Shields, and Ibtihaj Muhammad broke world records and stereotypes through their amazing feats of perseverance, athleticism, and endurance. Despite their triumphs, these athletes were publicly chastised for seemingly trivial issues of their hair, facial expressions, and perceived unpatriotic attitudes. Even in the world’s arena of athleticism and human spirit where social constructs such as race should be a non-factor, these women were vilified, subjugated, and disrespected by virtue of their marginal status of woman and black. Headlines of their accomplishments were filled with language steeped and smothered in sexism, misogyny, and racism. BBC reporter, John Inverdale, remarked that Andy Murray was the first athlete to win two gold medals in tennis.…
The purpose of the article is to explore the need and advantages of conducting community based research with women of colour in the United States. The authoritative knowledge that these women can provide about their lives and their health could form the basis of collaboration between researchers and participants and lead to successful strategies to improve the health of African American women. The article provides the goals for improving African American women’s health before investigating the issues related to cultural sensitivity, reciprocity, accountability and authoritative voices in order to argue that the research on these women and their health must be attuned to the multiple identities the women possess that are associated with race, gender and class.…
The term 'diversity' is so broad that it can be interpreted in many different ways. From the societal prospective of diversity, what everyone thinks diversity means, skin color, race, ethnicity, I am far from diverse. I'm just an average middle class suburban white girl. Diversity does not just mean skin color and ethnicity though, to me diversity also includes personality as well as work ethic and that is where I am different. My personality and work ethic are what I bring to the college. My love for higher knowledge and self improvement is beyond that of any "average" person. My personality is comprised of two main components, my ability to love and help people, and my unwaving work ethic.…
To this day interracial dating has been an issue all around the world. Particularly, in places such as China and India they are strict about going outside of their class to date or marry. But most of all many black women feel that many or even all black men are being stolen by the Caucasian women. Most black women believe that it is best for there to be pure black couples so the generation can evolve. Others say that while that black women are angry because they have been hurt by black men leaving them for women. But my opinion, like others, is that I don’t really care as much or even bother to think about interracial couples. The essay, “Betrayal” by Bebe Campbell is about a group of women coming to a cafe and they see a black man walking in with a white woman, and they are full of fury. Bebe Campbell speaks in depth about the subject of interracial couples and the fury of black women. My reaction toward interracial couples is different from Bebe Campbell; because I believe in freedom of choice, self-acceptance, and ownership.…
Being an African American is not easy, not to mention being an African American in the southern Texas. Life is hard here and the discrimination and prejudice is just cruel and unfair. The color of my skin should not determine how I should be treated and what type of privileges, but mainly punishments, I shall receive. I’m getting tired of this place. I’m ready for a new life and new beginning. Things were never easy here and they’re only getting harder. Change is needed and if things don’t change I don’t know how much longer I will be able to survive, not just physically but mentally as well.…
As stated in Webster 's II Dictionary, a woman is defined to be an adult female human. In today 's society being an African American woman is a rigid task to live up to. It means to reside to what their ancestors have left behind, which means to be stronger than ever. Rosa Parks was strong, Harriet Tubman was also strong, and Jezebel was even stronger. So what exactly does it mean to be a woman? It means to stand up for what is right, even if that means sacrifice, it means to be strong whether it be physically, emotionally, or mentally. African American women are perceived to be the backbone of the family, meaning that even though the male may support the family financially, that the women have the emotional and mental part in the bag.…
Worldview is a combination of one’s perception and performance based on one’s belief system. Worldview is the blueprint on life, formulated by ones thoughts, opinions, beliefs, and behavior and molded by experiences. These experiences can be either good or bad. Vehicles of influences can come from ones teacher. These teachers can be: parents, siblings, relatives or school teachers. Other vehicles can be commercials from radio and/or television, various forms of entertainment and everyday interaction with society. Therefore, the way in which ones worldview is designed and presented is determined by ones input and output in life’s journey.…
From Africa to America, African American women have embraced the spirit of creativity and survival. For years the black woman has been the backbone of our culture. It was our faith and positive spirits that played a great part in surviving slavery and being treated as second class citizens during the Civil Rights Movement. Now as we enter the 21st century, it is time to exert our strengths at a new level. The African American woman's role is to grow and prosper in business, support and be active in her community, maintain a strong family foundation, be spiritually grounded and to emend our health.…
This collection of short essays was written in 1903 and basically changed the way people thought and talked about race in America. WEB DuBois broke down the notion of a scientific explanation for racism and racial bias. He essentially went to the University of Atlanta to do just the opposite, to accomplish by scientific means some understanding of race relations and what was called at the time "the Negro problem." After only a few years, he realized that you can't solve a social problem with hard science, it's like trying to write a poem with a Rubik's cube, or determine the square root of a prime number by reading the collected works of Marx. The answer will fail to satisfy the original question - may lead to interesting further inquiry, though. Anyway, though his prose can be a little list-heavy, he's got some incredibly strong blunt-edged phrases. "How does it feel to be a problem?" is essentially how he translates most questions about race by white people. Which is the truest version of the question of race as put to the person on whom racism is perpetrated. W.E.B. DuBois was a heavy thinker, and his reading of the dualism of racism - that is, being able to see oneself dually, as seen by oneself, like oneself, and as seen by the rest of society, as unlike the collective Self - is essentially what some of the more progressive thinkers (Edward Said comes to mind) of the twentieth century have come to. And DuBois was onto this in 1903.…