Black Women and Education

There was Mary and one other African American women working in the East Computers. The other lady was Dorothy Vaughan. Mary and Dorothy helped NASA by providing important information that was later used in the early days of the NASA space program.

African American women have long been stereotyped, discriminated against and generalized in this country. They have had to face both being black in America while also being a woman in America. African American women encountered and still do encounter double discrimination of both sex and race (Cuthbert, 117). Women like Elise Johnson McDougald, Marion Vera Cuthbert and Alice Dunbar-Nelson all tried to shed light on what it was like to be an African American woman living in the 20th century yet literature often portrayed them as emotional, hypersexual, unintelligent and of lesser worth. The literature highlighted that African American women have to serve both their employer and their husbands and families. They are not supposed to have an opinion or stand up for themselves, especially to a white man. ***Concluding sentence?

In the article Black Males and Adult Education: A Call to Action written by Brendaly Drayton, Dionne Rosser-Mims, Joni Schwartz, and Talmadge C. Guy want to expose the challenges that black males face in education. They make it clear their purpose is to incite a great change in the way black males are treated in the education system, give black men a voice, and endorse an analytical evaluation of institutional procedures and practices. More importantly the article states that the authors’ point is not to encourage the stereotypes and behaviors attributed to black men that society has put upon them, rather their point is to show the world that their destructive view on black males is stopping them from reaching their full potential.

Another major predicament that plays a large role in the amount of African Americans that do not receive a higher education is once they get to college, they do not have a typical or enjoyable experience once there. In today’s society, it is hard to imagine that there is still racism and segregation in schools and colleges today but the reality is, it still does very much exist. This is especially true when black students attend predominantly white universities. Even though most colleges promote themselves by talking about how diverse their

In the wake of moving on from secondary school, she earned a grant to Philander Smith College in Little Rock. While she cleaned floors to pay for her scholastic cost, her siblings and sisters picked supplemental cotton and did tasks for neighbors to acquire her $3.43 convey passage. In school, she delectated in science, yet imagined that lab expert was likely her most eminent calling. Her aspirations transmuted when she auricularly discerned Edith Irby Jones, the first African American to go to the University of Arkansas Medical School, verbalize at a school sorority. Seniors—who had not even met a specialist until she was 16 years of age—choosing to become a doctor was conceivable, and she needed to be kindred to

Out of 2,000 she was one of the 15 chosen on June 4,1987 She had become the first African American women to be admitted into the training program. Unfortunately the challenger and columbia shuttle’s had just destroyed when she applied her resume because it took a while for NASA to recover. After completing extensive training she was assigned to the shuttle Endeavor for a 190 hour mission. On September 20,1992 Mae became the first colored women in space. Which she commented that “Society should recognize how much both women and members of other minority groups can contribute if given the

Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune has paved the way for african-american adolescents, like myself, to live a life of greater quality. Being born of slaves, no one imagined that her values would manifest into a prestigious Historically Black College/University. From toiling in fields with her family, to becoming the president of an accredited college was a huge accomplishment for blacks at the time. Mary Bethune’s prosperity didn’t conclude with the commencement of her own distinguished university, but she became a national leader. The National Association of Colored Women became popularized for advocating the enhancement of colored women in society. In this organization, Bethune served as Florida chapter president from 1917 to 1925. Her duties included:

One of the biggest problems Africans Americans faced in America is Segregation, discrimination, racism, prejudice, rebellion, religion, resistance, and protest. These problems have helped shape the Black struggle for justice. Their fight for justice marks a long sequence of events towards their freedom. Provisions of the Constitution affect the operation of government agencies and/or the latitude chief executives and legislatures in the creation and implementation of policies today. The rights and passage of Amendments granted to African Americans in the Constitution serve as a source of “first principles” governing the actions and policies of elected and appointed public servants across the United States. The 15th Amendment Equal Rights: Rights

The United States prides itself on being a land of opportunities, and in many ways it is. We look at countries like South Africa, which not long ago was segregated through the laws of Apartheid, and we are glad that we are so much further along than the land of Mandela. However, every now and then we need to stop and ask ourselves just how far along we really are, and we have to wonder if many of the once oppressed countries we helped free are not passing us up in the area of civil rights and opportunity.

The district superintendent walked into my classroom with another man accompanying him. I stood there with my artist’s apron on and paint in my hand. My superintendent and this unknown man looked around my classroom. The superintendent introduces the other man as the county superintendent of all the schools in the county. I reached out my hand to shake his and he pulled out a white envelope and gives it to me. I opened the envelope and there was my name and the title County Teacher of the Year. My students were clapping for me and I was overjoyed. I represented all the teachers in my county and a candidate for the title of State Teacher of Year and possibly National Teacher of the Year. Later that afternoon my principal called the entire school to the auditorium and announced, I was the County Teacher of the Year. I was ecstatic, I felt good, honored and a proud teacher. When I got back into my classroom, my students told me as I walked up to the stage some of the white teachers walked out of the auditorium. I did not want to react in front of my students, but I said to

Anita Florence Hemmings was the first black American woman who attended Vassar College and graduated more than 40 years before the college opened its doors to African American. “She had a clear olive complexion, heavy black hair, eyebrows and black eye” a Boston newspaper wrote of a 25 years old Hemmings in August 1897. With only a few weeks before the graduation Hemmings roommate became suspicious about her background and expressed concerns to her father, who hire a private investigator and followed Hemmings to her hometown of Boston, where her full story was revealed.

African American women’s involvement in education in the United States can be dated as far back as slavery, when enslaved women secretly learned to read and write. Although it was illegal for any slave to learn how to read or write, some female slaves had an infinite spirit of courage and risked their well-being in efforts to teach other slaves to read and write (Wolfman, 1997). The late 1750s proved to be a time period of change for African Americans. During this time, a small portion of institutions of higher education allowed African American students tobe admitted. Oberlin College was the first institution of higher learning to admit students of African Americans and the first college to award

Have one ever thought that something that can weigh such great value, can also be a burden? No right, a great example will be education. For a Black man education can be the best thing they receive, it also can be the biggest burden they bring upon themselves. It has been proven over the past few years, and it is still continuing to be a great burden on them.

College is a character defining time period for many. Whether it be positive or negative, the campus climate holds a very valuable role in determining the outcome of one’s college experience. In my archival research I have found that there is mostly positive actions that the administration has conducted, however I have also seen counterexamples that claim  Duke is an unwelcoming campus for women.

In a publication titled ‘Black Women in Academe’, author Yolanda Moses describes how “isolation, invisibility, hostility, indifference, and a lack of understanding of the Black women’s experiences are all too often part of the climate Black women may face on campuses” (Moses, 1989). The detrimental environment surrounding these women frequently results in sullenness, lack of social assertiveness, and belief that they are less competent than male students. Even if time spent at an academic institution is minimal, with this kind of prejudice faced at an early age, any woman- black or otherwise, would suffer the rest of their life. In response to the discrimination faced at universities, some have created programs to aid black students and other minorities; these programs tend to generalize the needs of all its black students and do not fully support black women specifically.