How My Illiterate Grandmother Raised An Educated Black Man Summary

His grandmother was going to make sure that he received the education she never received. Even when he was hanging out with the wrong people group, his grandma was always there to make sure he stayed straight. Terrell states that his grandmother, even though she died after he finished high school, made it possible for him to earn three college degrees. Because of her constant motivating phrase, “There is always a way to do what you want to do,” he is a successful man today.

Throughout history, African American weren’t considered the smartest race on earth. With slavery and being for bided to ever touch or learn to read a book, African American became the race that envy having an education. Education became a prime factor in the African American culture. Having an education to an African is having the one-way ticket out of the terrible streets. They believe that if they don’t know nothing they won’t get nothing. In other word, if they aren’t educated their life would remain the same. Way back to slavery, African American would be beaten if they were to open a book and dare to read it instead of cleaning it.

I grew up watching my mother strive to give me a better life and become a better person. Amongst great difficulty, she decided to finish school and attend university. Her hard work and determination have marked and defined my life. Every day she had to work, then go to university and later take care of me. She excelled in every aspect of her life, teaching me that the impossible is overcome through hard work and

As a young girl growing up in Haiti, I experienced first hand that the path my parents chose for themselves was not the life that I wanted for myself. I was able to relate closely to Richard Rodriguez in “The Achievement Desire” because he faced many struggles that I too faced as a young girl. My parents always pressured me to work hard at school, I was always suppose to have my homework for Monday done by Friday night, which made

growing even wider due to a verity of reasons. According to the National Assessment of

From the beginning when the African slaves first set foot on American soil, the Negro has been perceived as an inferior race. Unfortunately, the effects from slavery still take a hold of the Negro race even today. In this novel, Carter G. Woodson attempts to thoroughly explain why exactly this has come to exist. Although written years ago, the ideals in his book are still seen to be true. Woodson's theory is that because of the way the Negro is treated by the oppressor, he has been brainwashed to believe his inferiority to other races to be the truth. This in turn keeps him from trying to advance in any shape or form because he thinks that he will step out of his place. "When you control a

Family dynamics across all races are complex. For the state of the black family is made even more complicated by a history rooted in slavery. Fractured families were born out of a system where husbands were taken away, jailed or killed, leaving the family weakened with a mother and/or grandmother at the helm. While these historical facts may be true; that the black family is weak, can be argued. Yet, the family for many in the black community and other communities of color extend to include a large number of kin. On the other hand, it can also be argued that since families were ripped apart during the slave trade it created an opportunity for setting up networks of support and family units to include members who may not be blood related. You often hear black people refer to an elder as “aunt” or “uncle” these networks were put in place as protective factors in the event that parents were sold there was an assurance that someone would care for the children. To an extent this behavior continues to this day as we see many fathers sentenced to long jail terms for petty crimes or killed. The family structure makeup may be a blood relative and it may also be kin of another kind. LaShawnDa Pittman discusses how these factors shape the African-American family and how slavery impacted the role of the mother and father within the family system. During slavery there wasn’t any possibility of childhood. Children were socialized to begin work at the age of

Despite knowledge being suppressed against African Americans during the 1800’s and 1900’s, the attempt for an African American to seek knowledge is presented in the stories, “Learning to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass and “The Library Card” by Richard Wright. It is invariably true that knowledge is both a blessing and a curse, which is why both Douglass and Wright can relate to the inflicting role that knowledge plays in people’s lives. Knowledge is presented as a form of a blessing in both stories as both Douglass and Wright endure the chance to educate themselves, Knowledge is expressed as a form of a curse in both stories as both Douglass and Wright face the risk of encountering with the possible unbearable truth behind the knowledge they seek to obtain, also in both stories, both Douglass and Wright develop a self hatred after learning new information that has been kept from them since they are prevented the chance to be informed.

Carter G Woodson, the oldest of nine in a poor coal mining family found his love of learning early. Earning a Masters’ degree only one year after earning a bachelor’s degree, he quickly followed in the footsteps of great minds and earned his PhD from Harvard University. He had a very well rounded and multifaceted educational journey according to the text, but felt most connected to furthering the pursuit of excellence for all African Americans through the creation of journals, organizations, and eventually continuing on in higher education with the African American in mind. He is credited with Black History week. In light of the time in history wherein he flourished, it is fitting that he was part of the movement that resulted in the creation of the NAACP (iv-v). In short, he objectively appears to single handedly be the father of the African American social awareness movement.

While I was on the boat, my mother asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I told her that I didn't know yet, but I would tell her when I did. I tried looking for my older sister and my father, but they were gone. I profusely demanded my mother to tell me where they went and why they left us here. She replied by saying, "They went on ahead, to make sure the area we stayed at was safe and clean for our arrival." I was so proud of what I thought they were doing that I said, "I want to be like father." After I said that, tears ran down her face as she smiled. There truth was, that my sister died of tuberculosis and father died of smallpox and were both thrown into the sea.

African American regions are processing new strategies for people below average functioning under level number one literacy. There are state officials, business leaders, and human resources who promote assessment class to determine the adequate needs for African Americans needing more help with illiteracy. The African

Today's education is often viewed as failing in its goal of educating students, especially those students characterized as minorities, including African American, Hispanic, and Appalachian students (Quiroz, 1999). Among the minority groups mentioned, African American males are affected most adversely. Research has shown that when Black male students are compared to other students by gender and race they consistently rank lowest in academic achievement (Ogbu, 2003), have the worst attendance record (Voelkle, 1999), are suspended and expelled the most often (Raffaele Mendez, 2003; Staples, 1982), are most likely to drop out of school, and most often fail to graduate from high school or to earn a GED (Pinkney, 2000; Roderick, 2003).

Ever since the establishment of equal education in the United States, there has been a disparity in academic success between children of different races. The education of African American children has become a prime example of this. As discussed in the historical text, A Letter to My Nephew, which was written during the time of the civil rights movement in the 1950’s and 1960’s, African Americans were not given equal opportunities to succeed educationally and could do little to change their futures for the better. They had to work much harder than whites to receive even a portion of the recognition and success that whites achieved (Baldwin 1). Although many today believe America has overcome this problem, it still remains a pressing issue in many aspects of society, arguably the most important being education. The racial achievement gap, an important term to familiarize with when discussing this topic, refers to the disparity in educational performance between students of different races (National Education Association 1). As of now, although the education achievement gap has been narrowing, there still remains a large disparity between African Americans and their racial counterparts. According to a study by Roland G. Freyer and Steven D. Levitt, professors at Harvard University and W.E.B Du Bois Institute, respectively, African American students enter kindergarten already significantly behind children of other races, and their test scores continue to drop

“The Book of Negroes is a master piece, daring and impressive in its geographic, historical and human reach, convincing in its narrative art and detail, necessary for imagining the real beyond the traces left by history.” I completely agree with The Globe and Mail’s interpretation of this story. One could almost see the desolate conditions of the slave boats and feel the pain of every person brought into slavery. Lawrence Hill created a compelling story that depicts the hard ships, emotional turmoil and bravery when he wrote The Book of Negroes.

Historically black colleges and universities, otherwise known as HBCUs, have played an integral role in advancing the education of underprivileged black teenagers since their inception after the American Civil War. They have had students extremely well known in their fields today, such as billionaire entertainer Oprah Winfrey, the first African American Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. Though their graduation rates tend to be around 1 in 3, they have produced a majority of successful African American professionals. For the continued advancement of African Americans, HBCUs are necessary for offering educational opportunities that their students had been historically denied and presently out of financial reach, while promoting strong family values and equality that may be lacking at traditional schools and displaying positive African American role models in their alumni and staff.