Black Women:: Black Literature

In Joanne K. Dowdy's piece which she entitles "Black Women/Black Literature", she conducts an interview with aWhite woman named Christina McVay, who happens to be an English professor in the department of Pan-African studies. In her interview, McVay proceeds by saying that she undertook this field of study and chose to teach in said field because of her grave interest in Black literature and culture itself. McVay had always been intrigued by other languages, particularly those she majored in during her undergraduate studies at Kent State University (German and Russian), but had found "Black English" to be quite interesting as well, because of the pieces of literature she had read conducted by Black women. She explained that while conducting her classes as a White woman in front of a Black class, she herself was a student at times, in that she took something from each students perspective. When comparing her teachings done in these Black literary classes to that of her White classes, in fact, McVay says that her White english classes are "boring" and "deadly dull". Christina McVay finishes her discussion on her outlook on teaching English in the Pan -African department by saying that every morning, she wakes up knowing that she is "going to do something all day long that [she] enjoys"

In reverting back to the piece "To Protect and Serve": African American Female Literacies by Elaine Richardson, Black women are, by nature, nurturing and protective beings who seek knowledge, with which they attempt to share with those of their culture. These qualities are what Christina McVay witnessed during her teachings and studies of Black female literature. What mainly stood out to me among many enlightening thoughts conjured up by McVay was the line that read "...I've learned to respect our elders instead of worshipping youth, to respect our past and tradition instead of being obsessed with the future and the idea of progress." These are the values that we as black people, and Black women especially, should continue to hold dear to us, and share with those of different genders and races alike. With that in mind, we should also hold dear our "Blackness" as McVay calls it. With this, I mean that terms others describe as slang and "Black English" should not be forgotten, and should be valued because in it holds culture and tradition. Of course one should know when the appropriate time of usage is, which is obviously not in an English essay or college paper, but amongst like minded people who comprehend the dialect and feel a relation to your thoughts without having to depict them as simply slang. The literature of Black people in general along with the way it is comprehended by the world will forever be a debated, criticized and judged, however it is up to those of the Black community to make these discussions positive.