Black Women/ Black Literature

   "Literature is not just an academic thing. It really is not. It's a life thing"(Christina McVay).

      This reading is an interview that was conducted to get into the mind of Christina McVay's "thoughts and philosophy regarding teaching Black women" (Dowdy 87). I thought that this reading conveyed the essence of Black literature and Black women. McVay explained to Dowdy that there are many times that her students thought that the Black language is a bad thing, so she had to spend an abundance of time trying to undo what they've learned. Even in our society today, we are taught that slang or Black English is a bad thing and we should practice speaking proper English. One of the things that I liked most about this article is that McVay disagreed with the school system. She taught her students to take the language that they knew and were comfortable with and communicate through that. She only taught her students to write proper English when writing college papers.
      McVay saw the beauty in Black literature and she wanted her students to be real with her, specifically the Black females. It's a little funny because she is a White professor and she often got the question what are you doing teaching Black literature. She elucidated to her students that she knows how to read literature and can help them to see what the language is doing. Her goal was to connect her students with their language and to make them see the connection between the literature and their own experiences. She stated that it was "important that they see that what they thought was an isolated thing is actually something that has made them and members of their family part of a community...so its important that they see themselves in what we're reading" (McVay 95).
       I believe that it is a gift that Christina McVay have as an educator to take the beauty out of a language many don't approve of, Black language, to teach her students, make them feel comfortable with the way they speak, and let them know that they are not wrong to use Black English. She states in the reading that Black literature means everything to her; it has changed her life, values, and made her see things clearer. That is what she wants her Black female students to grasp from Black literature. Black women and Black literature have an inevitable bond, and we should explore the many wonders and power Black literature has to teach us.

Work Cited:
Dowdy, Joanne Kilgour. Readers of the Quilt. Creskill. New Jersey: Hampton Press, Inc. 2005.