REEL WOMEN:BLACK WOMEN AND LITERACY IN FEATURE FILMS

Many times we watch films just for the entertainment perspective of things. We look at it form an emotional perspective and not really at the deep meaning within the film. This article by Joanne Dowdy indicate that we should take a step back from the emotional perspectives of important films such as "the Josephine Baker Story"' "Clara's Heart", and "The Color Purple"to establish the deeper meaning of the film and how we can apply that to our lives. By doing this we establish a sense of space for "critical observation" so that we approach the world around us in a different perspective.

Each one of the films demonstrate the views of Black women and how they view the environment around them. The films also convey the literacy of Black women and how they interacted with various cultures and the White society. "Movies provide the opportunity to witness the everyday experience of Black women within certain sociocultural contexts" (Dowdy 164). The movies mentioned above all indicate the different levels of literacy women had in the different films and recognize the differences as well as the similarities that our past has from our present and how it'll change in our future. She also accentuates the importance of taking the events and perspectives of those films and apply them to our lives and society around us today because it will make us be more literate of our environment.

This article illustrates the intelligences of Black women in films and how talented and literate they are. Dowdy tells the importance of students watching these films and extracting the importance of them, especially Black women. Being that television can be used to enhance education, Dowdy states that it is important that we extract the necessary data from these films to understand the Black experience and the history of our people. "We can use the lessons learned from our experience with popular film to build a bridge to learning more about the history of African-American women and celebrating their contribution to our society and the world" (Dowdy 180).

Unearthing Hidden Literacy: Seven Lessons I Learned in A Cotton Field 37-47

Literacy is the ability to functionally use a learned skill. As we all know there are many other kinds of literacies besides academic. We do not only learn in a classroom setting. We learn something new every day from our surroundings. The environment we grow up in can have a huge impact on how we will turn out as adults. This story was about a woman reflecting on her summers spent picking cotton and how it molded her into the person she is now. At first she repressed these memories and hated even having to do it. While going through something unpleasant we only see the negative, until we have time to reflect upon it.

I can relate to this story because I have many similar experiences. Being a child I used to worry about how much fun I could have instead of the educational value in doing something. My mother being wiser than me would constantly enroll me in vigorous educational summer programs and special schools. She made the decision for me to go to a Tavis Smiley summer program in California against my will. The first few days I hated it with all my heart until the last two days. Now when I look back on this experience words can’t explain how much I appreciate having had the opportunity to participate in something like that. It exposed me to all new ideas, new people, and the idea that I could go to college.

We should take her advice as a lesson about appreciating our pasts. Smith says people grow by “interrogating their experiences even those they had forgotten or wished they had forgotten for hidden success of comfort, clarity, and fortitude.” (Smith 41) We should take opportunities the good with the not so good as they come, because like they say “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. Every new experience teaches us something new, increasing our literacies.