What Black Women Teachers Has Taught Me

After reading Sunny-Marie Birney’s personal dedication to the past and present phenomenal African American women in her article, “Voices of Our Foremothers: Celebrating the Legacy of African American Women Educators”, I wondered if I had the same drive and appreciation for the black women educators who I came across in my life. I did not have the exact experience as Birney; all her life, she “felt [she] was a motherless child”(49). During the time in her life when she was confused about who she was, she was grateful that “Drs. Susan Frazier-Kouassi, Yvonne Williams, and Mary Young… helped [her] connect [her] academic knowledge to a broader world and understand the dynamics of [her] ever changing place within that world” (50). I think her purpose of writing this dedication was to personally show her appreciation to those black women who impacted her life and to encourage young black women like myself to not just study but take in the college experience and enjoy it.
Perhaps there was only one black woman that impacted my life in high school. Ms. Malcolm was my math teacher and she was truly a gem. Birney mentioned Freire, a person I learned in my African Diaspora and World course. Ms. Malcolm thought us similar to the problem-posing method what Freire mentioned in his article “The Pedagogy of Truth” that this method involves, “a constant unveiling of reality”(84). Instead of giving us formulas to memorize, she allowed us to go to the board and figure the problem out with the help of our peers. If the problems were too tedious, she would help us out. Like Birney mentioned, Ms. Malcolm became “…my mother away from home…”(51). The fact that she cared about her students made me want to learn. She became my mentor and helped me get into Spelman College. If I were to write a dedication, it would be for her.
Now that I am in college, I am being educated by black teachers with black people. I am blessed to be at Spelman College being taught by the brightest minds in the world. I encourage everyone to take in the experience as well because life is too short.
Shaniqua Smiley