The Culture of Southern Black Women
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 238 820 SO 015 412 AUTHOR Conklin, Nancy Faires; AndOthers TITLE The Culture of Southern BlackWomen: Approaches and Materials. INSTITUTION Alabama Univ., University.Archive of American Minority Cultures and SPONS AGENCY Women's Studies Program. Fund for the Improvementof Postsecondary Education (ED), Washington, DC. PUB DATE 83 GRANT G008004758 NOTE 186p. PUB TYPE Guides - Classroom Use Guides (For Teachers) (052) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC08 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Art Expression; BlackAchievement; *Black Culture; *Black Studies; *Creativity;Cultural Background; Cultural Influences; EthnicStudies; *Females; Instructional Materials;Postsecondary Education; Regional Characteristics;Social Influences; Units of Study; Womens Education;*Womens Studies IDENTIFIERS *United States (South) AE TRACT Designed for teachers andcurriculum developers in postsecondary education, thiscurriculum focuseson traditional modes of creative expression ofSouthern black womenas they relate to broader social and historical phenomena. The first of sixsections provides an introductionto the curriculum for teachers. e xamines the Southern black female Section 2 identity througha presentation of basic concepts and terms andan exploration of the experiences that have shaped the Southernblack woman's coming ofage. Section 3 traces the roots of this culturefrom West Africa to the American South and then throughout theUnited States in orderto convey the context in which the creativityof these women has developed. and crafts, music, religious Arts customs, and oral traditionsare considered. The essays in section4 examine eachgenre of creative expression, considering its WestAfrican precedents, cultural continuity, connections withwomen's life situations within community, and individual the black creativity within the artiststhemselves. Each of the preceding threesections is composed oftwo parts: approaches, which offers suggestionsfor class discussion andstudent activities; and materials, whichcontains essays describing thebest multidisciplinary scholarship andresources. Section 5 introduces students to fieldwork techniques.A final section lists print and media resources and distributors'addresses. (LP) ************************************************************************ Reproductions supplied by EDRSare the best that can be made * * from the original document. * *********************************************************************** U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION EDlll MR/NAL 1-7ESOOH(.[ S INFORMATION ktNIERIHW THE CULTURE OF SOUTHERN BLACK WOMEN: APPROACHES AND MATERIALS Nancy Faires Conklin, Brenda McCallum, and Marcia Wade Archive of American Minority Cultures and Women Studies Program The University of Alabama University, Alabama 1983 Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION T.H. Bell, Secretary 2 This curriculum guide was produced by The University of Alabama pursuant to i grant (numher GOO8104758) for curriculum development from the U.S. Department of Education, Fund for the Improvement of Por;tsecondary Education (FIPSE). Opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the Department, and no official endorsement should be inferred. Discrimination Prohibited: No person in the United States shall, on the ,rounds of race, color or national origin, he excluded from participation in, he denied the beneiits of, or he subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance, or he so treated on the basis of sex under most education programs or activities receiving Federal assistance. Prodnced and distributed by The University of Alabama, Archive of American Minority Cultures and Women Studies Program, Project on The Culture of Southern Black Women, P.O. Box 1391, university, AL 35486. This curriculum guide may he duplicated in whole or in part for non-profit educational purposes without prior permission from the authors. Title epigrams for Part IV A-F derive from the works of Alice Walker, respectively: In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens," "Never Offer Your Hart to Someone Who Eats Hearts," For My Sister Molly Who in the Fifties," "Gifts of Power: The Writings of Rebecca Jackson," and "Everyday Use." Cover design by Carol Eichelberger. Cover photograph courtesy of the M. and M. Karolik Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts: Harriet Powers, Athens, Georgia, Applique Quilt "The Creation of the Animals," c. 1895-1898. THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA PROJECT STAFF Project Directors: Brenda McCallum 1980-1983 Elizabeth A. Meese '980-1981 \ancv Faires Conklin 1981-1982 Research Associates: Shirley D. Qualls 1981-1982 Marcia Wade 1983 Women Studies Program Instructors: Willie Mays Edwacds-Jones 1981 Shirley D. Qualls 1982 Vonceil Smith 1983 Staff: Jean Hermann, Project Secretary Patricia R. Glover, Karen Kakas, Elaine A. Martin, Jayne E. Thistle PROJECT CONSULTANTS 1980-1981 1981-1982 Toni Cade Bambara Linda Holmes Writer College of Medicine Atlanta, Geor:.;ia and Dentistry of New Jersey Newark, New Jersey Gloria Hull University of Delaware Bertha L. Maxwell Newark, Delaware University of North Carolina Charlotte, North Carolina Jane Sapp The Highlander Center Gwendolyn M. Patton New Market, Tennessee Alabama State University Montgomery, Alabama Bettye C. Thomas The National Cr,119.,:'ilof Negro 1982-1983 Women Washington, D.C. Nancy Fairer Conklin Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory Portland, Oregon Shirley D. Qualls Alabama Historical Commission Montgomery, Alabama PROJECT TEACHERS 1981-1982 Margaret Dwight Judy Harmon, Jo Howze, and Rhoda Johns( Alcorn State University Tuskegee Institute Lorman, Mississippi Tuskegee Institute, Alabama Carol Eichelberger Linda Chambers Harrig The University of Alabama Shelton State Community College Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa, Alabama Janice Epps Joanne V. Hawks Atlanta Junior College The University of Mississippi Atlanta, Georgia OxfOrd, Mississippi Vevelyn Foster Shirley D. Qualls Jackson State University The University of Alabama Jackson, Mississippi University, Alabama Gloria Gayies Juel S. Smith Talladega College University of Louth Florida Talladega, Alabama Tampa, Florida PREFACE This curriculum guide emerges out of threeyeIrs of collaborative effort by teachers, 1.esearchers, students,and stitt tt,)m nine colleges and univer- sit_ies in the Deep South. !Under A series of grants awarded by ther.S. De- partment of Education, Fund for the Improvement ofPostsecondary Education (,u1PSE) to the Archive of AmericanMinority Cultures and Women Studies Program At The !university of \labamn, scholars of blackstudies, women's studies, southern sfudies, and folkloreCaine together to develop, pilot-teach, and evaluate materials and methods forteaching about the traditional culture of southern hlack women. The Culture of Southern BlackWomen: Approaches and Materials documents this work. This Proicct had its beginnings ina series of activities initiated by Monica Walker, loin Canto Ludgood, Stella Shade,and Carolyn Cobb. Active on The rniversitv of Alabamacampus as the Afro-American Performing Artists, these women, performing works by NtozakeShange, Billie Jean Young, and others, became more and iflore conscious of andcommitted to their identityas southern black women, hearers ofan African heritage. But nowhere at The ro: rsitv of Alabama, neither in the well-establishedWomen Studies Program, nor u rne hand'Zul of courses focusing on the blackexperience, nor even in the extra-curricular events offered by thestudent Afro-American Association, was there an avenue for continued exploration of theirown, southern black female experience. Their commitment, however,was so strong that they decided to explore other routes. With the assistance of the Archive ofAmerican Minority Cul- tures, Women Studies Program, and Dr. Margaret RoseGladnev from the American Studies Program, the students sought andreceived a grant from The lini'oersitv to hold a public. conference, "Black Women in theSouth: Retrospects and Prospects." This day-long series of workshops and lecturestcok place in Tuscaloosa in the spring of 1980. The conferees' response mirrored the students'enthusiasm. Those at- tending perceived a pressing need for continuedresearch and curriculum de- velopment on the topic of the southernblack female experience and urged that The rniversitv seek furthersupport for such work. As A result, the Archive of American MinorityCutures and the Women Studies Program undertook tosecure funding for a regional effort to review and synthesize resource materialson the topic and were awarded a Compre- hensive Grant by the Fund for theImprovement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) of the H.S. Department of Education beinning in September, 198). The Comprehensive Grant was renewed in 1981, and jr 1982 further successful oppli- cation to the Fund made i;ossible the disseminationof this curriculum guide. The Project souht to address the followingproblems, in The Itniversitv curriculum and in tne region, as cited in theinitial proposal to FIPSE: 1. The increased enrollment of black female studentshas not been met by a parallel increase in courses designedto explore the history and culture of black women in \merica; There are currently no courses on hla,-k culture which are °tiered at the freshman-sophomore level so that, early in their post- secondary experience within a predominantly white institutioll . students might form their own intellecLual support ,;roups; 3. Courses do not encourage