Georgia Southern University Digital Commons@Georgia Southern Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of Fall 2007 Self, Other, and Jump Rope Community: The Triumphs of African American Women Wynnetta Ann Scott-Simmons Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd Recommended Citation Scott-Simmons, Wynnetta Ann, "Self, Other, and Jump Rope Community: The Triumphs of African American Women" (2007). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 507. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/507 This dissertation (open access) is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. SELF, OTHER, AND JUMP ROPE COMMUNITY: THE TRIUMPHS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN by WYNNETTA SCOTT-SIMMONS (Under the Direction of Ming Fang He) ABSTRACT Using Critical Race Theory, Critical Literacy, Black Feminist Thought as a theoretical framework and Oral History as research methodology, the lives of four young African American women are explored as they leave their culturally insular surroundings, “Jump Rope Communities”, to seek access to the codes of power and registers of language in all-White, all-girl, elite private schools during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. In capturing the memories, perceptions, and lived experiences of these women over thirty years later, the journey into a world of divergences was explored--divergent language codes, divergent social, cultural, and economic stratifications, and divergent linguistic expectations, behaviors, and dispositions.