Traces of a Stream: Literacy and Social Change Among African-American Women (Pittsburgh Series in Composition, Literacy and Culture)

350 Pages·2000·12.43 MB·English

by  Jaqueline Jones Royster

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Literacy and Social Change Among African American Women
Jacqueline Jones Royster
University of Pittsburgh Press

Pittsburgh Series in Composition, Literacy, and Culture
David Bartholomae and Jean Ferguson Carr, Editors
Published by the University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15261
Copyright@ 2000, University of Pittsburgh Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Printed on acid-free paper
10987 6 54321
Selected lines from "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," from OJIleded Poems by Langston Hughes
Copyright @1 994 by the Estate of Langston Hughes
Reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a Division of Random House, Inc., and
Harold Ober Associates Incorporated.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Royster, Jacqueline Jones.
Traces of a stream: literacy and social change among African American women I
Jacqueline Jones Royster.
p. cm. - (Pittsburgh series in composition,literacy, and culture)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8229-4122-8 (acid-free paper) - ISBN 0-8229-5725-6 (pbk.:-acid-free paper)
1. English language-Rhetoric-Study and teaching-Social aspects-United States.
2. Afro-American Women-Education-Social aspects. 3. Afro-Americans
Education-Language arts. 4. Literacy-Social aspects-United States. 5. Afro
American women-Social conditions. 6. Language and culture-United States.
7. Literacy-United States. I. Tide II. Series
PE1405.u6 R682000
302.2'144'08996073--dC21

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To our ml1WfJ~Yf ZAJM.aJr.i,
who were then courageous and bold, who are now our everlasting strength;
To &""ble,tlJtdUitdauHJ:ed, rpiritr oj Afr~A_~muwr.,
including Lilla Ashe Mitchell, who remain steadfast in the face of trying times;
To ""f rtudeHtr at; s~ Cblkje-, Tfu, oltib Stm Uidverrity,
tIJtd & Bread, Loaf sdtnot oj EirjUrf."
who helped me to know that the kind ofr esearch I do needs to be done
and acted upon.

Preface and Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: A Call for Other Ways of Reading 3
Part 1. A R.fr.dbricat View
1. In Search of Rivers: Womanist Writers and the Essay 17
2. Toward an Analytical Model for Literacy and Sociopolitical Action 42
Part 2. A Hidbricat View
3· The Genesis of Anthority:WhenAfrican Women Became American .:;:r -1 o&
4· Going Against the Grain: The Acquisition and Use of Literacy ~
5· From This Fertile Ground: The Development of Rhetorical Prowess 176
Photographic Essay: African American Women Rhetors,
When and Where They Enter 239
Part 3. Aff/ fdMw_gicat View
6. A View from a Bridge: Afrafeminist Ideologies
and Rhetorical Studies 251
Appendix L Some Early African American Women Contributors, Editors,
Publishers, and Owners of Periodical Publications 289
Appendix 2. Some Early Periodical Publications with Which African American
Women Writers Were Associated 295
Notes 297
Bibliography 307
Index 327
vii