The Level of Education Impacts African Americans.
During the time period of the Harlem Renaissance, schools were still segregated. Colored schools were second-hand, and so was the education African Americans had.
The Color Purple - Celie & Nettie
Celie’s education is very low, easily seen at the start of this book. It’s shown by her grammar that drove everyone nuts and made the book more difficult to read, but set a great tone and Alice walker made her point. Throughout the book, it gets easier to read. I believe her education level and the way she speaks improves due to her writing so many letters to god, and later writing to Nettie. It’s never mentioned once Celie or Nettie getting any kind of public education, what they learned was basically on their own. What Celie learned the best was the pants she made, with that education, she got the opportunity to make a store and had a living off of that. She had a better living style than Mr._____. In this time the men usually had the better education and supported the family. Celie surpassed him and set out to better herself; she had goals in life to always improve on.
Nettie left behind her old world and ended up in Africa for a better life with (soon to find out) Celie’s kids, also adopted parents. There she found illness and poverty. Thinking this is where their roots started from, life would be better and blacks would be more accepted. Her knowledge was wrong and she found the school there and churches they built were torn down by the white man who walked right over their tribes. They were taken advantage of. Why they were walked over so easy was because the tribe believed in leaves, this may be a religion, but any educated person would know that’s "hokispokis". It was Nettie’s job there to sort out their issues and make them understand that what they believe in will get them nowhere. She had to use her knowledge to help influence the tribe to make an effort to stop the white man. This trip did not like Nettie teaching the girls of the tribe. It was a big issue among the parents when the leaders said that it was bad to do; the parents pulled their girls out of these opportunities to excel. The girls seemed to do the best but the men never wanted to be over ran be the females because the men must have the high level of education to stay at the top to dominate their women counterparts. This outraged Nettie. When Tashi’s father passed away, her mother let Tashi's learning continue because they no longer had that “man” overpowering them.
Nettie left behind her old world and ended up in Africa for a better life with (soon to find out) Celie’s kids, also adopted parents. There she found illness and poverty. Thinking this is where their roots started from, life would be better and blacks would be more accepted. Her knowledge was wrong and she found the school there and churches they built were torn down by the white man who walked right over their tribes. They were taken advantage of. Why they were walked over so easy was because the tribe believed in leaves, this may be a religion, but any educated person would know that’s "hokispokis". It was Nettie’s job there to sort out their issues and make them understand that what they believe in will get them nowhere. She had to use her knowledge to help influence the tribe to make an effort to stop the white man. This trip did not like Nettie teaching the girls of the tribe. It was a big issue among the parents when the leaders said that it was bad to do; the parents pulled their girls out of these opportunities to excel. The girls seemed to do the best but the men never wanted to be over ran be the females because the men must have the high level of education to stay at the top to dominate their women counterparts. This outraged Nettie. When Tashi’s father passed away, her mother let Tashi's learning continue because they no longer had that “man” overpowering them.
The Great Debaters
"The Great Debaters" is a perfect example of higher educated African Americans. With their education level they have, they use it to their advantage by going to debates and arguing for civil rights. They were from the top college African Americans could attend. When they faced Harvard, this was not said, but they were up against a school at least 10 times better. With their will and mind set to win, they proved they are just as worthy in front of the world, and that they could excel at Harvard because they beat their debate team. The “Great Debaters” didn’t have the coach with them in the nights before. They went above and beyond to study for this, and they knew this was a make or break in civil rights movements to better all African Americans and gain access to more college opportunities. This also was a shock and awe to the white man, to further prove that African Americans are equal and can prove valid points. The old mind set of being dumb and cotton workers are gone. Their ancestors did not have the education, and with the given education, the Negro can prove himself to be an equal human being.