A Personal Journey

“I was free to dream, and in my dreams I could become anything I wanted to be,” (186) proclaims Leonie C.R. Smith in her text entitled “To Be Black, Female, and Literate: A Personal Journey in Education and Alienation.”

Smith, who is shown above, depicts her journey to achieving a PhD, moving to America, and her story to success in this text. She grew up in Antigua, where opportunities were not abundant, but was pushed by both of her parents to become literate, independent, and self-sufficient. Both of her parents understood the demands of the world and the importance of education for future prospering. Smith was able to overcome many obstacles such as the death of her mother, a fire that almost killed her entire family, and enduring racism at Hamilton College. Through all of this adversity, she really learned the true meaning of strength, perseverance, and diligence.

This text references prior concepts that were discussed in “To Protect and Serve” by Elaine Richardson, such as codeswitching. Smith discusses the skill of codeswitching on page 187 of her text, when she has moved to New York and begun her formal education in America. In school she is taught British English, however at home she spoke patois, so this directly correlates with Richardson’s conception of codeswitching.


Smith’s Mom embodied maternal literacy and her father paternal literacy. This relates to our literacy essay, in that they each had a nurtured skill that enabled them to help their children become literate and self-sufficient. Smith’s paternal grandmother was illiterate and as a result, she lost her estate and wealth, because a woman gave her a promissory note and she was unable to read it. This unfortunate situation led Smith’s father to becoming an advocate for education, thus affording more opportunities to his family.

Compared to all of the readings that we’ve done thus far, Smith’s recollection was the most compelling and inspiring. On numerous occasions she could have given up, but she prided herself on representing black people well on all fronts and showing her counterparts that she too was capable of achieving her dreams.