Black Women/Black Literature is an interview between Joanne Dowdy and Christina Mc Vay. Mc Vay is a white woman who is fascinated with and teaches a course on Pan-African studies. Christina loves the black oral and written language. Not only did she study the African language, but she majored in German and Russian as well.
I was very intrigued at the way she became interested in African American studies. She was socially deprived, by choice, after she was forced into a catholic boarding school. She met her best friend, who was African American, because of a common interest in not wanting to be in their situation. They both loved to read, and started reading books about Malcolm X; this began Christina’s fascination with the subject. Malcolm X would be proud to know that his book influenced a white woman to fall in love with African American literature.
It’s funny how Christina thought the black studies program was for black people only. If she had chosen to be a part of the black studies program, what type of environment would she have been in? I could actually see why she would have felt a little uncomfortable in taking class in the black studies program. The class would have been filled with a bunch of black students and she would have felt out of place. I don’t think it really would have mattered that she was a white woman in the class. The African American students probably would have commended her for that and had no problem with it. I also believe that in today’s society people would not second-guess studying something of a different culture from theirs. This society has developed and become more open-minded. There are too many mixed children walking around today to have a close mind against other races.
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