Arnelle

Downing
Date submitted: 9/14/17
ENGW3307
Project 1 Draft 1
CSE
Word Count: 1031
Lil Miss Philly

What does it really mean to be a black woman in this society at this day and age? This
was not a question I thought I would have to contemplate before entering college. Before
coming to Northeastern University being a black woman did not mean too much to me. Nothing
really stuck out about it. Only thing I knew was that I should not walk around by myself and to
be careful of the company that I kept. Of course, these are standard safety concerns that girls of
all backgrounds are made privy to from a young age, but I also knew that these rules were just
as important to the entire black community. Honestly, I had always created some kind of
separation between these two parts of my identity, so imagine my confusion when I entered
college and people seemed to have some kind of preconceived notion of who I was, how I
would act, what my major might be, what I wanted to do in life, etc. all because I am a black
woman.

I was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA. That stood for a lot in itself. Oh you a crazy
jawn, someone said to me. Oh I know you have a bad attitude, said another. As a Philly
native, I was not aware that we had a distinctive type of personality. But after some reflective
thinking, it did dawn on me that I have an attitude that is unlike any other. Im loud. Im
aggressive. I have a mean bitch face. I can easily hurt ones feelings. My temperament can go
from 0 to a 1000 at any instant, especially if get the slightest sense of disrespect. But all that
aside, deep down Im the sweetest girl just trying to make it on this campus with as little
conflict as possible. However, dodging conflict hasnt been so easy. As I mentioned before, I
dont take kindly to disrespect. So, understand my discontent when I felt students and
professors were trying to play my intelligence.

Now, when I applied to Northeastern, I knew it lacked an expansive black community
but that wasnt really a problem for me. The schools I had attended all my life were
predominantly white. However, I had clearly neglected to take into consideration that my white
classmates may not be as cultured as the ones I was used to back home; that I could be living
and learning with individuals from the portion of white America who are uncultured, unversed,
and whose mindsets continue to be shaped and plagued by 19th century ideologies. Ideologies I
would soon find out were the basis of my biology and criminal justice curricula.

The Fathers

Lets begin with Darwin, the father of evolution. Theres absolutely no way to make it in
a biology major without understanding who he is and what he has contributed to field on a
large scale.
 I am pretty sure the first time I learned about evolution was during my 9th grade year,
and it sparked such intrigue in me. After having just gone through a year of American history in
which all you heard about black people was that they were slaves, I was amazed by a concept
that everyone originated in Africa. However, after diving into Darwins actual literature, I found
a door leading to a realm of scientific based racial hierarchy.

In his 1871 work, the Descent of Man, Darwin stated that the American aborigines,
Negroes and Europeans are as different from each other in mind as any three races that can be
named (Darwin 1871). He goes on to insinuate that Europeans are a more evolved/smarter
race of man because they had to adapt to changing environments and circumstances as they
migrated from their birthplace. Now, as a scientist, I can see where he is coming from. From
taking psychology, I have learned that it is true that the brain has changed to be more complex
with the introduction of language, development of tool making skills, etc. However, as a black
woman living in todays times, I must say that I fully loathe Darwin for this.

In that same piece of literature, he also highlighted his brain is absolutely larger [...] the
formation of her skull is said to be intermediate between the child and the man (Darwin
1871). This idea that women are inferior in mind carried throughout the rest of the 19th
century and festered during the 20th century, inserting itself into various theories about female
criminality. Sigmund Freud, father of modern psychology and founder of psychoanalysis
believed women were deviant because of their subordinate position to man in society, (Freud
1933) a theory he called Penis envy. How ignorant.

My Clarity

As a black woman, my experiences with pursuing medical school directly represent the
intersectionality of two oppressed subsets of humanity. Because, while I feel like I deserve to be
placed on a pedestal for making it into this private white institution with little to no handouts
along the way, others still do not believe in my ability to be successful because of historical
biases about the capabilities of blacks and women.

It took me some time to gain clarity of this intersectionality and what it meant for me
moving forward. It meant that what I had been taught all my life, that we must work twice as
hard to get half of what they get was indeed true. But like the boss chick that my parents and
hometown raised me to be, I say fuck you to all of my haters and those who believe I wont
amount to shit. I want to be a forensic pathologist, so that is what Im going to be.








 Acknowledgements
Id like to thank my chapter members for allowing me to voice my concerns about my inability
to actually figure out what to write about. Id also like to thank my First-Year Writing teacher
for helping me learn to be comfortable with writing about my personal experiences.



Reference List

Darwin C. The descent of man and selection in relation to sex. New York: Burt; 1874.

Freud Sigmund. New Introductory Lecture on Psychoanalysis. New York: Norton; 1933