Perspective

The author spends a significant amount of time articulating her perspective. The reason is that she is one example of a group that is typically called 'under represented' in the over all culture. She is an American woman. She is a black woman. She is a feminist. She has knowledge of both the South and of the North. She was raised in the South and she teaches for her profession in the North.

The author comes from a fortunate background in that her family and teachers were benevolent. She notes that because she was often in an all-black atmosphere there were codes of conduct and issues relating to status and to gender that were made clear without direct involvement in racial issues with white. She writes that her parents used corporeal punishment and that her father was typically the one with the responsibility of dispensing the harshest of...