Feminist Praxis, Online Teaching, and the
Urban Campus
by Cherie Ann Turpin
When Johnnetta B. Cole and Beverly Guy- Sheftall wrote Gender Talk:
The Struggle for Women's Equality in African American Communities,
their work was clearly inspired by the foundation set in place through
the work of earlier Black feminist scholars and teachers who sought to
rewrite and rethink the way in which Black women approached the ideas
of community and leadership. Rather than approach the task of teaching
young people as outsiders, Cole and Guy-Sheftall assert a need for us
to begin with our own transformation:
The sixties slogan "Each One Teach One" is as relevant today as it was
during the civil rights and Black Power movements. Our first task then
is to change our own behaviors. As we evolve, those around us will notice
and respond to the changes. There will be questions, confusion, criticism,
and resistance. Many will claim that they would like to change, but simply
"can't." We can encourage them, we can teach by example, and we can model
the behavior that will create positive change. (220)
In order to "teach by example" and to "evolve," we who consider our presence
in the classroom to somehow reflect a feminist consciousness, especially
within the context of an urban, majority people of- color classroom, must
seek out and develop strategies of teaching that demonstrate transformation
from being agents of racist, sexist, and classist oppression to becoming
agents of innovation, enfranchisement, and egalitarianism.
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