Notes from an African American Woman Who Was Afraid to Mix
By Deborah Husbands
I remember that on my first day at Basement Recordings' Studio, I sat in the basement in awe of all the electronic equipment used in the music industry. I had been impressed by the literature on Basement Recordings and the work that Basement Recordings was doing in the community. Therefore, I looked forward to the opportunity to parlay my interest in music to technology and attended my first lecture with high expectations. I was engrossed in the lecture until the instructor asked me a technical type question. The more questions I was asked the more uncomfortable I became. My mouth filled with cotton and there was an ache in the pit of my stomach. Eventually I found myself looking for the exits. I could not believe how fearful I had become in spite of the fact that I know intellectually that becoming technologically literate is not only the wave of our future, but our survival.
I believe there is an historical basis as to why African Americans fear technology and are reluctant to get involved with it. This fear especially grips black women. Men given exposure to something new will try to conquer it; women will often run. Writing for Sisters' Place gave me the opportunity to dwell into my own past and attempt to sift out where all my fear was coming from, share my thoughts with others and perhaps come up with suggestions as to how to ally some of the fear.
I am an African American woman who was born approximately 90 years after Emancipation Proclamation. I am a product of both the 50's and the 60's. I lived for a time in Louisiana during the Jim Crow era. According to law and custom of the era, I sat in the back of buses, ate at segregated lunch counters, drank warm water from fountains marked colored only and went to a colored high school. (African Americans were called colored in the 50's.) Courses in science and advanced mathematics were nonexistent in the colored high schools of the south. They saw little reason to expose black Americans to the sciences as those doors were shut tight.
Racism was pervasive in the north as well. African American youth were systematically denied the higher education required to gain entry into those fields requiring math and science background. When I returned to New York in the 1960's, I attended high school in the Bronx. Mathematics and science were considered college preparatory courses and in general were not offered to black students. I was told by my guidance counselor that I did not need an academic diploma, as I was a women who would only get married and have children.
In the 60's Black Americans fought to be integrated into the mainstream. Doors that were previously closed began to crack and a few of us slipped through. Unlike my parents, I was able to acquire a formal education. Today, I am an adult literacy teacher. As I sit frozen in front of an 8-bus console, I understand how my students must feel frozen at the letter "A" of the alphabet. Adult learners don't have a lot of time to start from kindergarten and work their way up, however, adult educators who are sensitive to the backgrounds of their student's, help them to compensate for lost time. It seems to make more sense to my students when they see the whole first and then tackle the intricate parts later.
As an adult learner who is female and trying to tackle something quite alien to me, it would be helpful to visualize recording in it entirety first before attempting to go into details. In addition to the quest speakers, videos demonstrating recording sessions would be extremely helpful.
Basement Recordings is politically correct. It exposes men and women: young and old to technology they might not have otherwise been exposed to it. This is beautiful. Now pass the Alka Seltzer.
Deborah is
an adult literacy teacher.
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