Five Major Barriers Facing Black Women Readers

By Joyce Woodard

Reflecting on reading culture on campus, I would identify the following as the five major barriers facing Black women readers: A lack of representation, not enough spaces, obligation, inadequate support, and excessive responsibilities.

Representation: The lack of representation within reading material at PWIs serves as one of the many barriers Black women readers face. Feeling represented in the material you are reading is important, and at PWIs, if you aren’t in a class specifically related to African American literature, chances are you won’t see that representation.

Space: In addition to a lack of representation, there are few spaces specifically tailored to Black women readers to share their perspectives on reading, which makes the ones that are available so important. ‘Sistuhs Be Reading’ is a group organized by Dr. Cindy Reed at SIUE that provides a space for Black women readers, but apart from that, there isn’t another space like that.

Obligation: The spaces dedicated to African American literature are typically classes, which then makes reading feel like an obligation. Aside from feeling obligated to read material for their grade, students may not find the material interesting. The reading for those classes can sometimes be heavily related to slavery or Black struggles in general, and that’s not always something Black women readers want to read for fun.

Support: Without more support from the university, Black women readers will remain less inclined to read outside of class. Without support or funding from the university, it is hard to create communities catered to Black women readers, which is why there aren’t many.

Responsibilities: While those barriers play a major role in the way Black women read on campus, another barrier is simply their schedule. Finding time for reading outside of class, work, and other obligations can be difficult, making reading less of a priority.

Related: 

• Notes on Black Readers & Digital Culture

Five Major Barriers Facing Black Men Readers

By Albert Smith

Reflecting on reading culture on campus, I would identify the following as the five major barriers facing Black men readers.

A lack of engaging conversations around reading. This is a problem because Black men readers can’t convey their thoughts and opinions in spaces where their testimony isn’t valued or actively sought out.

An absence of available time. Not having enough time to engage in reading outside of assigned coursework prevents many Black men readers from doing more reading for recreational purposes.

Choosing majors too quickly. The problem of Black men identifying their primary area of study prematurely reflects in their reading habits. As coursework was identified for what they read the most, this stands as a problem for many readers as not finding interest in their major led to them reading less. 

Lack of models. Without more Black representation within the classroom and educational spaces Black men will continue to be at the mercy of these institutions and how they identify what literature Black men are interested in and how they will engage with that reading.

Absence of spaces to read. Limited spaces that encourage learning and studying but not reading specifically serves as a barrier. SIUE offers a ton of dynamic spaces that foster an environment for studying (think of the study rooms in the Student Success Center), but none of these spaces include any reading materials or amenities that would encourage reading.

Related: 

• Notes on Black Readers & Digital Culture

Structures and Black Men Readers

By Albert Smith 

Thinking structurally about Black men as readers requires evaluating their relationship to schools, libraries, classrooms, and other institutions that shape reading development.

Reading habits and attitudes are exclusive to individuals who are products of institutions that have made efforts to build upon reading to a greater extent than solely an academic necessity. Course curriculums at SIUE can shape what people encounter and experience. By enhancing the curriculum to reflect a need in identifying reading interests, SIUE could fundamentally change the reading habits and attitudes of its students.

For example, the SIUE John Martinson Honors Program has classes and proseminars that strategically follow a “Question, Patterns, and Problems” format. The goal of this format is to have students apply their learning and experiences to their studies and phenomena outside of the classroom. This program plays a vital role in the development and attitudes of its students. Ultimately, many Black men are at the mercy of these institutions as to whether programs like these are viewed as necessary.

Thinking structurally about Black men as readers allows us to evaluate the experiences of black men within the structures that have produced their habits and attitudes.

Related: 

• Notes on Black Readers & Digital Culture

Two Students Prefer Physical Books

By Albert Smith 

With digital culture impacting the ways that we engage with and communicate about reading, Black men readers preferred traditional physical books.

One of the problems that fourth-year student, Caleb Spells, noted was that digital culture causes too many distractions from reading and that many digital apps are created to distract users as much as possible. Student Javan Williams said “Feeling the realness of the book, the thickness of it, really makes it feel like you’re learning more; your mind retains more when you’re reading a physical book than watching a screen.” Both students said that the biggest benefit of digital reading is that it allows for easier access to books and information.

The desire to engage with literature physically as opposed to digitally was particularly interesting. With the rise of digital platforms, I expected students to be more receptive to literature digitally, but at least these two students were very adamant about digital reading being an alternative to physical reading. This speaks to the preferred ways of reading and learning for Black men.

Despite digital culture impacting how we receive and seek information, it seems that more traditional styles are preferred by Black men readers.

Related: 

• Notes on Black Readers & Digital Culture

How Kerry James Marshall Foreshadowed His Phillis Wheatley Portrait

In the lower left corner of Kerry James Marshall’s Scipio Moorhead, Portrait of Himself, 1776 (2007), we see a sketch of Phillis Wheatley. Now, given the release of the Black Heritage Series Phillis Wheatley stamp derived from Marshall’s 2022 image, that earlier sketch reads like foreshadowing.

Within the context of Marshall’s imagined portrait of Moorhead, the sketch of Wheatley appears to be drawn by Moorhead himself. The widely distributed frontispiece of Wheatley is thought to be based on a drawing attributed to Moorhead, and in that familiar image we see her in profile. The sketch inside Scipio Moorhead, Portrait of Himself, 1776, however, shows Wheatley facing forward.

Fifteen years after placing Wheatley as a background sketch, Marshall moved her to the foreground in his Phillis Wheatley-Peters (1753 – 1784) African Poet in America (2022). In this later rendering, Wheatley appears slightly older than in the 1773 engraving, and her right hand, rather than her left, rests against her face. Just as important, the woman pictured looks more assertive and self-possessed than in the widely circulated profile image of Wheatley.

It is also worth noting that Marshall dates his imagined portrait of Moorhead to 1776, three years after the portrait he supposedly created of Wheatley and after she gained her freedom following the publication of Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. In the imaginative world Marshall constructs, perhaps Wheatley returned for another portrait, this time as a free woman. 

Related:

• Phillis Wheatley, Scipio Moorhead, and Amiri Baraka

• Wheatley, Moorhead, Marshall, and Intersections of Art & Poetry

College and the Reading Lives of Black Women

By Joyce Woodard

In my conversations with students, I’ve noticed that college changes how Black women read in different ways: for some, it has motivated them to read more, while for others, it has had the opposite effect.

“My relationship with reading has become more of a task, but it has actually made me want to read more,” first-year student Kennedy Taylor said. For other students like Vontaysha McClendon, college has deepened her interest in reading and expanded her knowledge on certain topics. Similarly to Taylor, for criminal justice major, Milo Smith, reading has become more about “...what’s required and less for leisure.”

The differences in their responses demonstrate that college doesn’t affect Black women readers in just one way, and that a large part of it is related to motivation and interest. Motivation for reading can be affected by busy schedules, required reading material, and class structures.

These factors are important to consider when seeking ways to increase Black women readers’ engagement and involvement with reading outside of class.

Related: 

• Notes on Black Readers & Digital Culture

Phillis Wheatley, Scipio Moorhead, and Amiri Baraka

After writing about the Phillis Wheatley stamp based on Kerry James Marshall's drawing, which invokes a drawing attributed to Scipio Moorhead, I thought about Wheatley’s poem “To S. M. A Young African Painter, On Seeing His Works” (1773), which is regularly described as one of the earliest known poems by an African American dedicated to an African-descended visual artist.

So many artistic contributions by African Americans from the eighteenth century have been lost to history that we must necessarily refer to Wheatley’s poem as one of the first known or only surviving tributes. But it is not difficult to imagine other Black people, even those preceding Wheatley, who wrote about, painted, sculpted, and sang about the beauty and wonders of Black creative production.

We might celebrate Wheatley’s tribute to Moorhead while at the same time expressing regret that we do not have more information about the painter. The only surviving evidence of Moorhead’s artwork is the frontispiece portrait of Wheatley appearing in Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773). That image, produced in London, is thought to be based on a drawing attributed to Moorhead.

In 2002, I had a chance to talk to Amiri Baraka about my experiences listening to recordings of jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler. Baraka informed me that what I was hearing were “ruins” or “rumors” of Ayler’s real sound. “What you heard were rumors. Rumors of what Albert sounded like live,” he said. “The recordings couldn’t capture his sound, his actual sound. So what you heard were ruins of his real sound.”

Following Baraka, Wheatley’s poem and the frontispiece for her book serve as pleasant and invaluable rumors of what Scipio Moorhead’s artwork really looked like.

Related:

• Wheatley, Moorhead, Marshall, and Intersections of Art & Poetry

• How Kerry James Marshall Foreshadowed His Phillis Wheatley Portrait

Book Notes

• Writing Black Panther: Ta-Nehisi Coates and Representation Struggles (2026) 

• One Black Writer at a Time: How Literary Coverage Shapes Reception (2026), with Kenton Rambsy

• The Convergence: When Collegiate Black Men Meet African American Literary Studies (2026)

• Bad Men: Creative Touchstones of Black Writers (2020)  

• The Black Arts Enterprise (2011)