Arnelle

Downing
Date submitted: 10/4/17
ENGW3307
Project 1 Final Draft
CSE
Word Count: 1060
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. 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 one
extreme to the next 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 downplay my intelligence.
Now, when I applied to Northeastern, I knew it lacked a solid 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 foundation of my biology and criminal justice curricula.

The Father
Lets begin with Darwin, the father of evolution. Theres absolutely no way to make it in
a biology major without understanding who he is, what his principles are, and how those
principles provide the basis for almost that we know about the field of biology.
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. 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).
As a black woman living in todays times, the concept that I am a childish,
underdeveloped being moves me to want to hate Darwin. But on the other hand, where would
I be today without Darwin? For it was Darwins utilization of comparative anatomy to support
his hypothesis on evolution and natural selection, that instilled in me a passion to pursue
pathology, the science of disease.

From Comparative Anatomy to the Medical Examiners Office
Comparative anatomy is the comparative study of anatomical structures of different
species originating from a common ancestor in order to understand the effects of evolution.
With a focus on vertebrates, Pierre Belon pioneered Modern comparative anatomy in 1555 by
comparing the similarities in the structures and components of bird and human skeletons.
Hundreds of years later, Darwin revolutionized this field when he added natural selection and
evolution into the understanding of structural similarities and differences (Encyclopdia
Britannica 2017).
To explore this concept, every foundational biology course has incorporated
comparative anatomy into its curriculum. I remember having to dissect a frog, a worm, a mouse
and a cat to compare internal structures. Now for some, this is where their journey with biology
ended. But for me, I absolutely basked in the idea of cutting into a body to explore what was
indeed out of sight and out of mind.
Last summer I finally had that opportunity when I shadowed at the Philadelphia Medical
Examiners Office. A Medical Examiner is a physician specifically trained in death investigation
and autopsy pathology (Melinek and Mitchell 2015). During my 8 hours at the office, I
witnessed 3 autopsies and several laboratory analyses of everything ranging from brains to
aborted babies. It was amazing to me the way one could decipher so much about an individual
and their lifestyle based on a simple autopsy; almost as if Medical Examiners were reincarnated
Darwins and Belons.
Conclusion
When I think back to all my fondest moments as an aspiring scientist/ doctor, they are
all rooted in man whose work deems me, a black woman, as incompetent. Im sure Darwin
never would have thought that he would have influenced a young black girl from Philadelphia
to pursue biology in higher level educationlet alone aspire her to attend medical school in
order to become a forensic pathologist. If he was alive right now, Id say to him, Clearly Mr.
Darwin, the evolutionary path was only in its beginning stages because I am proof of a more
evolved and intellectual people.



 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
Melinek J, Mitchell TJ. Working stiff: two years, 262 bodies, and the making of a medical
examiner. New York: Scribner; 2015.
The Editors of Encyclopdia Britannica. Comparative anatomy. 2016 Sep 7 [accessed
2017 Sep 24]. https://www.britannica.com/science/comparative-anatomy