Guiding questions:
Has the Black/ African-American community truly been afforded equal access to literacy necessary to be successful in a contemporary America?
How is literacy used as a hegemonic tool/ tool of power? By whom? Against whom?
How can we help establish more equality for the Black/ African-American community?
Activity 1: What do you know about Black/ African-American history, culture, people?
Activity 2: Read “Why Slave-Era Barriers to Black Literacy Still Matter“
Activity 3: Read “With COVID-19, The African-American Literacy Crisis Will Get Much Worse”
COVID19-and-African-American-Literacy2Activity 4: Take one of the “impossible” literacy tests given to Black voters in the 1960s. Scroll down until you reach the instructions for the test: Try this one: “Write every other word in this first line and print every third word in same line (original type smaller and first line ended at comma) but capitalize the fifth word that you write.” Take the test that follows–write down your answers on your device or on a piece of paper.
How did you do?
Activity 5: A masterpiece, Black Boy is writer Richard Wright’s autobiography, about life in America during the first half of the 20th century. This selection, “The Library Card,” reveals the frightening experience he underwent in order to access books at the library.
Read “The library card” by Richard Wright.
Activity 6: Post 7
Answer at least 3 of the questions below:
- Has the Black community truly been afforded equal access to literacy necessary to be successful in contemporary America? Reference Richard Wright’s “The Library Card” and any other sources, including your own experience, if you wish.
- How is literacy used as a hegemonic tool/ tool of power? By whom? Against whom? Reference at least 2 of this week’s course materials.
- Discuss your experience of taking one of the literacy tests from Activity 4. Provide examples of questions and your responses.
- How can we help establish more equality for the Black/ African-American community in the US?
- What is the argument in the article titled “With COVID, the African-American Literacy Crisis will get much worse”? Support your answer with evidence from the text, and with your own thoughts on this topic.
