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“ OR Children Are Severely Behind in Reading OR The Pandemic Hurt These Students The Most from the NYT
Activity 3: 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.
Activity 6: Read and/ or listen to “The Library Card” by Richard Wright.
Activity 7: Contribute to Conversation 7.
Optional: on Malcolm X. Born on May 19, 1925, Malcolm X was one of the most articulate and powerful leaders of black America during the 1960s. Here is a link to “Learning to Read,” in which he describes his self-education, and a video about Malcolm X.
