The struggle that slaves and free colored people faced in the south to obtain literacy was awesome. They faced the constant threat of persecution, mutilation, and even death in their quest to learn reading and writing. By achieving reading, they were able to obtain their own knowledge by their own means without relying on their masters; the black community was able to transmit ideas amongst themselves without potential lies that have the potential of being leeched in. By achieving writing, they were able to gain liberties that were barred for most slaves, and in extreme cases, some were able to attain freedom. Schooling and teaching slaves to read and write was prevented as much as possible by the majority of slave owners from fear that having too literate slaves would lead to rebellion and an upheaval in the status quo. To repress even freed slaves, schooling and learning was not encouraged.

The importance that literacy was given during the 1800s has permeated society today. Today those that are literate have greater job opportunities and are considered a valuable part of society, while those that are not as literate are thought of as lazy or unintelligent. To this day, students of different races have lower literacy rates than white children. This leads me to believe that we have somehow failed to include all children hailing from various backgrounds in promoting literacy. Perhaps we are not catering to all the problems that children sometimes face with literacy, such as poor home situations. While I realize it is impossible to try to help all students with every single problem they encounter, maybe different teaching techniques would help some students unable to learn from the most common methods used.

What challenges have you faced with obtaining literacy, either reading or writing? Did anyone or anything stand in your way? Has this achievement of literacy changed you in any way for the better or even for the worse?