[Reading-hall-of-fame] Black History Month

[Thomas Sticht]

Greetings all!

February is National Black History Month as proclaimed by President Biden:

“NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of
America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and
the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim February 2023 as National
Black History Month.  I call upon public officials, educators, librarians,
and all the people of the United States to observe this month with relevant
programs, ceremonies, and activities.”

*Three Black Ladies of Literacy for National Literacy Month*

 About a decade and a half ago, in 2009, I  published a book chapter in a
Reading Hall of Fame initiated book in which I discussed the contributions
of historically important persons who have contributed to the education for
literacy development of adults in the United States. Included among these
pioneers were brief stories about three Black women who had devoted their
lives to the improvement of the literacy and lives of African-Americans
from the early days of slavery in the United States through the initiation
of the liberating Civil Rights laws of the early 1960s during the
Presidencies of Kennedy and Johnson.

About a decade later, in 2020, as a member of the  Reading hall of Fame, I
nominated the three pioneer Black women discussed in Sticht (2009)  for
posthumous inclusion in the international Reading Hall of Fame: Harriet A.
Jacobs (1813-1897), Susie King Taylor (1848-1912), and Septima Poinsette
Clark (1898-1987) and they were all three inducted into the RHOF in 2020.

*A Resource for Black History Month February
2023                                                      *

Drawing on the foregoing and other resources, Pamela Cote (2020), of the
Barbara Bush Foundation For Family Literacy,  has produced a study guide
entitled *Three Black Ladies of Literacy-Unit of Study. * Commenting on the
work of these three Black ladies of literacy Cote’s study guide states:  “All
three contributed to the quest of literacy for African Americans,
specifically in the area of adult literacy. ‣ Harriet Jacobs was born a
slave in North Carolina in 1813. In her autobiography, *Incidents in the
Life of a Slave Girl, *she details life in slavery and her daring escape.
Having been taught to read by her owner’s daughter, one story she shares is
of helping another older slave learn to read. Once she obtained her
freedom, she taught former slaves to read and write at Freedmen’s
Schools….. ‣ Susie King Taylor was born a slave in Georgia in 1848. She was
taught to read and write by a freed woman, going to school each day “with
our books wrapped in paper to prevent the police or white persons from
seeing them.” (King, 1902, p.5). She was the first African American teacher
in Georgia and taught children and adults at a Freedmen’s school. …Lastly,
born in 1898 in South Carolina, Septima Poinsette Clark was a teacher and
Civil Rights activist. Known as an innovative teacher, she used “real
world” materials in her teaching and tied her teaching to voting rights.
She helped start Citizenship Schools for Black adults and led the Voter
Registration Project from 1962-1966. She retired in 1970, after having an
enormous impact on voter registration in the south—over a million African
Americans had registered to vote. In 1979, she received the Living Legacy
Award from President Jimmy Carter.”

Cote’s study guide presents more information about each of these women and
offers detailed learning objectives, noting that these objectives are
provided for working with adult learners but that they may be modified for
learners of different ages. The study guide is a valuable resource for use
during National Black History Month and is available online at
https://www.barbarabush.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/BBF_3BW-Plan-1.pdf

References

Reading Hall of Fame (2020) https://www.readinghalloffame.org/

Sticht, T. (2009). The Lamplighters: pioneers of adult literacy education
in the United States. In: Y. Goodman & J. Hoffman (Eds.), Changing
literacies for changing times: an historical perspective on the future of
reading research, public policy, & classroom practices (pp. 108-123).
Routledge.

Note: Also see Cote. P. (2021) Equity in literacy: Highlighting three black
women of literacy COABE Journal. Reference online at: . .
https://www.proquest.com/openview/5360fa00d3e7b2a99edb673a4a1e6d55/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=2042767

An additional resource for this month is available online at
http://www.oerinadulted.org/stichtarticles.htm

Scroll down to find: 2/7/2017 February is Black History Month: Ambrose
Caliver and Freedom’s People

Tom Sticht
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