Lessons From Down Under: Reflections on Meanings of Literacy and Knowlege from an African-American Fmale Growing up in Rural Alabama

Bessie House-Soremekun talks of the different forms of literacy that she encountered growing up in rural Alabama. House- Soremekun grew up in a small town called Lanett, Alabama where a majority of the citizens were African American and very religious. Growing up in the Civil Rights Movement, she saw how blacks were made to feel inferior to whites. Her family valued education and informed her of how important it was that she become a well educated woman. This is what she called formal literacy (school literacy). This provided her many advantages as she got older and wanted to further her education. However, there were informal forms of literacy as well. Oral tradition has been a preferred prctice of blacks since they came to this ocuntry as slaves. She recieved several examples of this such as hearing her preacher preach, speeches by Marin Luther King, jr., and hearing her grandmother, also named Besie, tell her stories. There were many rules, spoken and unspoken, that took place in Alabama. The written rules being Jim Crow Laws that supported the separate but equal clause. Unwritten rules were name salutations. Whites were referred to as Mr. or Mrs., while blacks were either called by their name or something derogatory such as "boy." Blacks were not given the same respect as whites and it was a way of life that never was to be quesioned. Many of these rule bothered Bessie as she swore to obtain the highest academic degree possible: a Ph.D. After obtaining this degree, she saw that there were still some rules that whites stll wantes to exercise as they tried to classify her only as a part of her race and not the human race. In doing so, she is now a professor at Kent State University in the Political Science Deparment. She has also written  three books as they pertain to subjects that mainly impact the African American race.

 I thought the aticle was very good. Alabama, during the Civil Rights Movement, had many, if not the most, racial tension out of  any state in the south. Being an African American woman in these times, it is amazing that she was able to succeed and accomplish as much as she did. Blacks had many limitations during these times and used other outlets as a way to rebel against the racism that they were faced with. Bessie has been very successful and has used her success as an outlet to give the world knowledge. This knowledge being about african Americans and their struggles as well as their history that has led them to where they are today.