" The desire for literacy has characterized the culture of African Americans since their arrival here under the myriad brutalities of slavery."
- Dyson ( 1973, p. 31)
In Lessons From Down Under: Reflections on Meanings of Literacy and Knowledge From an African-American Female Growing Up in Rural Alabama author Bessie House- Soremekum discusses growing up in Alabama onthe cupse of the Civil Rights Movement.She diiscusses the Civil Rights Movement and the start of it all, the refusal to sit at the back of the bus by Rosa Parks in Montgomery, Alambama. Soremekum states that African Americans have been degraded and surpressed by Whites since the brinks of slavery. The oppression of Blacks almost appears to be inevitable. Soremekum alludes to her own life and tells of the time in the fourth grade when a teacher suggested that she be promoted to a higher grade. Soremekum's mother refuses the offer because she feels that her child should stay in a class setting with individuals and futhermore African American children who are on her level. She feels that by promoting her child, Bessie House-Soremekum would have been deprived of natural emotional and intellectual development.Soremekum also discusses formal and informal literacy by alluding to the way her grandmother was addressed by Whites. She stated that while she held Whites to a degree of respect and formality while, whites simply addressed her grandmother as Bessie with no such Mrs., or Ms. before her name. Soremekum suggests that it all boils down to knowledge and knowing. Some individuals are knowledgeable about the events around them but, do not act on them. While knowing of a situation, futhermore a situation pertaining to you as an individual makes you want to act on it. Soremekum came from a middle class family where education was advocated for. Her grandmother told her stories of the bouts African Americans have overcome to get to this point in life. I can relate to Soremekum. In the ninth grade, I was told by my Honors english teacher that I did not belong in a Honors course and that I belonged in a core class. Needless to say, her reasoning behind advising me to do such was not my scholastic ability but, rather my complexion. I was the sole minority in the class. I did not give up or give into the stereotype being thrown at me by my teacher. I did my best in my class to pass. So, I fully believe in Soremekum's story and her actions taken to become a professor and writer. But, do I think African Americans are no longer oppressed. NO! I think like Soremekum stated- it is the difference between being knowledgeable and knowing and the choose of whether or not to stand up and advocate for the rights of African Americans.
- Jacquelyn D. Patterson
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