Lessons From Down Under: Reflections on Meanings of Literacy and Knowledge From an African-American Female Growing Up in Rural Alabama by Bessie House-Soremekun

Before reading this excerpt, I was informed that most of the events that took place in the Civil Rights movement happened in Alabama, but it completely slipped my memory. Besides that fact, the mention of there being formal and informal realms of Southern Society is what mainly caught my attention. Just like in other essays and stories that we have read thus far in my english composition class, I have gained knowledge on how many aspects of literacy there are. As we all have learned, formal literacy is acquired through teaching and educational activities, but informal literacy has a wide range of ways to be acquired. Dr. House-Soremekun, as she would prefer to be referred to as, spoke of how her grandmother was never called Ms. or Mrs. by the white people that she took care of. When Bessie brought this to her grandmother's attention she stated that it was just how whites were taught growing up. Her grandmother needed this type of informal literacy living in the 1800's and then through the time of the Civil Rights movement. If this form of literacy was not obtained by Bessie's grandmother, it could have resulted in her death by the whites. I understood the whites feeling of superiority over African-Americans, but what I didn't understand is why someone that was younger than her grandmother, whether they were black or white, were not taught to treat their elders with respect? It upset me to hear that a teenager was calling a senior citizen by her first name, instead of with a title in front of it. I just believe that no matter what, respect for your elders should be something taught to children of all races, ethnicities, and cultures and that discrimination and prejudice should be put aside when it comes to that. I also question why whenever blacks obtain something valuable, that their congratulation consists involves their race. Why is it that blacks can never be congratulated on their hard work or their level of knowledge obtained, without someone stating "not many black people can get this far?" There are times when I feel that we will never be considered equal to the white man, no matter how many degrees or how much effort we as black people put in to prove that race and skin color should not be a factor in equality.