The Shamrocks of Literacy in America

Tom Sticht - On St. Patrick's day it is customary to decorate with green shamrocks, like Rosetta Stone Languages three leaf clovers. Some think the tradition of using a three leaf shamrock to celebrate St. Patrick's day symbolizes the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the Christian faith.But others think it refers to the Celtic Goddess Brigit (pronounced Breet), of whom it is said that wherever she walked small flowers and shamrocks appeared.Brigit was thought of as a tripartite Sun goddess: Brigit the Fire of the Hearth, goddess of family, Brigit the Fire of the Forge, goddess of the crafts and a goddess who was concerned with law and justice, and Brigit the Fire of Inspiration, the goddess of poetry and cultural learning. In this latter image she was even esteemed as the patron deity of language, and was believed to have inspired the alphabet.On this St. Patricks day, occurring in the midst of Womens History month, in place of the three-part Goddess Brigit, a shamrock of three literacy teachers comes to mind. These are three women of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries who have served to bring the Fire of Inspiration, through the mastery of the alphabet to tens of thousands of AmericansThe 19th Century: Suzie (Baker) King Taylor (1848-unknown)When St. Patrick was first brought to Ireland, he came as a slave. Only Rosetta Stone Cheap later did he become a free man. In the mid-19th century, Susie (Baker) King Taylor was born a slave in Savannah, Georgia in 1848. She was raised by her grandmother who sent her and one of her brothers to the home of a free women to learn to read and write, even though it was against the law for slaves to learn to read and write. As she explained in her 1902 book, We went every day with our books wrapped in paper to prevent the police or white persons from seeing them. (Taylor in Lerner, 1972)During the Civil War the Union Army initiated the practice of enlisting freed African-Americans, many of whom were illiterate. In response to these needs, many officers initiated programs of education for the former slaves. One of the people engaged in teaching soldiers to read and write was Susie King Taylor. Describing something of the conditions under which she worked, Taylor said,Outside of the Fort were many skulls lying about; I have often moved them one side out of the path.The comrades and I would have wondered a bit as to which side of the war the men fought on, some said they were the skulls of our boys; some said they were the enemies; but as there was no definite way to know, it was never decided which could lay claim to them. They were a gruesome sight, those fleshless heads and grinning jaws, but by this time I had become used to worse things and did not feel as I would have earlier in my camp life. -(Taylor in Lerner, 1972)According to Taylor, I taught a great many of the comrades in Company E to read and write when they were off duty, nearly all were anxious to learn. My husband taught some also when it was convenient for him. I was very happy to know my efforts were successful in camp also very grateful for the appreciation of my services. I gave my services willingly for four years and three months without receiving a dollar. (Taylor in Lerner,1972)The 20th Century: Septima Poinsette Clark (1898-1987)Septima Poinsette Clark has been called the Queen Mother of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. She was an innovator in teaching adult reading and Rosetta Stone German writing in the civil rights movement of the United States. On January 7, 1957, Clark and her teachers started the first Citizenship School serving adult African-Americans on Johns Island in South Carolina. Clark (1962) recalled that when the teachers asked the students what they wanted to learn, the answer was that, First, they wanted to learn how to write their names. That was a matter of pride as well as practical need. (p. 147).In teaching students to write their names Clark instructed teachers to carve students names into cardboard. Then, according to Clark (1962), What the student does is trace with his pencil over and over his signature until he gets the feel of writing his name. I suppose his fingers memorize it by doing it over and over; he gets into the habit by repeating the tracing time after time. (p.148). She went on to say, And perhaps the single greatest thing it accomplishes is the enabling of a man to raise his head a little higher; knowing how to sign their names, many of those men and women told me after they had learned, made them FEEL different. Suddenly they had become a part of the community; they were on their way toward first-class citizenship. (p. 149).Working with Dr. Martin Luther Steelers Jerseys King at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference Clark took the simple adult literacy educators method for teaching adults to write their names and eventually trained 10,000 teachers to teach literacy so that African-Americans could gain the vote. Altogether, the Citizenship Schools got nearly 700,000 African-American adults registered to vote in the South, providing political muscle to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s!The 21st Century: Ruth J. Colvin (1916-present)Ruth J. Colvin, started her work near the middle of the 20th century in1962 when she started a project which eventually became Literacy Volunteers of America (LVA). She has continued her work into the 21st century and continues into her ninth decade of life. In 2006 she became the first adult literacy educator ever to receive the Medal of Freedom from the President of the United States.Literacy Volunteers of America became a national organization with over 400 affiliates and thousands of tutors offering one-on-one tutoring and small group instruction in literacy for both native born and immigrant adults. At the beginning of the 21st century, LVA merged with Laubach Literacy to form the worlds largest adult literacy education organization, ProLiteracy Worldwide.In her book, A Way With Words, Colvin provides a modern-day version of the Goddess Brigit as the Fire of Inspiration and reminds adult literacy educators everywhere that:We are responsible for own lives. We are stewards of our time, our talents, our resources. Each of us has the same 24 hours each day. We are responsible for how we use those 24 hours. Each of us has talents-different to be sure.We msut use and develop our talents, or, like unused muscles, thell wither away. Each of us has resources. Some have more, some less but each of us is responsible for what is done with these resources. Live life to the fullest physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually. Know that you grow as you share your time, talents, and treasures.Here, then, is a shamrock for St. Patricks day: three outstanding ladies of literacy whos work spans three centuries in the history of America. But today the struggle goes on. The National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) of 2003 showed that million of adults are in need of basic literacy.Fortunately, the purple mountains and fruited plains across the Nation are full of shamrocks who continue the work of the Goddess Brigit and continue to inspire adult learners and lead them into the world of literacy and cultural learning.