[NLA] 20th Century’s Greatest Women of Literacy

[Elsa Auerbach]

Tom, Do you know about Septima Clark? She workedwith the folks at Highlander
and the citizenship schools.  Her biography is available through Highlander.

Elsa Auerbach

Thomas Sticht wrote:

> The 20th Century’s Greatest Women of Literacy
>
> I am presently working on a paper by the above title. I currently have
> five women in mind (see below) for their extraordinary contributions to
> adult literacy education in the United States in the last century. I’m
> wondering if list members think there are others I should consider. You
> can write to me off the list at tsticht at aznet.net if you prefer.
> Tom Sticht
>
> FYI: The five women I am writing about now include:
>
> Jane Addams, for her start-up of Hull-House to help many of the hundreds
> of thousands of immigrants who were coming to America, most of them poor
> and undereducated,  adapt to their new lives in the U.S., including the
> provision of English language and literacy education to immigrants; for
> inspiring the founding of over 400 settlement houses at the start of the
> 20th century; and for providing the humanitarian underpinnings of the
> numerous community-based organizations that today provide ESOL,
> citizenship preparation,  and other services to tens of thousands of
> immigrants across the land;
>
> Cora Wilson Stewart, for her start-up of the Moonlight Schools that
> provided literacy education to the white and African-American rural folk
> of Kentucky; for her work in promoting adult literacy education for
> native-born illiterate or undereducated adults across the nation, for
> being the first person to address a major political party convention, the
> Democratic party, in 1920, on behalf of adult literacy education;  and for
> initiating the first national campaign against adult illiteracy;
>
> Wil Lou Gray, for her start-up of literacy campaigns in South Carolina;
> her dedication to the cause of literacy education for African Americans
> demonstrated publicly by  her leading four thousand black South
> Carolinians to the state capitol at Columbia in 1937 to sign the
> statehouse register of voters and validate the political power of their
> newly achieved literacy; for her leadership as head of adult education in
> South Carolina; and for her tireless promotion of the dignity and
> intellectual potential of working-class people.
>
> Ruth Colvin, for her start-up of Literacy Volunteers of America which
> became a national organization with over 300 affiliates offering
> one-on-one tutoring in literacy for both native born and immigrant adults,
> for providing staff development and instructional materials to assist
> local affiliates work effectively with volunteer tutors in their delivery
> of literacy instruction to adults at the most basic beginnings of
> literacy; and for lasting advocacy on behalf of literacy education for
> under served adults across the nation;
>
> Sharon Darling, for her start-up of the National Center for Family
> Literacy (NCFL) and the development of a model of family literacy
> education for thousands of family literacy programs in the U.S. and other
> nations;  for being the second person to speak for adult literacy
> education at a major political party convention, the Republican party, in
> 2000;  and for her advocacy efforts on behalf of the Even Start and Head
> Start legislation providing hundreds of millions of dollars for family
> literacy programs across the nation.
>
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