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<P>Dear Debbie! what an eloquent response to the dialogue! Your notes are EXACTLY the tone I hope will characterize the dialogue at COABE! As I have noted in my e mails, I lived most of my life in Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia. It was in Atlanta that I discovered and fell in love with adult basic education, leading me to dedicate my life to the field. My teachers in the Civil Rights and community organizing movements were Southerners - both AFrican American and white - with incredible knowledge and sensitivities about the history of struggles around issues of race and social justice. These long term footsoldiers in the struggle for racial, economic and social justice taught me about the long standing efforts across the South - from the days before the War Between the States and beyond - who raised the banner of social justice . As I recently told a class of GED learners with whom I was discussing my Civil Rights experiences - the Civil Rights movement began long before the 60's - it clearly had its roots in the South among those Africans brought here in Slavery who vowed that some day they would indeed be free in this country that speaks so much of freedom - and indeed among those white Americans who - even in those days - recognized the evil contradiction of slavery in the newly formed United States..</P>
<P>I look forward to continuing this dialogue, and raising the issues as I believe we must, in order to move towards a truly just society. Thanks again for your wonderful remarks.</P>
<P>Sally Gabb<BR></P></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>From: Dwyoho@aol.com
<DIV></DIV>>Reply-To: nla@lists.literacytent.org
<DIV></DIV>>To: nla@lists.literacytent.org
<DIV></DIV>>Subject: [NLA] COABE Plantation Tour (long)
<DIV></DIV>>Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2002 16:15:08 EST
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>You might not notice until the very end, so I'll draw attention at the top to
<DIV></DIV>>the fact that my address is in South Carolina. A friend of mine in NY, who
<DIV></DIV>>is on this list, called me this morning to alert me to the "firestorm"
<DIV></DIV>>brewing on the NLA list about the plantation tour. I searched the archives
<DIV></DIV>>to catch up on the discussion, and now I'd like to add my two cents. I shall
<DIV></DIV>>do my best to relate my remarks to policy and advocacy for the AELS system.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Our state is without a doubt a textbook case of the world's worse public
<DIV></DIV>>relations and national/international image. Repeatedly we draw negative
<DIV></DIV>>headlines (an understatement.), and we do it to ourselves. I'll refrain
<DIV></DIV>>from making a list, beginning with Susan Smith and ending with the
<DIV></DIV>>Confederate flag. Enough said.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>The fiasco of the COABE brochure is the latest. If I were a reporter, I'd
<DIV></DIV>>pick up on this story too. In fact, it would be easy to call our local tv
<DIV></DIV>>station and speak with a few I know on a first-name basis. Actually, I might
<DIV></DIV>>do just that, but first I'd appreciate feedback from this list.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>COABE is right to cancel the tour. Those who raised the issue on this list
<DIV></DIV>>are right. I have visited Boone Hall more than once, as well as many other
<DIV></DIV>>plantations. I am not African-American, but the specter of slavery surely
<DIV></DIV>>haunts every square inch. I'm glad these places are maintained as testimony,
<DIV></DIV>>in the same way that I"m glad there is a Holocaust museum in Washington.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>One of our local celebrities, Dr. Walter Edgar, a distinguished historian at
<DIV></DIV>>the University of South Carolina, published a definitive history of the state
<DIV></DIV>>a few years ago. In his book "South Carolina: A History", he documents the
<DIV></DIV>>careful campaign in the South following Reconstruction to romanticize the
<DIV></DIV>>ante-bellum period. Margaret Mitchell's tome, publised in the late 30's, was
<DIV></DIV>>the evitable expression of a sucessful movement that eventually deified
<DIV></DIV>>Robert E Lee, placed monuments on the town square of every small southern
<DIV></DIV>>town, and raised the Confederate Naval Jack over the SC statehouse, and into
<DIV></DIV>>the design of other state flags as well. Meanwhile, among bonafide
<DIV></DIV>>historians, country "rednecks", the still-in-existence Old South gentry, and
<DIV></DIV>>politically-aware citizens of every stripe, the debate continues to rage
<DIV></DIV>>about every issue related to the South's history, from the Three Fifths
<DIV></DIV>>Compromise in the US Constitution to Jim Crow laws to naming streets and
<DIV></DIV>>holidays after Martin Luther King. SC still does not observe Memorial Day in
<DIV></DIV>>its public schools because it was originally created to honor the North's
<DIV></DIV>>Civil War dead, nor is President's Day a state holiday because it relates to
<DIV></DIV>>Honest Abe.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>But enough from the history teacher. Nor will I add the pages I could write
<DIV></DIV>>about why I love it here, and adopted SC as my home state after traveling the
<DIV></DIV>>world as an Air Force brat. What does this have to do with literacy and
<DIV></DIV>>adult ed?
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Plenty. We all know that the need for adult literacy and lifelong learning
<DIV></DIV>>is greatest in the South, which continues to crucify itself with a school
<DIV></DIV>>system that is also the product of a painful history. Like Alabama, we have
<DIV></DIV>>counties where more than 50% of all adult residents haven't finished hifgh
<DIV></DIV>>school.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>We also have a political climate where all human service needs, from
<DIV></DIV>>education to mental health, get short shrift. After living here 30 years, I
<DIV></DIV>>suspect what is needed is more of the cold light of scrutiny from the
<DIV></DIV>>outside. That has happened on this list. The promotion of a national
<DIV></DIV>>conference focused the attention of some movers and shakers on a situation
<DIV></DIV>>that is representative of the problem. I hope, hope, hope, that COABE will
<DIV></DIV>>take the next step beyond cancelling the tour to make the Charleston
<DIV></DIV>>Visitor's Bureau, the Boone Hall folks, the SC Chamber of Commerce, and my
<DIV></DIV>>colleagues here who serve on the local conference committee fully aware of
<DIV></DIV>>the pain caused by this kind of promotionable crap, portraying planatation
<DIV></DIV>>life as having a "charm all its own". If I can help, I just need some
<DIV></DIV>>encouragement. Everybody here knows that I'm "not from around here" anyway,
<DIV></DIV>>even after 30 years.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Believe me, Rhett Butler's post-Reconstruction Public Relations Firm is still
<DIV></DIV>>hard at work, keeping the "memory" of Tara alive and well in a million
<DIV></DIV>>insidious ways. COABE can strike a real blow to raise the state's collective
<DIV></DIV>>consciousness if it so chooses.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
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<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Deborah W. Yoho
<DIV></DIV>>Executive Director, Greater Columbia Literacy Council
<DIV></DIV>>Co-Moderator, NIFL-Health Discussion Group
<DIV></DIV>>921 Woodrow Street
<DIV></DIV>>Columbia, SC 29205
<DIV></DIV>>803-765-2555 Fax: 803-799-8417 dwyoho@aol.com
<DIV></DIV>>Agency email: litcola@mail.com
<DIV></DIV></div><br clear=all><hr>MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: <a href='http://g.msn.com/1HM105401/15'>Click Here</a><br></html>
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