DANIEL MCCLOUD

I recently had a conversation with a friend about children and their ability to dream and aspire to become what they want to be when they grow up. We both agreed that to dream and aspire, the best-case scenario is to see it first. Later that night, I reflected on my childhood growing up in rural Miccosukee, Fla. By all accounts, my family was considered poor, although we never felt that way because all our neighbors and relatives lived similarly to us. We lived by our means and worked hard for everything.

In terms of dreaming of what I would ultimately become, I lived more than 20 miles from the cities of Tallahassee and Monticello — so all we saw farmland and the animals that we raised for food. And while the Florida pines and red clay were beautiful to behold, they gave little in foreseeing my future. Nevertheless, I dreamed, not through what I saw every day but what I read. My school’s library allowed me to dream and aspire until I could see it come true. That, with the support and encouragement of my family, was all that I needed.

Pathway to dreams

Education and reading have always been a pathway to dreams and freedom for Blacks in this country, and it was emphasized in my home. Newly freed Blacks weren’t the only ones who knew this, and as a result, those seeking to destroy those dreams and suppress freedoms sought to prevent Blacks from having access to these most basic rights and realizing their dreams.

American history tells us that between 1740 and 1867, anti-literacy laws prohibited enslaved — and sometimes free — Black Americans from learning to read or write. Indeed, systematic barriers were put in place to ensure that illiteracy remained an invisible shackle to millions of the formally enslaved. Examples include The Alabama Slave Code of 1833:

“Any person who shall attempt to teach any free person of color, or slave, to spell, read or write, shall upon conviction thereof by indictment, be fined in a sum of not less than two hundred fifty dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars.”

Other anti-literacy laws included the following 1829 Georgia law:

“And be it further enacted, That if any slave, negro, or free person of colour, or any white person, shall teach any other slave, negro, or free person of colour, to read or write either written or printed characters, the said free person of colour or slave shall be punished by fine and whipping, or fine or whipping at the discretion of the court; and if a white person so offending, he, she, or they shall be punished with a fine, not exceeding five hundred dollars, and imprisonment in the common jail at the discretion of the court before whom said offender is tried.”

Separate is not equal

The historical significance and the measures that were taken in these states cannot be ignored. Laws preventing Black literacy were commonplace, and the long-term effects have led to educational barriers to this day. Despite the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court “separate is not equal” decision, which sought to end school segregation in public schools, racial inequality in education remained. As a result, research now tells us that African American students remain more than twice as likely to attend disproportionately underfunded school districts and are three times more likely to attend chronically underfunded districts (Albert Shank Institute, 2024). In addition, according to the KIDS COUNT Data Center, 84% of Black students do not read at a fourth-grade proficiency level.

Solutions to this crisis include targeted awareness campaigns that highlight the issue, as well as advocacy and legislative initiatives aimed at addressing the ongoing educational inequities in our schools. Other solutions may include grassroots initiatives that utilize libraries, community centers, and churches to promote literacy. In addition, more emphasis should be placed on Adult Literacy, including the promotion of GED programs.

More importantly, there must first be an acknowledgment that a problem exists. In addition, there must always be a recognition that, aside from voting, perhaps there is no greater weapon in the fight for social justice than reading or literacy.

And no greater tool for dreaming.