Deborah Brandt Articles

"Accumulating Literacy" and "Sponsers of Literacy" by Deborah Brandt are based on hundreds of interviews in which people all over the United States discuss their memories of learning to read and write. These articles are interesting because they give us a glimpse into the lives of real people from all walks of life. We meet people like the "May Family" and "Charles Randolph" (1948) who show us how literacies accumulate through the generations. "Raymond Branch and Dora Lopez (1969) show us the role sponsers of literacy play in the lives of two people from diverse backgrounds. Brandt talks about how literacices 'pile up' and 'spread out'. Literacies pile up because old ones linger while new forms appear and they coexist in the present. What Brandt talks about how literacies have 'spread out', I belive she is refering about the evolution of America's economy over the past century. Americans has moved from an agricultural nation to an industrial nation to the service and iformation age. Many of the interview reflect we are now living in the Age of Information where literacy is vital in getting a job. The "May Family" prove many of Brandt's ideals to be true. "Genna May", and her recollections show a form of literacy characteristic of her time period. "Genna" was the daughter of immigrants, she lived on a farm, and spoke no English. She talks about boarding in order to receive her education. Learning to write marked the end of her education and she talks about having little reason to write. Her grandson "Sam May" (1925) was raised in a literacy of 'gentility and upward mobility'. He mentions the social stigma that existed between correctness of speech and 'good breeding'. "Sam" reminisces about the occasional Sunday dinner with the pastor where he was expected to speak properly. "Sam's" account lends truth to the claim that an illiterate person was anti social or immoral. Literacy had begun as an 'avenue to morality' early in history. Now people equate literacy to morality itself. Another interesting part of "Sam's" interview is when he talks about how raido and television influenced writing and male literacy learning during WWII. The "Charles Randolph" interview says alot about biblic and civic forms of literacy."Charles" is a southerner, son of a preecher, and an African American. He remembers adopting his fathers methods in reading, writing, and thinking.