Lessons From Down Under

In Lessons From Down Under: Reflections on Meanings of Literacy and Knowledge From an African-American Female Growing Up in Rural Alabama by Bessie House-Soremekun is about growing up in Alabama during the civil rights movement. House-Soremekun starts by talking about slaves and developing their literacy. She then goes on to describe her upbringing, which consisted of a large extended family. The family was strongly centered around gaining education as well as religion. As I got deeper into the reading I started to realize how much this sounded like my fathers upbringing. My dad was born in Alabama in 1950's and he also faced some similar experiences. House-Soremekun talked about the formal and informal literacies that were displayed during this time. The stories her great-grandmother told was one of the ways that many African-Americans learned due to the terrible education system. There was also a section about the race rules that were institutionalize. The institutionalization of "separate but equal" was a major part of her life. 
Growing up during the 1960's and 1970's was not easy. Being treated as second class citizens and receiving terrible treatment form not only the people in your community but the government as well is not right. In today's society we often take many things for granted. Some people have everything handed to them and never work for  anything and don't realize what it is like to experience this. Having a father that grew up during this time and being constantly reminded about what he went through has mad me appreciate everything I have.

-Takiyah Thomas