African American Read-In | College of Education (2024)

FAQs

What is the theme of the African American read in 2024? ›

Watch this space for information about the 2025 AARI events, coming soon. The 2024 theme is BLACK ECOLOGIES: We will read environmental literature by Black writers, exploring a range of engagements with the natural world, from wilderness to environmental justice and climate change.

"The National African American Read-In is a groundbreaking effort to encourage communities to read together, centering African American books and authors.

Between 1740 and 1867, anti-literacy laws in the United States prohibited enslaved, and sometimes free, Black Americans from learning to read or write.

Only 12% of Black males are proficient in reading by 8th grade. In 2019, only 6% of 12th-grade Black males were reading at the proficient level, and only 1% were reading at the advanced level.

Among the themes and issues explored in African American literature are the role of African Americans within the larger American society, African-American culture, racism, slavery, and equality. African American writing has also tended to incorporate oral forms such as spirituals, sermons, gospel music, blues, and rap.

Each year, Black History Month brings another opportunity to discover contributions that enrich our nation. The 2024 theme, “African Americans and the Arts,” explores the creativity, resilience and innovation from a culture that has uplifted spirits and soothed souls in countless ways across centuries.

African American authors focused on the “black experience,” and gave voice to protest against segregation and the reality of racial injustices. This literature focuses on the conditional aspect of equality and the factors of race, gender, and ethnicity in eliminating racism and the accompanying social inequity.

African Americans had other reasons for making literacy a priority after slavery ended. Many hoped that education would improve their economic circ*mstances and offer some protection from fraud and exploitation. They also saw education as important preparation for participating in civic life.

It also builds crucial literacy skills in the most engaging way possible. On February 7, 2024, the power of reading aloud is celebrated with World Read Aloud Day. World Read Aloud Day was founded in 2010 by the nonprofit organization LitWorld to position literacy as a foundational human right.

Fearing that black literacy would prove a threat to the slave system -- which relied on slaves' dependence on masters -- whites in many colonies instituted laws forbidding slaves to learn to read or write and making it a crime for others to teach them.

Were slaves allowed to marry? ›

Marriage of enslaved people in the United States was generally not legal before the American Civil War (1861–1865).

In most southern states, anyone caught teaching a slave to read would be fined, imprisoned, or whipped. The slaves themselves often suffered severe punishment for the crime of literacy, from savage beatings to the amputation of fingers and toes.

Black Reading Level – IRLA Black (4th grade)

130 million Americans—54% of adults between the ages of 16 and 74 years old—lack proficiency in literacy, essentially reading below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level.

2024 THEME. African American art is infused with African, Caribbean, and the Black American lived experiences.

In six chapters, he explores the contours of issues such as protest and injustice, the Church and politics, policing and police brutality, ethnicity and Black identity, Black suffering and rage, and finally the Bible and slavery.

The five major themes of African literature are colonialism, tradition, displacement, liberation, and nationalism.

Common themes in African American literature are slavery, Africa, and alienation. African American literature is important because it gives insight into African American life while enabling African Americans to discuss their experiences.