What’s that thing called literacy leaves behind Black and Brown youth? The Race Thing? Yeah, that’s it. Needle’s Eye Academy is a non-profit organization focused on literacy among Black and Brown youth in Talbot County.

We have to recognize our history in order to understand the importance of literacy for Black Americans.   Black people's literacy threatened a major justification of enslavement. Black people were considered “less than human, permanently illiterate and dumb.” which would be disproven if Black Americans were educated and would undermine the logic of the system. In April 1831, Virginia declared teaching free Black Americans to read or write was illegal. New codes also outlawed teaching enslaved people. In 1833, Alabama law further created barriers for education of black people stating- “any person or persons who shall attempt to teach any free person of color, or slave, to spell, read, or write, shall upon conviction thereof of indictment be fined in a sum not less than $250.” Literacy promotes thought and critical thinking which raises the consciousness. It helps you to get outside of your own cultural constraints and think about things from a different angle. It empowers people.  In 2018, the percentage of Black students who lived in households where the highest level of education attained by either parent was a bachelor’s or higher degree was 27% compared with 69% of Asian American students and 53% of white students. We still have a lot to work to do, and this why we keep bringing up conversations that shed light on different social issues.  

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