Ojimadu 1

Vivian Ojimadu
Professor Douglas
UWRT 1101-800
2 December 2016
Literacy Scavenger Hunt
1. Literacy is ones ability to explain and understand specific topic. To be
literate is to be able to fully grasp and explain a specific skill or topic.
People who cannot articulate how a certain item works or the concept
behind a certain topic and usually illiterate in that field. I usually hear
the term literacy in class while being taught but I also hear illiterate in
everyday language used as mockery.
2. The eighth grade exam from 1895 was difficult even for me, so clearly
an eighth grader from this time would never be considered literate
based on the 1895 standards. This brings into question the value of
literacy in this day and age. Today and eighth grader would not be held
to such standards therefore the value of literacy has definitely
decreased over the last few decades.
3. I could easily pass the black voters exam from 1895, but when you
think about the poor level of literacy most African Americans of the
time had and their inability to read and write, you would understand
the difficulty of the exam. African American voters of the time were
only allotted ten minutes and were failed the whole exam even if they
missed only one question. This exam is supposed to judge voter
literacy but does your ability to cross out lets and draw circles really

Ojimadu 2
equate to literacy? This exam was actually a form of systematic racism
against African American voters.