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He is an attractive man in his late 40's; well dressed, a pleasant conversationalist, and good humored. He has held a responsible job for 22 years that includes placing orders by computer. He has successfully raised five children who have satisfying jobs. He owns an apartment complex and his own home. So, what brings this man to the door of the literacy office?

Amazingly, he has only minimal reading skills and cannot write or spell! What could happen in a country of free public schools that would leave a citizen so short changed in this most basic of needs?
Born in Louise, Mississippi in 1947, he has no happy childhood memories. The seventh of ten children, he lived on a small farm raising corn, cotton, and soybeans. His father was educated, and worked as a grocery store butcher, as well as a farmer. Seven of his siblings graduated from high school.

Black school was held four to five months of the year, November through March, but no one cared too much who came. He remembers two teachers- one very nice and one very mean ("the witch of the school" who used a "whipping strap" on kids.) School was always difficult; he always hated it. There was no special help for children who needed it. This in contrast to "white schools" that ran September through May and had more resources.

He was good in arithmetic, bad in reading and geography. He found no pleasures there, no fun. He stuck it out until he was fifteen and in the sixth grade. "Two of my kids," he recollects, "had trouble and had to go to special education in the fifth grade. The helpful attention they got there got them going," he says appreciatively.
But this was not his story.. Then it was time to get to work, on other farms and in the service stations in town. He left for the North (and a better life) when he was twenty.

So, what brings him here, seeking skills that he has apparently been able to by-pass in his struggle for success? "I think," he considers, "I can change a lot of things if I can read and write. You can get more attention. Now, I feel that people are listening to my mistakes rather than my meaning. I'm becoming uncomfortable with the situation."

He is frustrated by his inability to spell and has spent much time trying to pick out words in the newspaper. "You don't have to be smart to survive in this world," he thinks, "if your survival instincts are strong."

"I've been lucky," he continues, referring to having passed a test to get his factory job. "Somehow I can read diagrams and instructions without all the words."

His own character shines through as he attributes his successes to being "lucky in life and having good common sense." "I'm able to read characters even though I'm not reading. I stay away from people who hate. I'm not one who blames. If I have an obstacle, it's my problem. The best time of my life is now," he reflects.

His youngest, who is twenty, has just graduated from nursing school and he can now slow down and do more things for himself and his church. "Someone is always calling me for help. I want to help change things." He remembers Martin Luther King, Jr., who "didn't want money" for what he did.

And so, he spends his rest breaks at his job with reading materials, spelling lists, and vocabulary studies. "I'm determined," he says, "that I don't have to settle for second best. You don't have to fail!"

Interview by Mildred Weaver