The Long Walk to Literacy: Juneteenth and the Ongoing Fight for Freedom

Juneteenth commemorates the moment enslaved Black Americans in Texas finally learned they were free more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation had already been issued. It is a celebration of liberation, resilience, and the enduring pursuit of dignity.

But for Black Americans, freedom did not begin and end with physical emancipation.

In many ways, Juneteenth marked the beginning of another journey entirely.

The long walk to literacy.

Freedom of the body came first. Freedom of the mind would become the next battle.

Long before emancipation, slaveholders understood something many people still fail to grasp today: Literacy is power. Literacy creates independence. Literacy gives people the ability to think critically, communicate clearly, navigate systems, build wealth, understand contracts, read laws, advocate for themselves, and shape their own futures.

That is precisely why antiliteracy laws were enacted throughout the South. Enslaved Africans were prohibited from learning to read and write because literacy threatened the institution of slavery itself. In South Carolina, antiliteracy laws date back to 1740. Other Southern states followed. Teaching an enslaved person to read could result in punishment, fines, or imprisonment.

Frederick Douglass wrote about the moment he realized literacy and freedom were inseparable. After hearing his enslaver say learning to read would “forever unfit him to be a slave,” Douglass understood exactly what was at stake.

Our ancestors understood the value of literacy because they had witnessed what the denial of literacy cost them.

Literacy was never just academic.
Literacy was survival.
Literacy was access.
Literacy was protection.
Literacy was human dignity.

Following emancipation, formerly enslaved Black Americans pursued literacy with extraordinary urgency. Churches became classrooms. Communities pooled resources. Families sacrificed so their children could learn to read, write, and spell. Despite violence, segregation, and systemic exclusion, Black literacy rates rose dramatically during Reconstruction.

This historical reality informed what I describe in my Reconstruction Literacy Paradox framework, published in the spring 2026 issue of The Midwest Quarterly Journal through Pittsburg State University. The framework examines the remarkable rise in Black literacy following slavery and asks a difficult but necessary question: What value system existed within newly emancipated Black communities that caused literacy to be pursued with such intensity, sacrifice, and collective responsibility?

Because somewhere along the way, many communities stopped viewing literacy as liberation and began viewing it merely as schoolwork.

Yet literacy still determines access.

A child who struggles to read is not simply struggling academically. That child may eventually struggle to access opportunity itself.

Every profession intersects with literacy.

Athletes must read playbooks, contracts, and endorsements.
Actors must read scripts.
Entrepreneurs must read agreements and financial documents.
Scientists, nurses, teachers, welders, coders, ministers, lawyers, and business owners all rely on literacy daily.

Reading remains foundational to nearly every pathway available in modern society.

And the urgency remains real.

According to the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, reading scores across the nation continue to decline, particularly among historically underserved student populations. The Education Trust reported only 16% of Black fourth grade students scored at or above proficiency in reading on the 2024 NAEP assessment.

These numbers are not simply educational statistics. They represent future opportunities, economic mobility, self-advocacy, and quality of life.

This is one of the reasons we created the Black Literacy Matters Conference.

People often ask why we call it “Black Literacy Matters.”

The answer is simple.

Because Black literacy matters.

Black children matter.
Black families matter.
Black futures matter.
Black reading outcomes matter.

The name is not about exclusion. It is about acknowledgement. It is about recognizing generations of inequitable access, historical barriers, and systemic literacy failure require focused attention, honest conversation, and collective action.

The conference was built to bring together educators, researchers, families, policymakers, advocates, and community leaders from across the United States and throughout the African diaspora to confront one central issue: How do we ensure children gain true access to literacy?

At the conference, conversations center around evidence-based literacy instruction, structured literacy practices, dyslexia awareness, language development, culturally informed teaching, family advocacy, and the psychology of reading development. The goal is not ideological debate. The goal is literacy outcomes.

Because children do not need political talking points.
Children need to learn to read.

This work extends beyond the United States.

In my travels throughout parts of Africa and across the diaspora, I have encountered families whose children struggle with dyslexia and other reading difficulties but have little access to identification, intervention, or support. In some communities, parents are told their child simply cannot learn. Some are advised to remove their children from school altogether because the systems do not yet understand dyslexia or evidence-based literacy intervention.

But hopelessness should never be the diagnosis.

Knowledge changes outcomes.
Early intervention changes trajectories.
Evidence-based instruction changes lives.

The long walk to literacy continues globally.

Juneteenth reminds us emancipation was not the finish line. It was the beginning of a much longer journey toward full access, participation, and opportunity.

Physical freedom came first.

Then came the fight for educational freedom.
The fight for intellectual freedom.
The fight for literacy freedom.

And in many ways, that journey is still unfolding in 2026.

Frederick Douglass once said, “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”

Those words still speak across generations because literacy remains one of the clearest pathways to empowerment humanity has ever known.

The long walk to literacy did not end after slavery.
It did not end during Reconstruction.
It did not end with desegregation.

And it will not end until every child, regardless of zip code, race, language background, disability, or socioeconomic status, has true access to the power that literacy provides.

References

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
The Nation’s Report Card, 2024 Reading Assessment

The Education Trust
NAEP 2024 Results and Reading Proficiency Data

Pittsburg State University
The Midwest Quarterly Journal, Spring 2026 Issue

Frederick Douglass
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Historical Anti-Literacy Laws in the United States