Moonlight Schools for the Emancipation of Adult Illiterates

by Cora Wilson Stewart

Bath County, 750; Clay County, 900; Bell County, 1,000; Magoffin County, 1,400; Floyd County, 1,600.

How much more fruitful could one expect any campaign to be than that which was started to teach the illiterates of North Carolina in 1914, and shortly afterward reported 10,000 taught to read and write? The purpose of the moonlight schools was fulfilled in this 10,000 redeemed from illiteracy, in the 17,892 taught in Georgia’s opening campaign, in the 25,000 that Alabama taught in a few years’ time and in the thousands emancipated by other states. In all these the moonlight school was achieving its purpose and pointing the way to the ultimate goal—the elimination of illiteracy from the Nation.

Not in all the states have the schools for illiterates borne the name of moonlight schools. Some after successfully launching the movement under this name adopted names suited to their peculiar conditions, such as the “The Lay-By Schools” of South Carolina, “The Adult Schools” of Alabama, “The Community Schools” of North Carolina and the “Schools for Grown-ups” of Georgia. In some of the states the plan and purpose were adopted but not the name. Eventually when these schools are firmly wedded to the public-school system they may all take the prosaic name of evening schools, just as the “Old Field Schools of the South” and other pioneers of the day school system became known as the public or common schools.

In their first wave of enthusiasm, some of the states set a high goal. No less than six of them had as their aim to wipe out illiteracy by 1920. This would have been easily possible with some had funds been promptly provided and the co-operation of the whole people given in fullest measure. As it was, it was possible to set many illiterates free and to place before the people the ideal of removing illiteracy from a definite place within a given time. A worthy goal is a great inspiration, and none who strove to wipe illiteracy out of a definite section by 1920 will give up in despair because they arrived only half or one-third of the way. “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp,” says Browning. “Or what’s a Heaven for?” Those who realized even a portion of their aim now see how humane, patriotic and practical it is to redeem the adult illiterates and will simply set their mark ahead and “run their race with patience,” expecting to make the finish before the next decade. North Dakota, which has but a few thousands to redeem, has well set the year 1924 as the time when it will be clear of illiteracy, while Pennsylvania, with tremendous numbers, wisely gives herself ten years to finish the task.

Victor Hugo says, “There is something that is mightier than armies, and that is an idea whose time has come.” The moonlight school in 1911 advanced the idea that illiteracy could be wiped out of a given locality within a given time. It is an idea that has taken such firm hold on the public mind that nothing less than the emancipation of every illiterate will satisfy the public conscience. The removal of illiteracy is now the fixed purpose of the Nation.

The National Educational Association, the greatest influence in educational affairs of the United States, has accepted the idea and has made the removal of illiteracy the first provision in its educational program for America. This association now has its illiteracy commission, the National Council of Education, the General Federation of Women’s Clubs and other great national organizations have their illiteracy committees, appointed for one purpose—to wipe illiteracy out of the Nation. Many of the Governors have urged in their messages to the Legislature or in their inaugural addresses that the state will undertake to immediately redeem all of its illiterates. In the presidential campaign of 1920 the eradication of illiteracy was a reform written into the platform of one of the two major parties and urged by the candidates of both parties as one of the tasks to which the Nation must apply itself.

The idea of eradicating illiteracy has taken firm hold of the Nation’s leaders. Congressman Horace M. Towner, of Iowa, in making the report of the Committee on Education to the National House of Representatives, said of the first county that had attacked illiteracy: “This experiment conclusively shows that it is possible to bring help to illiterate men and women even under the most adverse circumstances. It demonstrates the fact that under proper leadership and under proper direction adult illiteracy is easily and quickly wiped out.”

Champ Clark and Ollie James, both former Kentucky school teachers, had the spirit of comradeship with the moonlight school teachers and found many ways of aiding and encouraging them in their gallant fight on illiteracy, while William Jennings Bryan crowned the teachers with these words spoken in an address at Raleigh, North Carolina: “If there are any who have ever realized these words of the Master, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive,’ it must be the teachers of the moonlight schools.” President Wilson stopped his work one busy day to write and commend a Kentucky moonlight school teacher who had won a Congressman’s prize for teaching the best moonlight school in his Congressional district. This letter, accompanied by the President’s picture, was a commendation of all moonlight school teachers and the idea for which they stood just as President Lincoln’s letter to Mrs. Bixby was a letter glorifying all mothers who had given sons in the Civil War.

All of the agitation against adult illiteracy, in which the moonlight school has been the pioneer and dramatic factor, has made illiteracy appear as a disgraceful and unpopular thing. There is an odium attached to it to-day that was lacking in the years gone by. Illiteracy has been stigmatized where the crusade against it has been waged and made to seem a thing to flee from as from leprosy. One who makes his mark is not now ignored or overlooked, but in many communities and in most of the states he is a subject of deep concern. His act will scarcely be passed by without discussion. Those who observe him in this act will relate his story with all its pathos and the disgrace connected with it and will not fail to apply the moral. The result is usually the supplying of the unfortunate with books and teaching him to read and write.

There are communities to-day that feel a sense of responsibility for teaching every illiterate, and for doing it within a brief and definite time. There are some districts that feel illiteracy to be a reproach under which they cannot rest. Governor Henry J. Allen, of Kansas, who made an investigation of the moonlight schools, wrote in a magazine article as follows: