Is literacy a constitutional right? The question is currently being weighed in court, and the ultimate ruling could be a landmark in the long struggle for education justice in America.
A lawsuit filed in September 2016 on behalf of students in the Detroit City School District—a district which is over 82 percent African American and represents some 39,000 black children—charged that the state has violated its constitution for not teaching them how to read. The class action described a “lack of textbooks and basic materials; overcrowded classrooms; failure to address students’ specific learning needs; lack of English Language Learner instruction; and unqualified staff, and unsafe temperatures in the classroom.”
Even though attorneys for the state admitted that illiteracy has greatly exacerbated the effects of intergenerational poverty in Detroit, a federal judge dismissed the case, ruling that literacy, although “of incalculable importance,” is not necessarily “a fundamental right.”
According to Michigan’s constitution, its obligation to educate is an issue of access, not equity. The ruling echoes a 2014 Michigan Court of Appeals decision on a similar case: “the Michigan constitution leaves the actual intricacies of the delivery of specific educational services to local school districts.”
The irony of the Court’s ruling in support of “local school districts,” is that from 1999 to 2016, the Detroit School District was under a takeover by the state of Michigan. That would mean that the delivery of specific educational services would be under the authority of the state, mandating the very obligation the Court has said does not exist. Detroit students plan to appeal the decision of the District Court.
Literacy has been, and continues to be, a critical component of African-American liberation, linked to both a physical and a psychological wellbeing.
Black people, working as enslaved labor, laid the foundation for the United States to become an economic (and political) world power. To maintain that system, it was imperative that black people never learn how to read. According to Chief Justice Roger B. Taney in the 1857 Dred Scott case, the framers of the Constitution believed blacks “had no rights which the white man was bound to respect,” including the right to read.
Anti-literacy laws made it illegal to teach a black person how to read. In his classic narrative, Frederick Douglass quoted his white enslaver:
The delivery of specific educational services would be under the authority of the state of Michigan, mandating the very obligation the Court has said does not exist.
“If you teach that [n-word] (speaking of myself) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy.”
Literacy was the beginning of freedom. A primary tool was the Bible, where black people had the opportunity to exegete the scriptures and combat religious justifications for their enslavement.
A few whites defied the law and helped establish Sabbath schools for slaves to learn how to read. Slaves were also teachers. During the antebellum, slaves attended schools in hiding. One such school was taught by a slave woman who held classes at midnight. According to abolitionist Laura Haviland:
“It was opened at eleven or twelve o’clock at night, and closed at two o’clock A.M. Every window and door was carefully closed to prevent discovery. In that little school hundreds of slaves learned to read and write a legible hand. After toiling all day for their masters they crept stealthily into this back alley, each with a bundle of pitch pine splinters for lights.”
In light of this legacy and the key role of literacy in empowering black people, perhaps we might do well to establish more of our own vehicles for literacy. Some black families are deciding to homeschool their children as a means of liberating themselves from the systemic racism embedded in so many of today’s schools.
At the same time, we must continue to hold accountable the local and state governments we fund with our tax dollars, and the courts are a key arena for this effort.
Consider what’s happening in California.
A Los Angeles-based law firm, the same firm that filed suit in the Michigan case, filed a lawsuit on behalf of ten low-income students of color from three districts, asserting the constitutional right of public school students to basic literacy instruction. A state judge agreed that California could be put on trial for failing to provide literacy instruction to these students and others like them.
The courts are a key front in assuring that the U.S. Department of Education is true to its promise “to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.”
Student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness means mandating literacy as a right for ALL children.