Literacy Levels in African-American Literature - Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Song of Solomon, and PushThrough Literacy Will Come to Emancipation. This is the recurring theme in the various selections we have read so far. But empowerment comes in many forms, as does literacy. The various aspects of academic literacy are quite evident in relation to empowerment, especially when faced with exclusion from belonging to the dominant culture. In the various slave narratives we have examined, all but one writer, Mary Prince, managed to achieve academic literacy to varying degrees (even as Mary Prince was learning to read and write). And even though she wasn't literate, Mary was still able to have her story told. Frederick Douglass, committed himself to achieving literacy at any cost. Most, but not all, of Toni Morrison's characters in Song of Songs appear to have achieved at least a modicum of literacy. In Push, Sapphire has its protagonist, Precious, set on a long road towards at least a minimal form of academic literacy that will allow her to become a more functional human being and a much more productive member of society. What role does literacy play in the progress of the individual, and how far can one go to achieve it? What role must the individual play to ensure that literacy leads to the desired or implied progress? And finally, does literacy have a cost, or is it always a gain? An Account of the Life of Frederick Douglass As a relatively young man, Frederick Douglass discovers, in his An Account of the Life of Frederick Douglass, that learning to read and write can be his path to freedom. After discovering that... middle of paper... the past, but Douglass and Precious can use their ties to the past as a means to avoid its mistakes. So all three find personal use of what was once reality as a promise for a more fulfilling future reality. And in a sense, all three find empowerment through their disparate relationships with literacy. Works Cited Douglas, Frederick. An account of the life of Frederick Douglass. Classic slave narratives. Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. New York: New American Library, 1987. 243-331. Gates, Henry Louis. Classic slave narratives. New York: New American Library, 1987.Graff, Harvey J. The Myth of Literacy: Literacy and Social Structure in the Nineteenth-Century City. New York: Academic Press, 1979. Morrison, Toni. Song of Songs. New York: Penguin Books USA, Inc., 1987. Sapphire. Push. New York: Vintage Books, 1996.