Cora Wilson Stewart and Kentucky's Moonlight Schools: Fighting for Literacy in AmericaUniversity Press of Kentucky, 2006 M03 3 - 270 pages The first woman elected superintendent of schools in Rowan County, Kentucky, Cora Wilson Stewart (1875Ð1958) realized that a major key to overcoming the illiteracy that plagued her community was to educate adult illiterates. To combat this problem, Stewart opened up her schools to adults during moonlit evenings in the winter of 1911. The result was the creation of the Moonlight Schools, a grassroots movement dedicated to eliminating illiteracy in one generation. Following StewartÕs lead, educators across the nation began to develop similar literacy programs; within a few years, Moonlight Schools had emerged in Minnesota, South Carolina, and other states. Cora Wilson Stewart and KentuckyÕs Moonlight Schools examines these institutions and analyzes StewartÕs role in shaping education at the state and national levels. To improve their literacy, Moonlight students learned first to write their names and then advanced to practical lessons about everyday life. Stewart wrote reading primers for classroom use, designing them for rural people, soldiers, Native Americans, prisoners, and mothers. Each set of readers focused on the knowledge that individuals in the target group needed to acquire to be better citizens within their community. The reading lessons also emphasized the importance of patriotism, civic responsibility, Christian morality, heath, and social progress. Yvonne Honeycutt Baldwin explores the Òelusive line between myth and realityÓ that existed in the rhetoric Stewart employed in order to accomplish her crusade. As did many educators engaged in benevolent work during the Progressive Era, Stewart sometimes romanticized the plight of her pupils and overstated her successes. As she traveled to lecture about the program in other states interested in addressing the problem of illiteracy, she often reported that the Moonlight Schools took one mountain community in Kentucky Òfrom moonshine and bullets to lemonade and Bibles.Ó All rhetoric aside, the inclusive Moonlight Schools ultimately taught thousands of Americans in many under-served communities across the nation how to read and write. Despite the many successes of her programs, when Stewart retired in 1932, the crusade against adult illiteracy had yet to be won. Cora Wilson Stewart presents the story of a true pioneer in adult literacy and an outspoken advocate of womenÕs political and professional participation and leadership. Her methods continue to influence literacy programs and adult education policy and practice. |
From inside the book
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Page viii
... teach one” method not only gave legislators at all levels a convenient excuse to underfund the literacy initiative but also allowed educators who sought to limit teaching to credentialed and university-trained professionals to cast her ...
... teach one” method not only gave legislators at all levels a convenient excuse to underfund the literacy initiative but also allowed educators who sought to limit teaching to credentialed and university-trained professionals to cast her ...
Page 5
... teaching, to ex- pand those narrow visions. And, as it did for Addams, the press assisted in Stewart's self-creation. She authored many of the early news releases herself, but soon journalists across the nation were telling the story of ...
... teaching, to ex- pand those narrow visions. And, as it did for Addams, the press assisted in Stewart's self-creation. She authored many of the early news releases herself, but soon journalists across the nation were telling the story of ...
Page 7
... teacher, like her mother. Her favorite activity was playing “school” in her backyard, where she supposedly made quite a ... teaching and service as they were intended, they also reveal the degree to which even the young Cora knew her own ...
... teacher, like her mother. Her favorite activity was playing “school” in her backyard, where she supposedly made quite a ... teaching and service as they were intended, they also reveal the degree to which even the young Cora knew her own ...
Page 8
... teaching and assisting her husband in the operation of both a tavern and a general store. Ann served as postmistress of the small town of Percal for a time, and when her husband, a practicing physician, had to go to Louisville to meet ...
... teaching and assisting her husband in the operation of both a tavern and a general store. Ann served as postmistress of the small town of Percal for a time, and when her husband, a practicing physician, had to go to Louisville to meet ...
Page 10
... teaching as her life's work , since it was a frequent choice for women of her generation , many of whom believed teaching was a form of religious , so- cial , or political activism . Moreover , a career in education enabled women of ...
... teaching as her life's work , since it was a frequent choice for women of her generation , many of whom believed teaching was a form of religious , so- cial , or political activism . Moreover , a career in education enabled women of ...
Contents
1 | |
7 | |
37 | |
3 Moonlight Schools and Pregressivism | 70 |
4 Nationalizing the Illiteracy Campaign | 102 |
Photo insert | 132 |
5 The National Crusade against Illiteracy | 133 |
6 A New Vision | 163 |
Conclusion | 184 |
Notes | 194 |
Bibliography | 233 |
Index | 245 |
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Common terms and phrases
adult education Allen American Appalachia bill Breckinridge called clubwomen Committee Cora Wilson Stewart Cora's Country Life Readers critical Democratic eastern Kentucky Education Association efforts Federation of Women’s feud Frankfort funding GFWC goal governor History of Kentucky Ibid Ida Tarbell illiteracy crusade immigrants important instruction Jane Addams July Kentucky Illiteracy Commission Kentucky's leadership learned legislative Lela Mae Stiles letters Lexington Herald literacy campaign Louisville Madeline McDowell Breckinridge Mattie Dalton McCreary ment Moonlight Schools Morehead mother mountain movement National Education Association noted November organization party political politicians president professional programs progress Progressive Era Progressivism public school read and write reform Report rhetoric role Rowan County rural scrapbook social South Southern Progressivism state’s Stewart Papers superintendent teachers teaching tion undated newspaper clipping University of Kentucky University Press urged volunteers vote Wil Lou Gray William William Allen White women Women’s Clubs wrote York