The unlock of U.S. census information in 1910 sparked rhetoric stating the country had a literacy obstacle and proclaiming illiterate electorate a danger to democratic lifestyles. whereas newspaper editors, industrialists, and officers within the federal executive usually positioned the blame on newly arrived immigrants, a smaller yet no much less vocal team of rural educators and clubwomen highlighted the numerous variety of native-born illiterate adults within the Appalachian area. writer Samantha NeCamp seems on the academic reaction to those exact literacy narratives—the founding of the Moonlight colleges in japanese Kentucky, fascinated about native-born nonliterate adults, and the institution of the Americanization stream, devoted to the schooling of contemporary immigrants.

Drawing on own correspondence, convention lawsuits, textbooks, and speeches, NeCamp demonstrates how the Moonlight faculties and the Americanization move competed for public recognition, the curiosity of educators, and personal and governmental investment, fueling a colourful public debate in regards to the definition of literacy. The very diversified pedagogical practices of the 2 movements—and how those practices have been represented to the public—helped form literacy schooling within the usa. studying the Moonlight colleges and the Americanization circulate relating to each other, Adult Literacy and American Identity expands the heritage and idea of literacy and literacy schooling within the usa. This publication may be of curiosity to students in literacy, Appalachian experiences, and rhetoric and composition.