Ruth Colvin, the Mother of the Adult
Literacy Movement, Turns 100 on December 16
Colvin has dedicated more than 50
years of her life to literacy, and shows no signs of stopping.
PR Web: 12.14.2016
“To many people the word “illiteracy” prompts images of downtrodden, starving people in third world countries. But illiteracy in America? How can that be possible? Our tax money provides schooling for every child.” These thoughts were expressed by Ruth Johnson Colvin in 1960. But when Colvin saw a 1961 newspaper article on the US Census figures that noted her hometown of Syracuse, New York had over 11,000 people who could not read, she knew something needed to be done. "Not in Africa. In my city. An educational city," Colvin said. “If I don’t do something, who will?”
“To many people the word “illiteracy” prompts images of downtrodden, starving people in third world countries. But illiteracy in America? How can that be possible? Our tax money provides schooling for every child.” These thoughts were expressed by Ruth Johnson Colvin in 1960. But when Colvin saw a 1961 newspaper article on the US Census figures that noted her hometown of Syracuse, New York had over 11,000 people who could not read, she knew something needed to be done. "Not in Africa. In my city. An educational city," Colvin said. “If I don’t do something, who will?”
Colvin earned support from Syracuse’s Church Women
United (CWU) organization to sponsor a local literacy tutoring effort. She
recruited volunteers and set up an office in her home’s basement. Under her
leadership, the literacy volunteer movement quickly spread across the United
States, and the national organization, Literacy Volunteers of
America, Inc., was incorporated in 1972. Ruth and her husband,
Robert, also spent more than 50 years traveling the world together to provide
literacy training in more than 60 countries at the invitation of ministries,
governments and universities.
During her more than five decades of literacy
work, Colvin has published nine books, and visited or worked in more than sixty
countries. She has been the recipient of nine honorary doctorates, and in 1987
she was given the highest award for volunteerism in the United States, the President’s
Volunteer Action Award from President Ronald Regan [sic]. She received the
Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2006 from President George W. Bush, and was
inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1991.
In 2002, Literacy Volunteers of America, Inc.
merged with Laubach Literacy
International to form ProLiteracy Worldwide.
Colvin still serves as a lifetime member of the board of directors of
ProLiteracy, is an honorary member of the board of directors of Literacy New
York, and a member of the board of directors and a tutor at Literacy Volunteers of Greater Syracuse. READ MORE @
