Some folks can sign their name at the X, and some can just make the 'X'. And in old Italian documents, someone else would sign your name followed by the word 'illiterate'.
I found this article online about literacy and the charts are quite interesting. Our World in Data
I saw a program years ago on writing and the narrator stated that people in ancient Rome were more literate than those in the Middle Ages. He said it was due to the church confining books to the abbeys and churches. Not sure about that, but into the 1800's, there are several documents where parents or spouses had their documents signed on their behalf.
I looked at my Polish grandfather's immigration papers and it says he could neither read or write. I can remember him sitting at his kitchen table with the newspaper, but was never sure if he was actually reading it. And it was the Polish language newspaper.
Documents for my Italian grandfather say he can read and write. Italian I assume, since who was learning English in Italy in the 1800's? I know that my mother's oldest sister spoke very little English up until her death in the 1960's. Her other sister was very proud of the fact that she had become an American citizen and I think she knew more about our government than some Americans who have lived here all their lives. And when one of my cousins emigrated to Canada in the 1950's, she came and stayed at our house for a week. I spoke no Italian and she spoke no English. Fun.
I am a big proponent of education, although some folks have natural talents that do not require a college degree. One of my sons said that it was never a question of 'if' they were going to college, but 'where'. Literacy rates have greatly improved. And maybe we will reach the day when no one has to sign with an 'X'.
Education is everything. It opens the world. I have what I call literate and illiterate lines. One thing I noticed was that some of the illiterate lines happened after the civil war. People do not appreciate the devastation of the Civil War in the Southeast. When Sherman marched through Georgia, they burned everything and ate the rest.
ReplyDeleteI have come across clients who could not read or write even 6 years ago. I am not sure how they got through the education system but, on the same hand, I am not surprised. Many older Italians here as well as Polish women, can not speak English even though they lived here for 50 years. Their husbands went out to work and they stayed home to care for the kids, cook and clean. When we had the Folk Arts Festival, I would go to the open houses and at the Italian Open House, there were many older ladies, dressed in black(must be widows) who only spoke Italian. When they saw me coming to sit down to eat my spaghetti, they would all stop talking and look at me, up and down, since I was blond and very fair-skinned. They were not amused.
ReplyDeleteWe'll all be signing with our fingerprint before long, you see!
ReplyDeleteOr our eyeball. Lol.
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