Comment by throwaway2037

I was surprised to read this post. Thank you to share. From Wiki, I found: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy_in_the_United_States

    > By 1875, the U.S. literacy rate was approximately 80 percent.

And:

    > By 1900, the situation had improved somewhat, but 44% of black people remained illiterate.

And:

    > The gap in illiteracy between white and black adults continued to narrow through the 20th century, and in 1979, the rates were approximately equal.