Reading Achievements, Interests, and Habits of Negro Women

Abstract

The investigation reported here was carried on in the city of Chicago for the purpose of determining the reading achievements, interests, and habits of Negro women. This study is a part of a broader study that is being made under the direction of the American Association of Adult Education. The specific problems studied relate to the achievements of Negro women in oral reading, and in rate and comprehension in silent reading, the types of reading in which they engage, the factors affecting their reading interests and habits, and the relationship between the kinds of recreational activities in which they engage and the types of material which they read. Although several studies have been made to determine the reading interests and habits of white adults, up to the time of this investigation no such study had been reported for Negro adults. Before plans could be developed to improve the reading interests and habits of Negro women, their present reading achievements, interests and habits had to be definitely studied. At the outset it is obvious that such a study is not without significance. The reading achievements, interests, and habits of any group of adults are indicative of the thoroughness or lack of thorougness, as the case may be, with which the particular group was schooled in the art of selecting types of reading material during the formative period of the life of its members. If the investigation reveals neglect in stressing fundamentals on the part of those who in the past have been charged with the responsibility of directing the reading habits of our youth, proper steps should be taken to offset similar results in the future. On the other hand, if the investigation discloses no remissness on the part of those charged with this all important duty-directing the reading habits of our youth and the stimulation of good taste in literaturethen we may reasonably assume that we have been following the right course. In the opinion of the writer this is the reason for such an investigation.