Sunday Paper
Ragland, William, II

>>SPEAKER: Thank you Mr. Ragland for taking this time to give us your oral narrative. First a few questions. Where are you from?

>>WILLIAM: Columbus, Ohio. 

>>SPEAKER: Okay, what high school did you go to?

>>WILLIAM: Columbus Northwood.

>>SPEAKER: Columbus Northwood, good. And what would you like to share with us today?

>>WILLIAM: Well, literacy to me is very important. It's been something that's instilled in me from the day I was born. It was a rite of passage in my family to be able to read the Sunday paper or Saturday paper to my father. That was passed on from generation to generation from my grandfather to my father and to all his other sons. So once we got to that age where we could sit down and read the paper to our fathers then it became where we felt like we could take another step into manhood and it became something that was often talked about and shared with great pride between my fathers and cousins throughout the family.

>>SPEAKER: Now do you have any kids yourself?

>>WILLIAM: Yes, sir, I have a three year old son.

>>SPEAKER: A three year old son. Do you read the newspaper with him?

>>WILLIAM: Yes, sir, every Saturday and Sunday we read the newspaper together.  We read books every night.  He's in the process right now of learning how to read himself.  

So me being in education, I understand the importance of reading and how that opens up so many doors to your imagination and allows you to go to places that you might not be able to physically walk, where you can take your imagination and create them.  

So we read every night.  We go to the library every week.  We read the Sunday Paper, the Saturday and Sunday Paper, and I'm passing those same values down there were instilled into me to him.

>>SPEAKER: Now do you have any favorite books that you like to read with him?

>>WILLIAM: Yeah, it might seem a little weird because the book is kind of older for him but the favorite book I read to him is The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois.  That book was a gift given to me on my 21st birthday by my older brother. 

And a lot of the things that are in it and the content in which he wrote in, it might seem as too far advanced, but I want to instill those thoughts of him and his community and how to be able to stand up and write about and read about what he wants to.  I believe that it's important that you get that at a young age.  

He also likes Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?  It's what we read every night before we go to bed, and that's one of his favorites.  So he knows every single color, but he still wants to read it every night, so we do what he likes to do.

>>SPEAKER: Okay, is there anything else you would like to add?

>>WILLIAM: No, sir.

>>SPEAKER: Alright, thank you very much.