Education during the Slave Period

Phillis wheatley frontispiece 1834

During the era of slavery in the United States, the education of African-Americans, enslaved and free, was often discouraged, except for religious instruction, and eventually made illegal in many of the Southern states. It was believed that literacy was incompatible with the institution of slavery and could ultimately lead to its downfall through rebellion and educated blacks demanding the same rights that whites enjoyed. Nonetheless, both free and enslaved African-Americans continued to learn to read and write as a result of the sometimes clandestine efforts of African Americans themselves, as well as schools and informal education that operated during this period. In addition, slaves used storytelling, music and crafts to pass along cultural traditions and other information. ^[1]

In the Northern States, African-Americans had more access to formal schooling and were more likely to have basic reading and writing skills. The Quakers were important in establishing education programs in the North in the years before and after the Revolutionary War. ^[2]

During the U.S. colonial period, two prominent religious groups, Congregationalists and Anglicans, both saw the conversion of slaves as a spiritual obligation, and the ability to read scriptures was seen as part of this process (Monoghan, 2001). The Great Awakening served as a catalyst for encouraging education for all members of society.

While reading was encouraged in religious instruction, writing often was not. Writing was seen as a mark of status, and seen as unnecessary for many members of society, including slaves. Memorization, catechisms, and scripture formed the basis of what education was available.

Despite the lack of importance generally given to writing instruction, there were some notable exceptions; perhaps the most famous of these was Phillis Wheatley, whose poetry won admiration on both sides of the Atlantic.

Legislation and prohibitions

Carolina passed the first laws prohibiting slave education in 1740. While there were no limitations on reading or drawing, it became illegal to teach slaves to write. This legislation followed the Stono Rebellion. As fears proliferated among plantation owners concerning the spread of abolitionist materials, forged passes, and other incendiary writings, the need to restrict slaves’ ability to communicate with one another became more pronounced. For this reason, the State Assembly enacted the following: "Be it therefore Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That all and every Person and Persons whatsoever, who shall hereafter teach or cause any Slave to be taught to write, or shall use to employ any slave as a Scribe in any Manner of Writing whatsoever, hereafter taught to write, every such offense forfeit the Sum of One Hundred Pounds current Money." While the law does not clarify any consequences for the slaves who might attain this more highly prized form of literacy, the financial consequences for teachers are clear.

In 1759, Georgia modeled its own ban on teaching slaves to write after South Carolina's earlier legislation. Again, reading was not prohibited. Throughout the colonial era, reading instruction was tied to the spread of Christianity, so it did not suffer from restrictive legislation until much later.^[3]

The most oppressive limits on slave education were a reaction to Nat Turner's Revolt in Southampton County, Virginia during the summer of 1831. This event not only caused shock waves across the slave holding South, but it had a particularly far-reaching impact on education over the next three decades. The fears of slave insurrections and the spread of abolitionist materials and ideology led to radical restrictions on gatherings, travel, and—of course—literacy. The ignorance of the slaves was considered necessary to the security of the slaveholders^[4] Not only did owners fear the spread of specifically abolitionist materials, they did not want slaves to question their authority; thus, reading and reflection were to be prevented at any cost.

Each state responded differently to the insurrection. While Mississippi already had laws designed to prevent slave literacy, in 1841 the state legislature passed a law that required all free African-Americans to leave the state so that they would not be able to educate or incite the slave population. The same legislation required that any black preacher would have to be given permission to speak before appearing a congregation. Delaware passed an 1831 law that prevented the meeting of a dozen or more blacks late at night; additionally, black preachers were to petition a judge or justice of the peace before speaking before any assembly.

While states like South Carolina and Georgia had not developed legislation that prohibited education for slaves, other, more moderate states responded directly to the 1821 revolt. In 1833, Alabama enacted a law that fined anyone who undertook a slave's education between $250 and $550; the law also prohibited any assembly of African-Americans—slave or free—unless five slave owners were present or an African-American preacher had previously been licensed by an approved denomination.

Even North Carolina, which had previously allowed free African-American children to attend schools alongside whites, eventually responded to fears of insurrection. By 1836, the public education of all African-Americans was strictly prohibited.

Education and subversion in the antebellum era

Man-reading-Emancipation-Proclamation-1863

In examining the educational practices of the period, it is difficult to ascertain absolute figures or numbers. However, Genovese (1986) has explored some of these areas and offers some interesting insights.

W. E. B. Du Bois and other contemporaries estimated that by 1865 up to 9% of slaves attained at least a marginal degree of literacy. Genovese comments: "this is entirely plausible and may even be too low" (p. 562). Especially in cities and sizable towns, many free blacks and literate slaves had greater opportunities to teach others, and both white and black activists conducted illegal schools in cities such as Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Charleston, Richmond, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Diego, and Atlanta. Some notable educators included John Berry Meachum, a black pastor who created a Floating Freedom School on the Mississippi River to circumvent anti-literacy laws,^[5] Margaret Crittendon Douglass, a white woman who published a memoir after she was imprisoned in Virginia for teaching free black children to read.,^[6] and Catherine and Jane Deveaux, a black mother and daughter who, with the Catholic nun Mathilda Beasley, ran underground schools in Savannah, Georgia.^[7]

Even on plantations, the regular practice of hiring out slaves helped spread literacy. As seen in Frederick Douglass's own narrative, it was common for the literate to share their learning.^[8] As a result of the constant flux, few if any plantations would fail to have at least a few literate slaves.

Fredrick Douglass states in his biography that he understood the pathway from slavery to freedom and it was to have the power to read and write. Schiller wrote "After all, most educated slaves did not find that the acquisition of literacy led inexorably and inevitably to physical freedom and the idea that they needed an education to achieve and experience existential freedoms is surely problematic." ^[9]

Enslaved people taught each other how to read and write

It’s noted that as early as the 1710s slaves were receiving biblical literacy from their masters. Enslaved writer Phillis Wheatley was taught in the home of her master. She ended up using her skills to write poetry and address leaders of government on her feelings about slavery. Not everyone was lucky enough to have the opportunities Wheatley had. Many slaves did learn to read through Christian instruction but only those whose slaveholders allowed them to attend. Some slaveholders would only encourage literacy for slaves because they needed someone to run errands for them and other small reasons. They did not encourage slaves to learn to write. Slaveholders saw writing as something that only educated white man should know.^[10] African-American preachers would often attempt to teach some of the slaves to read in secret, but there were very few opportunities for concentrated periods of instruction. Through spirituals, stories, and other forms of oral literacy preachers, abolitionists, and other community leaders imparted valuable political, cultural, and religious information.

There is evidence of slaves practicing how to read and write in secrecy. There have been identified slates discovered near George Washington’s estate in Mount Vernon with writings carved in them. Bly noted that on the slave sites owned by Thomas Jefferson there have been “237 unidentified slates, 27 pencil leads, 2 pencil slates, and 18 writing slates were uncovered in houses once occupied by Jefferson's black bond servants.” That shows that slaves were secretly practicing their reading and writing skills when they had time alone, most likely at night. They also believe slaves practiced their letters in the dirt because it was much easier to hide than writing on slates. Slaves then passed on their newly learned skills to others.^[11]

Even though mistresses were more likely than masters to ignore the law and teach slaves to read, children were by far the most likely to flout what they saw as unfair and unnecessary restrictions. While peer tutelage was limited in scope, many white children took it a step further. In fact, it was common for slave children to carry the white children's books to school. Once being there, they would sit outside and try to follow the lessons through the windows....

Free-black schools

Isaac and Rosa, formerly enslaved students at the Louisiana Free School

In the 1780s a group called “Pennsylvania society for promoting the abolition of slavery” (PAS) took on anti-slavery tasks. They helped freed slaves with their educational and economic aide. They also helped with legal obligations, like making sure they didn't get sold back into slavery. Another anti-slavery group called “The New York Manumission Society” (NYMS) did many things for the abolition of slavery; but one important thing they did was establish a school for free blacks. “The NYMS established the African Free School in 1787 that, during its first two decades of existence, enrolled between 100 and 200 students annually, registering a total of eight hundred pupils by 1822.” The PAS also instituted a few schools for the free blacks and also had them run only by freed African Americans.

They were taught certain subjects like, reading, writing, grammar, math, and geography. The schools would have an annual examination day to show the public, parents, and donors the knowledge the students have gained. It mainly was to show the white population that African Americans can be functioning in society. There are some surviving records of what they would learn in the free schools. Some of the work showed that they were preparing the students for a middle class standing in society. Founded in 1787 The African Free School provided education for blacks in New York City for more than six decades.^[12]

In 1863, an image of two emancipated slave children, Isaac and Rosa, who were studying at the Free School of Louisiana was widely circulated in abolitionist campaigns.^[13]

See also

Anti-literacy law

Links

Harvard Educational Review, SELF-TAUGHT African American Education in Slavery and Freedom by HEATHER ANDREA WILLIAMS CHAPEL HILL: UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS, 2005

Kimberly Sambol Toscol, The Slave Experience: Education, Arts, & Culture, PBS.com

http://www.aaihs.org/rethinking-early-slave-literacy/

References

• Albanese, Anthony. (1976.) The Plantation School. New York: Vantage Books.
• William L. Andrews, ed. (1996). The Oxford Frederick Douglass Reader. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Bly, Antonio T. "Pretends he can read": Runaways and Literacy in Colonial America, 1730-1776." Early American Studies, An Interdisciplinary Journal 6, no. 2 (Fall 2008): 261-294. America: History & Life, EBSCOhost (accessed October 27, 2014).
• Genovese, Eugene. (1976). Roll, Jordan, Roll. New York: Vintage Books.
• Monaghan, E. J. (2005). Learning to Read and Write in Colonial America. Boston: University of Massachusetts Press.
• Palmer, R. Roderick, (1957). Colonial Statues and Present Day Obstacles Restricting Negro Education. In The Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 26, No. 4. pp. 525–529.
• Polgar, Paul J."To Raise Them to an Equal Participation": Early National Abolitionism, Gradual Emancipation, and the Promise of African American Citizenship." Journal Of The Early Republic 31, no. 2 (Summer 2011): 229-258. America: History & Life, EBSCOhost (accessed 7 October 2014).
• Schiller, Ben. "Learning Their Letters: Critical Literacy, Epistolary Culture, and Slavery in the Antebellum South." Southern Quarterly 45, no. 3 (Spring 2008): 11-29. America: History & Life, EBSCOhost (accessed October 28, 2014).
• Webber, Thomas. (1978). Deep Like Rivers: Education in the Slave Quarter Community 1831-1865. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
• Woodson, C.G. (1915). The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861: A History of the Education of the Colored People of the United States from the Beginning of Slavery to the Civil War. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.