Although education is often viewed as a means of increased freedom and mobility, in the antebellum United States both the refusal to educate slaves and the selective education of slaves were used as additional apparatuses of oppression.
Self-Taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom
The laws within Acts Passed by the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina at the Session of 1830-31 (1) and The Code of Virginia (2) are reactionary to fears of slave rebellions—that is, the states sought to suppress access to education in order to reduce the probability of slave uprisings. These laws also outline consequences for educating slaves. They establish the fact that slaves were often incapable of being educated without being at risk of physical harm.
Depending on the state, either legislation or the plantation owners themselves kept slaves from learning how to read and write. However, some slaves found a way to get a basic understanding on the written word, which would, in turn, help them take part in abolitionist activities, read the Bible, and much more (3). Because of this, these former slaves had an easier time becoming regular members of society.
Depending on the state, either legislation or the plantation owners themselves kept slaves from learning how to read and write. However, some slaves found a way to get a basic understanding on the written word, which would, in turn, help them take part in abolitionist activities, read the Bible, and much more (3). Because of this, these former slaves had an easier time becoming regular members of society.
Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives
“Some them chillun used to read us li'l things out of papers and books, We'd look at them papers and books like they somethin’ mighty curious, but we better not let Marse Tom or his wife know it!"
-William Moore |
"We small Negro children looked after the babies in the cradles and other young children. When the white children studied their lessons I studied with them. When they wrote in the sand I wrote in the sand too. The white children, and not the marster or mistress, is where I got started in learnin’ to read and write."
-John C. Bectom |
"No Sir, no readin' an' writin'. You had to work. Ha! ha! You let your marster or missus ketch you wid a book. Dat wus a strict rule dat no learnin' wus to be teached. I can't read an' write.”
-Emma Blalock |
As seen in the slave narratives of William Moore (4), John C. Bectom (5), and Emma Blalock (6), it was a very rare thing for a slave to be educated. If any education did occur, it was in secret or by studying with the master’s children when watching them. This lack of education was in part, due to the belief that an educated slave would rebel and demand the same rights as a white person.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave
Frederick Douglass’s autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, provides a firsthand account of how he—as a slave—had to secretively learn to read and write. Douglass gives credit to the poor white boys he met in the street as a child for teaching him how to read. He then shares that he was able to trick his fellow ship-yard workers into teaching him how to write.
Douglass originally learned the alphabet from one of his mistresses, but she then would not allow him to continue his education. Within this context, he concluded that “education and slavery were incompatible with each other,” because as long as there was slavery, there would always be the conflict of slave education (7). Education was a means for slaves to better understand their “wretched condition, without the remedy. It opened [Douglass’s] eyes [particularly] to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out…[along with a] bold denunciation of slavery, and a powerful vindication of human rights” (7). Douglass at one point viewed his knowledge pre-emancipation as a means of making him more depressed with his condition; however, it eventually helped him contribute to the process of abolishing the ideals and physical barriers which kept slaves enslaved. |
Frederick Douglass knew that preventing education was preventing freedom. The struggle after emancipation for Black Americans to receive equal education only continued to keep them oppressed. In his essay “Two Concepts of Liberty,” Isaiah Berlin underscores the validity of such a concept: “It is true that to offer political rights, or safeguards against intervention by the State, to men who are half-naked, illiterate, underfed and diseased is to mock their condition; they need medical help or education before they can understand, or make use of, an increase in their freedom. What is freedom to those who cannot make use of it...what is the value?” (8). Applying this theory to slavery and its abolishment, the formal act of emancipating slaves did not provide freedom; however, allowing for the equal education of Black Americans would have been a real step toward material progress and equality for the formerly enslaved.
Freedmen's Bureau |
After slavery was abolished in 1863, formerly enslaved people in Georgia took it upon themselves to get educated. Then, in 1865, backed by congress, they established the Freedmen's Bureau. This agency provided the first public education system in the state (9). Above all else, the Freedman's Bureau exemplifies the importance placed on education by the formerly enslaved (and, to a lesser extent, the United States government).
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The Freedmen's Bureau! by Bernard F. Reilly in 1866 under Public Domain
In Review:
The relentless efforts of slave owners to prevent the education of slaves proved to be an important strategy in maintaining absolute influence and control over slaves. However, this phenomenon was not limited to the plantation. Beginning in the early 1700s, many state legislatures passed laws which prohibited slave owners from teaching slaves to read and write. For example, The Code of Virginia (1849) prevented the assembly of slaves for religious or educational purposes. These types of laws were also reactionary in nature. They responded to the rise of abolitionism and fears of slave rebellions; state legislatures sought to suppress access to education in order to reduce the probability of slave uprisings. Of course, the actions of slave owners and lawmakers were not completely effective, as some slaves risked severe punishments and found ways to receive reading and writing instruction. It is the goal of this project to underscore that although the education of these individuals proved to be instrumental to abolition movements and the eventual emancipation of all slaves in the United States, these individuals were the exception to the rule.
As a consequence of this project’s digital format and the relatively short timetable for its completion, the immediate scope of the project is limited, as it only considers the relationship between education and slavery until the abolition of the institution in 1863. However, in pursuing such a project, it is the hope of this group that this analysis will inspire further conversations about the extent to which the ideologies that supported the institution of slavery in the United States persisted after the abolition of slavery—especially how such ideologies remained ingrained in the education system today.
As a consequence of this project’s digital format and the relatively short timetable for its completion, the immediate scope of the project is limited, as it only considers the relationship between education and slavery until the abolition of the institution in 1863. However, in pursuing such a project, it is the hope of this group that this analysis will inspire further conversations about the extent to which the ideologies that supported the institution of slavery in the United States persisted after the abolition of slavery—especially how such ideologies remained ingrained in the education system today.