page_title: Education during the slave period in the United States
section_title: Education and subversion in the Antebellum Era
hierarchical_section_title: Education during the slave period in the United States / Education and subversion in the Antebellum Era
caption_attribution_description: English: Former slave reading, 1870
context_page_description: The United States is the only country known to have prohibited the education of the enslaved. During the era of slavery in the United States, the education of enslaved African Americans, except for religious instruction, was discouraged, and eventually made illegal in most of the Southern states. After 1831, the prohibition was extended in some states to free Blacks as well.
  Slave owners saw literacy as a threat to the institution of slavery and their financial investment in it; as a North Carolina statute stated, "'Teaching slaves to read and write, tends to excite dissatisfaction in their minds, and to produce insurrection and rebellion." First, literacy enabled the enslaved to read the widely-distributed writings of abolitionists, who informed readers about the slave revolution in Haiti of 1791–1804 and the end of slavery in the British Empire in 1833. It also allowed slaves to discover that thousands of the enslaved had escaped, often with the assistance of the Underground Railroad, to safe refuges in the Northern states and Canada. Finally, literacy was believed to make the enslaved unhappy at best, insolent and sullen at worst. As put by prominent Washington lawyer Elias B.
context_section_description: 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 as many as 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 operated illegal schools in cities such as Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Charleston, Richmond, 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. James Milton Turner attended his school.
  Margaret Crittendon Douglass, a white woman who published a memoir after she was imprisoned in Virginia for teaching free black children to read.
  Catherine and Jane Deveaux, a black mother and daughter who, with the Catholic nun Mathilda Beasley, ran underground schools in Savannah, Georgia.
  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. 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. In contrast, 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."
  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 (although she died in abject poverty and obscurity). Not everyone was lucky enough to have the opportunities Wheatley had. Many slaves did learn to read through Christian instruction, but only those whose owners allowed them to attend. Some slave owners 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. Slave owners saw writing as something that only educated white men should know. 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 reading and writing in secret. Slates were discovered near George Washington's estate in Mount Vernon with writings carved in them. Bly noted that "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." This 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.
  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, it was common for slave children to carry the white children's books to school. Once there, they would sit outside and try to follow the lessons through the open windows.
caption: Enslaved people taught each other how to read and write
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