04/18/2012
Slaves and Education
Today
I read an interesting article about the education of slaves in the 18th
Century. Or should I say the
NON-education of slaves? In the southern
states of America the white people had a great concern about slaves learning
and it becoming a problem for the slave system.
They believed if the slaves had become intelligent, then they would be
able to somehow free themselves. In
order to keep this from happening, no black children could attend any free
schools. There was a law passed that
stated that slaves were forbidden to read or write.
Another
way that the whites prevented slaves from learning was to punish others who
would try teaching them. Teaching the
slaves was considered a crime. Even
though this law existed there were still some courageous teachers that took the
chance and tried educating the slaves secretly.
One brave teacher, Margaret Douglass, was even convicted and imprisoned
when she was caught teaching black children in Norfolk Virginia. This is how serious it really was.
In
the northern states of America the slavery situation was not as bad. The first African Free School was opened in
NYC in 1787. It started with 40 students
in a single room and continued to expand.
In 1824 this school and 6 others began receiving public funding. Other schools began opening up for the
slaves’ children. Some schools would get
threatened by the white people to be burned down. They even went as far as to pass laws that
stated that the children would receive 10 lashes of the whip if they attended
the schools.
There
were many strong advocates for black education who fought for these laws to be
put to rest. They believed that everyone
had an equal right to be educated.
Without knowledge there is no future!
Well writen....
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