I think my original reply was a bit unclear. As I said, slave instruction
was "legally limited," not prohibited. The laws (as explained by Cornelius)
were primarily aimed at third parties (or other free blacks and slaves)
teaching slaves, especially in groups. (Of course there were also laws
limiting assemblies of slaves.) As I said below, I think that individual
masters could, and in some cases did, educate their slaves. We also
shouldn't forget laws that pertained to specific cities and counties, such
as "The Charters and Ordinances of the City of Richmond" (Ellyson's Steam
Press, 1859), which lists ordinances limiting free blacks and slaves in a
multitude of ways.
Gregg
-----Original Message-----
From: James Hershman [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, July 27, 2001 2:19 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Teaching Slaves To Read
I'm not sure there was a statutory prohibition, or if there was Margaret
Mercer
was certainly breaking it when she taught her slaves to read in her little
school at Belmont plantation in Loudoun County. I don't think some of the
locals
liked it but she wasn't prosecuted.
Jim Hershman
Gregg Kimball wrote:
> Have you checked Janet Duitsman Cornelius's book "When I Can Read My Title
> Clear: Literacy, Slavery, and Religion in the Antebellum South"? I
believe
> that this book outlines the law in various states. As I remember
> Cornelius's discussion of this matter, Virginia was one of four southern
> states that legally limited the instruction of slaves from the 1830s to
> 1865. The state criminalized assemblies for teaching slaves and teaching
> slaves for pay. The legislature seems to have left the door open for
> individual masters to educate their own slaves. I think it's also
important
> to realize that in some cases community pressure and other laws could be
> used against schools. Free black Christopher McPherson's night school in
> Richmond was quashed due to a public outcry that led to him being hauled
> into court for operating a public "nuisance."
>
> Gregg Kimball
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2001 11:43 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Teaching Slaves To Read
>
> A colleague asked me recently when it was that Virginia, either the colony
> or
> the Commonwealth, made it "a formal policy to prevent teaching slaves to
> read." I had thought such a statute was passed in the early 1830s, but I
> find no evidence to support my impression. I looked in studies of Virginia
> law and slavery, but did not find an answer to my question. Of course, the
> statute prescribed punishment for those who taught the slaves; therefore,
> it might not have been a part of the slave code at all.
>
> I hope someone can help. Thanks.
>
> James R. Sweeney
> Department of History
> Old Dominion University
> Norfolk, VA 23529
>
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