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 > > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions > at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html > > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions > at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html