instruction of slaves and practically none to the enlightenment of
freedmen. Negroes in considerable numbers were becoming well grounded
in the rudiments of education. They had reached the point of
constituting the majority of the mechanics in slaveholding
communities; they were qualified to be tradesmen, trustworthy helpers,
and attendants of distinguished men, and a few were serving as clerks,
overseers, and managers.[1] Many who were favorably circumstanced
learned more than mere reading and writing. In exceptional cases, some
were employed not only as teachers and preachers to their people, but
as instructors of the white race.[2]

[Footnote 1: Georgia and South Carolina had to pass laws to prevent
Negroes from following these occupations for fear that they might
thereby become too well informed. See Brevard, _Digest of Public
Statute Laws of S.C._, vol. ii., p. 243; and Marbury and Crawford,
_Digest of the Laws of the State of Georgia_, p. 438.]

[Footnote 2: Bassett, _Slavery in North Carolina_, p. 74; manuscripts
relating to the condition of the colored people of North Carolina,
Ohio, and Tennessee now in the hands of Dr. J.E. Moorland.]

A more accurate estimate of how far the enlightenment of the Negroes
had progressed before the close of the eighteenth century, is better
obtained from the reports of teachers and missionaries who were
working among them. Appealing to the Negroes of Virginia about 1755,
Benjamin Fawcett addressed them as intelligent people, commanding
them to read and study the Bible for themselves and consider "how
the Papists do all they can to hide it from their fellowmen." "Be
particularly thankful," said he, "for the Ministers of Christ around
you, who are faithfully laboring to teach the truth as it is in