The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861 - A History of the Education of the Colored People of the - United States from the Beginning of Slavery to the Civil War by Carter Godwin Woodson
page 76 of 461 (16%)
page 76 of 461 (16%)
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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 |
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