The Importance Of Slave's Education

The “Public Sale of Negroes, by Richard Clagett, depicts a typical auction in 1883. Although, it is important to note that “typical” in the 1800’s is very far from the typical of today. What is interesting or peculiar about this auction and many others in this time is that they were auctioning and selling people. The “Institution of Slavery” or chattel slavery, or even simply slavery, was the mistreatment of people as personal property and objects, where they were bought and sold and forced to perform work and labor. This “institution” was entirely legal, recognized at the writing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and ended by legal abolishment December 1865,

Slave owners often would punish any slaves that tried to educate themselves. They didn't want their slaves to be educated in fear that they

During slavery, most black slaves were denied proper education and many laws were passed in the South prohibiting slave literacy. Even free blacks in the century before and after the Civil War were limited in their access to quality education and career training.

The earliest signs of human bondage can be found in Ancient Rome where slaves were used for a large array of professions. Likewise, the slavery found in colonial North America had slaves included in every facet of the region’s economy. Colonial North America quickly grew dependent on African race-based slavery as the backbone to its economy. The first African Americans arrived to the New World near the coast of Jamestown in 1619 in the Chesapeake region (Clark-Pujara, 9/19). It was the first region to establish a society with slaves. One could say that African race-based slavery in the Chesapeake region developed because of the region’s economic dependence on tobacco production, scarcity of white indentured servants, increasing longevity for African Americans in the New World, and colonists establishing slave laws and codes.

Slaves went through a lot of struggles they worked, they didn't get to go to school so that meant they didn't get their education.

Runaway slaves had no knowledge from books or school because their owners saw this as wasteful and useless. In “Chasing Utopia,” Nikki Giovanni tells of the lack of education of the slaves in early America, “When God made mountains / He made runaway slaves / With no book knowledge of the North Star / Nor botany classes describing moss / On the north side of trees” (Giovanni 59). When God created the mountains, He also created the runaway slaves. The runaway slaves had no formal education because their work did not require it. Slave owners saw the education of slaves as frivolous and unnecessary. When the slaves ran away from their owners, they had no knowledge from books about geography or botany. They did not

The people and legislation in these states felt that an educated slave or person of color was a dangerous threat. Therefore slaves and color people were prevented from making progress in society and rising up against their oppressors. In addition, in The Contributions of Frederick Douglass, pg. 2, Travis T. explains, “He had been taught to read and write by the wife of his owners, but it was stopped by her husband because he believed it would deem him unfit to be a slave. Even though his owner’s wife stopped teaching him, Douglass continued to study on his own because he realized it could be the key to his freedom.” This excerpt implies that Douglass’s owner believed that part of what made Douglass a slave was the fact that he couldn’t read and write. It was one way how owners could keep superiority over their slavers. However, Douglass was able to catch on to this and continued to study, helping push the abolitionist movement along. By keeping slaves uneducated, slave owners were able to keep a sense of superiority over their slaves and keep them

The laws of the United States at the time stated that the children would hold the status of their mother and that slave parents didn’t own their children. This meant that a slave woman would give birth to children that would become slaves to the mother’s owners and the mother couldn’t control what happened to the child in the future. Those laws enforced an emotional abuse in which the slave owner could threaten to separate families if slaves were to try to do something such as escape. To prevent slaves from gaining power through access of books, it was illegal to teach slaves how to read or write. This stems from the belief that Mr. Auld sums up as “It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master…It would make him discontented and unhappy” (Douglass 531 par 3). Reading and writing would lead to slaves becoming unhappy in their situations because they would learn about other opportunities of work that would be more beneficially such as being able to be paid. Slaves would be able to learn of laws that they could challenge in court and try to declare them as unconstitutional. Slaves were unable to be present in court. There were many slaves that witnessed slave owners raping and killing slaves but because they had no power in court, they could do nothing about it. Reading and writing could potentially lead to them gaining power in court and ultimately lead to many slave owners being jailed for rape and/or murder. Slaves were considered property and consistently reminded of their status through a variety of ways. One was when property had to valued when someone passed away. Douglass’ master Captain Anthony passed away when Douglass was in another household and the property had to be valued because Anthony didn’t have a will. Douglass had

Freedom or liberty, a term often used interchangeably, generally meaning exemption from control, is arguably the most fundamental right that American’s identify with, both as individuals and as a society. It is most notably rooted in American history and politics, and is often the justification for political decisions and beliefs, even still today (such as war, “operation Iraqi Freedom”). Historical documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and even newer political documents, all reference freedom or liberty, defining their purposes and intentions. Furthermore, the American person tends to love representing their idea of freedom by showing their patriotism and by partaking in patriotic landscape design (liberty

Slaves had little to no education during that time and being offered an education or a chance to be taught how to read, or even write was a big deal to them. I think it was a smart idea for the ex-slaves to create a system for education. But then their children were pushed into a system of industrial education that presupposed black political and economic subordination. This conception of education and social order was supported by northern industrial which conflicted with the aspirations of ex-slaves and their descendants, resulting at the turn of the century in a bitter national debate over the purposes of black education. Because African Americans lacked economic and political power, white elites were able to control the structure and content

The ability to read and write, for slaves, was a form of freedom they could achieve themselves. Add in a slave talking about his desire to learn. This intellectual freedom allowed them to maintain relationships that were torn apart by the traditions of slavery. The exercise of reading and writing was dangerous for slaves and their teachers and it was illegal. The punishment for such a crime would be unusually cruel and severe for anyone who was caught in the act or

Slavery during the civil war was very important due to its popular demand in slaveholding states, particularly in the southern states. The main cause of the war was slavery because of the south fear of the union abolishing slavery which was very influential to their economy. The war would decide if the confederate states would be able to keep enforcing slavery or the union would abolish it. Abraham Lincoln issued the emancipation proclamation which was an executive order that declared “By January 1, 1863, that all slaves, in southern states would be freed in every territory in the United States.” Every state would be affected due to this executive order on how they feel about slaves being freed and coming to live in their area.

Imagine, if you will, rising earlier than the sun, eating a mere “snack”- lacking essentially all nutritional value - and trekking miles to toil in the unforgiving climate of the southern states, and laboring until the sun once again slipped under the horizon. Clad only in the rags your master provided (perhaps years ago), you begin walking in the dark the miles to your “home.” As described by the writers Jacob Stroyer and Josiah Henson, this “home” was actually a mere thatched roof, that you built with your own hands, held up by pathetic walls, over a dirt floor and you shared this tiny space with another family. Upon return to “home,” once again you eat the meager rations you were provided, and fall into bed

A slave’s curiosity is ignored; his mental thirst is only quenched by insults and demands of strenuous physical tasks. Slave masters want the slave as mentally and intellectually ignorant so that their manipulation is that much easier. At its core, one of slavery’s chief objectives is to keep the slave mentally immature. (Channing pg. 34) One of the easiest ways to keep a slave ignorant and mentally immature is to deny them an education. Slavery and knowledge cannot coexist in any way. Knowledge is purely to the detriment of the institution of slavery. Slave masters knew that to truly keep the slaves under their control, they must not learn anything that didn’t come from the slave hands. The ignorance of the slaves is to the security of the slave masters; to enlighten the slave is to break his chains. (Channing pg. 67) The mental blocks set upon slaves by slave masters and the atmosphere brought on by the institution of slavery was the biggest chain the slaves were ever locked in.

Education of African American people was not supported in Southern States, this was because white people believed that if they permit their slaves to learn to write, speak and talk in English, they would eventually become rebellious to their masters and become disobedient. This fear led them to think that fundamentally African American people were unable to absorb education.