Slaves Are Prohibited to Read and Write by Law
Slave masters understood that their social control of the slaves could not be
based solely on physical coercion. Knowledge was power, and virtually all slave
codes established in the United States set restrictions making it illegal to
teach slaves to read or write. The statute below, passed by the state of North
Carolina in 1830—1831, was fairly typical.
AN ACT TO PREVENT ALL PERSONS FROM TEACHING SLAVES TO READ OR WRITE, THE USE OF
FIGURES EXCEPTED
Whereas the teaching of slaves to read and write, has a tendency to excite
dis-satisfaction in their minds, and to produce insurrection and rebellion, to
the manifest injury of the citizens of this State:
Therefore,
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina, and it is
hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That any free person, who shall
hereafter teach, or attempt to teach, any slave within the State to read or
write, the use of figures excepted, or shall give or sell to such slave or
slaves any books or pamphlets, shall be liable to indictment in any court of
record in this State having jurisdiction thereof, and upon conviction, shall,
at the discretion of the court, if a white man or woman, be fined not less than
one hundred dollars, nor more than two hundred dollars, or imprisoned; and if a
free person of color, shall be fined, imprisoned, or whipped, at the discretion
of the court, not exceeding thirty nine lashes, nor less than twenty lashes.
II. Be it further enacted, That if any slave shall hereafter teach, or attempt
to teach, any other slave to read or write, the use of figures excepted, he or
she may be carried before any justice of the peace, and on conviction thereof,
shall be sentenced to receive thirty nine lashes on his or her bare back.
III. Be it further enacted, That the judges of the Superior Courts and the
justices of the County Courts shall give this act in charge to the grand juries
of their respective counties.
Source: "Act Passed by the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina at
the Session of 1830—1831" (Raleigh: 1831).
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