Slaves were not allowed to learn reading or writing, and denied the right to an education.
Harriet Jacobs was born in Edenton, North Carolina, one of the first states to enact laws that forbade slaves from becoming literate. |
If any slave shall 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." |
She was kind to me, as I then counted kindness, never whipping me or starving me; but it was not what a free-born white child would have found comforting or needful." |
Treatment of slaves varied from owner to owner. Others would clothe their slaves and treat them humanely, like in Veney's narrative.
Others would go out their way to torment their slaves and strike them for any reason they deem fit. Harriet Jacobs found herself under a different kind of torment. |
Various reasons abounded for the support of slavery. Writers like Edmund Ruffin cited reasons such as racial superiority, economic stability, and financial repercussions should it be abolished.
However, those on the opposition accused Slavery as the bane of American hypocrisy and the pinnacle of immoral values within society during those times. |
To the operation and first results of domestic slavery were due the gradual civilization and general improvement of manners and of arts among all originally barbarous people...have subsequently emerged from barbarism and dark ignorance." |
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Edenton, North Carolina, during the 18th and 19th centuries, a center of culture and vibrancy among the early colonies. In addition to its lively reputation, it also great political and commercial power.
However, it achieved such a reputation through the labor of enslaved people such as Harriet Jacobs, and though "Eden" was neatly engraved in its title, it was a far cry from the legendary garden for many residents. Its at-home ports made Edenton an active participant in the Slave Trade, especially with it being the second largest port within the colonies. |
Jacobs demonstrates an early stance against not only slavery by learning to read and write, but the patriarchal norms of a women without education. This idea will be further discussed in the next page.