I shall never forget my first attempts to learn to spell. I was about thirteen years of age, when I nearly lost my life because I made an effort to gain this kind of knowledge.

Josiah Henson

A Murderous Uprising

August 21, 1831 was a horrible night, with more horrors to follow. A young man, by the name of Nat Turner, led an uprising among his fellow enslaved men in Southampton County, Virginia. That night saw the beginning of a savage massacre. A rebellion ultimately claiming around sixty free men, women, and children to whom they were enslaved. The retaliation was just as awful.

Turner was captured, along with sixteen others, and they were executed for their crimes, yet the aftermath of that night continued. Many slaves were randomly killed throughout Southampton County. Some were beheaded, and their heads were scattered on Virginia roads as a warning to potential rebels.

The Culprit?

Reading!

Reading was blamed for this. It was assumed that many slaves had used forged passes which allowed them to leave their premises and travel freely. To prevent any further atrocities, several states adopted codes which made it illegal to teach a black man to read. Punishments included excessive fines, imprisonments, and whippings.

Reading became known as the “great emancipator”. The skill was so highly valued that many put themselves into great danger to learn it. Those who learned took further risks, choosing to teach others. A former slave, James Fisher of Nashville, Tennessee wrote this:

“I . . . thought it wise to learn to write — in case opportunity should offer to write myself a pass. I copied every scrap of writing I could find, and thus learned to write a tolerable hand before I knew what the words were that I was copying. At last, I found an old man who, for the sake of money to buy whisky, agreed to teach me the writing alphabet, and set up copying. I spent a good deal of time trying to improve myself; secretly, of course. One day, my mistress happened to come into my room, when my materials were about; and she told her father… that I was learning to write. He replied that, if I belonged to him, he would cut my right hand off.”

How did they learn with scarce resources? Many ex-slaves tell of learning the alphabet and going forward from there. Once they learned the alphabet code, they would study any written word they could find. Sometimes they used Bibles or hymnbooks, or even newspapers and posted notices. They searched for clues and studied them, slowly learning to interpret written words.

Anti-Literacy Sentiments Perk a Young Boy’s Interest in Reading

Young Frederick had been brought to the home of Hugh and Sophia Auld in the waterfront district of Fell’s Point in Baltimore, Maryland. He was to become a playmate and “body servant” for their son Tommy. In their home he learned a lesson which propelled him into a life of literacy, freedom, and notoriety. The lesson came, not from what was taught him, but from what wasn’t taught him.

Mrs. Auld had begun teaching him to read, so he was familiar with the alphabet. When Mr. Auld learned of this, however, he demanded that the lessons be stopped. Frederick later wrote that the instruction was not only stopped, but it was stopped abruptly with great emotion. This is the story of Frederic Douglass, told in his autobiography.

“She not only ceased to instruct but had set her face against my being instructed by anyone else.” He also noted a personality change in her about which he said, “Slavery proved as injurious to her as it did to me.”

“Nothing seemed to make her more angry than to see me with a newspaper. She seemed to think that here lay the danger. I have had her rush at me with a face made all up of fury, and snatch from me a newspaper, in a manner that fully revealed her apprehension. She was an apt woman; and a little experience soon demonstrated, to her satisfaction, that education and slavery were incompatible with each other.”

 How Frederick Douglass Learned to Read

Armed with the knowledge of the alphabet, Frederick found help from another source. Here is his explanation of how he converted young boys on the streets into teachers:

“With their kindly aid, obtained at different times and in different places, I finally succeeded in learning to read. When I was sent on errands, I always took my book with me, and by doing one part of my errand quickly, I found time to get a lesson before my return. I used also to carry bread with me, enough of which was always in the house, and to which I was always welcome; for I was much better off in this regard than many of the poor white children in our neighborhood.

This bread I used to bestow upon the hungry little urchins who, in return, would give me that more valuable bread of knowledge. I am strongly tempted to give the names of two or three of those little boys, as a testimonial of the gratitude and affection I bear them; but prudence forbids: —not that it would injure me, but it might embarrass them; for it is almost an unpardonable offence to teach slaves to read in this Christian country.”

Another Event Pushed Douglass Toward Freedom

Douglass obtained the book, The Columbian Orator, which contained a dialogue between a master and his slave, a slave who had run away three times. Reading this account became another impetus for his desire to become free.

“The dialogue represented the conversation which took place between them, when the slave was retaken the third time. In this dialogue, the whole argument in behalf of slavery was brought forward by the master, all of which was disposed of by the slave. The slave was made to say some very smart as well as impressive things in reply to his master—things which had the desired though unexpected effect; for the conversation resulted in the voluntary emancipation of the slave on the part of the master.”

Frederick Douglas described the connection between literacy and freedom, which was proved in his own life. He acknowledged that it was a gift when his reading instruction was stopped with such deliberateness. This alerted him to the idea that literacy was valuable. It could be his ticket to freedom. Otherwise, it may have never mattered. And what a loss this would have been to the world.

His work was instrumental in the abolitionist movement. His writings give insight to the plight of the slave in America. He taught many like himself to find their way out of slavery. Without the drive to learn to read, all this would have been missed. His life is summed up by his simple quote:

“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”

Censorship & Propaganda – The Theft of Voice

If you have spent much time around children, especially quarrelling children, you may have observed disputes over who gets to explain what just happened. Here are some examples which I have witnessed.

• Children rushing toward me with their mouths full of words, each wanting to be the first to arrive at my feet and spill out the correct version of the story. And the fastest child wins.
• One child covering the mouth of another child to silence the other who is obviously speaking lies. And the toughest child wins.
• The well-spoken, using-a-gentle-voice child, explaining the right side of the story with a lawyer-like defense justifying whatever just happened. And the cleverest child wins.

I’m sure there are many variations of these premature attempts at censorship. They don’t bother us much, and most of the disputes are resolved without any problem. The more worrisome examples of censorship are much less innocent.

• The Italian dictator who used his experience as a newspaper editor and journalist to redefine truth, stifling the freedom of the press during his fascist reign.
• The murderous, Austrian-born German politician, and his minister of propaganda, who oversaw the use of newspapers, radio and even phone lines. And who stole and destroyed, or hid, thousands of paintings, drawings, sculptures, and books representing the culture of an undesired group of people.
• Present day social media giants who make decisions about what is or isn’t true, disallowing the sharing of ideas which they don’t like.
• The government officials in an Eastern nation who are destroying crosses, burning Bibles, and closing churches.
• Harsh and punishing southern plantation owners who abused the people who to them were chattel.

Our voices are valuable because they represent who we are. Before a people group is destroyed, their voices must first be taken away. Slave narratives, such as that of Frederick Douglass, amplified the voices of slaves and described the events they encountered in clear detail, thereby preserving, and empowering that voice.

Stenographers from the Field: Personal Stories to Emancipation

I shall never forget my first attempts to learn to spell. I was about thirteen years of age, when I nearly lost my life because I made an effort to gain this kind of knowledge. Josiah Henson

Learning to read and write helped American slaves on their journey. It moved them out from the most horrible of institutions, by giving them their voice. They were enabled to tell their side of the story. Those stories were shared, creating a sympathetic audience.

Josiah Henson’s life story was successful in this endeavor. Although his first autobiography required the help of Samuel Atkins Eliot, to whom Henson dictated his story, it’s impact was still very significant, in that it influenced the writing of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

As a young boy Henson attempted to learn to read, but his opportunity was stopped short. This story is included in his later book Uncle Tom’s Story of His Life: An Autobiography of Josiah Henson (1876).

Henson met another slave boy, William, who had been assigned the task of transporting his master’s children to and from school. This lad had learned to read while listening to the children discuss their daily lessons with their father, as he drove their wagon. When he learned that William could read, he arranged to be taught by him. William instructed him to buy a Webster’s spelling-book. So, Henson gathered cull apples, that had fallen to the ground in his master’s orchard, and he sold them to raise the money for the book which he bought and kept hidden under his hat.

The next day, he was attempting to harness his master’s horse, but the horse jolted, and he had to run to catch it. During the scuffle, his hat fell off, and the reading lesson book was exposed. I’ll let him tell you the rest of the story.

 After I had harnessed the horse my master exclaimed, “What’s that?” “A spelling-book.” “Whose is it?” “Mine.” “Where did you get it?” “Bought it, sir, when I went to market.” “How much was it?” “Eleven cents.” “Where did you get the money?” “I sold some apples out of our orchard.” “Our orchard!” he exclaimed, in a passion. “I’ll teach you to get apples from our orchard for such a vile purpose, so you’ll remember it. Give me that book.”

I stooped to pick it up, and as I saw his big cane coming down. I dodged. “Pick up that book,” he cried, using an awful oath. At last I was obliged to do it, when he beat me across the head and back till my eyes were swollen and I became unconscious. My poor mother found me in this state, and it was some time before I was able to be about my work again.

When my master saw me after I recovered, he said, sneeringly, “So you want to be a fine gentleman? Remember if you meddle with a book again, I’ll knock your brains out.” The wonder to me is, why I have any brains left. I shall carry to my grave a scar my master made that day on my head. I did not open a book again till after I was forty-two years of age and out of the land of slavery.

The dedication of men and women, like Fisher, Douglass, and Henson, shown through their true-life records, must certainly be respected. They have preserved this shameful bit of history, and the echoing stories of the atrocities they faced will continue to guard against similar cruelties. Their words have been preserved in libraries and online, and they are still being heard today. Through them we can recognize the importance of having a voice, and the dangers that people groups encounter when their voices are lost. We must work to preserve the art of reading and writing among our citizenry, or we will be no better off than they were.

Ain’t I a Woman 

by Sojourner Truth (former slave, abolitionist, and suffragist), 1851

That man over there say
a woman needs to be helped into carriages
and lifted over ditches
and to have the best place everywhere.

Nobody ever helped me into carriages
or over mud puddles
or gives me a best place…

And ain’t I a woman?

Look at me
Look at my arm!
I have plowed and planted
and gathered into barns
and no man could head me…

And ain’t I a woman?

I could work as much
and eat as much as a man —
when I could get to it —
and bear the lash as well

And ain’t I a woman?

I have born 13 children
and seen most all sold into slavery
and when I cried out a mother’s grief
none but Jesus heard me…

And ain’t I a woman?

That little man in black there say
a woman can’t have as much rights as a man
‘cause Christ wasn’t a woman
Where did your Christ come from?
From God and a woman!

Man had nothing to do with him!
If the first woman God ever made
was strong enough to turn the world
upside down, all alone
together women ought to be able to turn it
right-side up again.

Coming next: Chapter Five — The Irish Mom who gave her son a Voice

from Dyslexic no More: Saved by the ABC’s