Going Against the Grain

This excerpt , the second quarter of  the excerpt of "Going Against the Grain" basicly informed me of the white slave owners intention to keep slaves illiterate. Though it does state that not all people did believe in this passed law stating that literacy was illegal for the enslaved, it is still apalling to me. They actually had a system, when business was easy they loosened up on the slaves and did not enforce certain things but as soon as busines was booming the slaves were put on a tighter leash, especially as far as access to educational opportunities. According to Woodson there were three advocates of education for african americans: "slaveholders who believed that education increased economic efficiency, individual social reformers who operated from a sense of compassion for the oppressed, Christians of various denominations who belived that education was appropriate for all".This di bring about an interest to inform slaves. 
Later on slaveowners got cultivated the idea that slavery was a benefit to the enslaved because it brought from "barbaric and heathen conditions into civilizationand introduced them to the word of God.Sooner o Later Africans were however freely allowed the access to educational materials. In fact, Whites began to teach them so that they could soon becomes teachers. Literacy eventually rose in the african american community, more so in the north than in the south being as though the North had opened schools which mostly freed slaves attended or even slaves in between there chores. One of these black schools opened remain today and is known as Cheyney University. However, as the years went on literacy came to a decline. Educational opportunities for the blacks began to come to a close with the hopes of ending the" spirit of freedom among african americans" . This was not a success.


By: Aquila Payton