[1] In 1855 certain influential citizens of North Carolina[2]
memorialized their legislature asking among other things that the
slaves be taught to read. This petition provoked some discussion, but
did not receive as much attention as that of Georgia.
[Footnote 1: _Special Report of the U.S. Com. of Ed._, p. 339]
[Footnote 2: _African Repository_, vol. xxxi., pp. 117-118.]
In view of this renewed interest in the education of the Negroes
of the South we are anxious to know exactly what proportion of
the colored population had risen above the plane of illiteracy.
Unfortunately this cannot be accurately determined. In the first
place, it was difficult to find out whether or not a slave could read
or write when such a disclosure would often cause him to be dreadfully
punished or sold to some cruel master of the lower South. Moreover,
statistics of this kind are scarce and travelers who undertook to
answer this question made conflicting statements. Some persons of that
day left records which indicate that only a few slaves succeeded in
acquiring an imperfect knowledge of the common branches, whereas
others noted a larger number of intelligent servants.
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