Educational Laws of Virginia
9781465678706
213 pages
Library of Alexandria
Overview
I am perfectly aware that the public cannot be interested in my personal history previous to the occurrences which this narrative is designed to lay before them, nor am I vain enough to suppose that there would be any thing in it worth relating. It will, however, be seen necessary that I should state who and what I was, and under what circumstances I found myself suddenly placed, by the authorities of the city of Norfolk, in a position of such unenviable notoriety. This position was not one of my own seeking, nor was I the agent or representative of any association. I was not a “Northern emissary,” engaged in undermining the institutions of the South, and recklessly defying her laws, but only a weak and helpless woman, endeavoring to do what I deemed my duty to God and to humanity. In order to relate the circumstances as they occurred, so that they may be fully understood, my narrative must necessarily assume a personal character, for it was I, and I alone, who was contending for a heaven-born principle against not only the authorities of Norfolk, but against the united strength of the whole State of Virginia. The entire population of the commonwealth that claims to be the first and noblest in the land were the plaintiffs in this case, I, alone, the defendant. My story therefore must not be called egotistical. It is necessary also that I refer to myself, in order to do away with any impression that I was or am anAbolitionist, as that term is usually understood at the South, for I am aware that a strong effort will be made to induce this belief on the part of the community, in order to weaken the effect which I hope my book is destined to produce. I deem it proper, then, to state at the outset that such is not the case, and that I was not contending against any of the Southern institutions, but only against a particular law of the State of Virginia, and of, as I believe, some of the neighboring States. Against the operations of this law, a large portion of even the inhabitants of Virginia are beginning to rebel, as contrary, not only to good morals, but to the spirit of our country’s institutions. This law, although connected with slavery as a Southern institution, has not necessarily anything to do with the abstract question of slavery itself. It is one that might exist in a free State, though, happily it does not. It is a law whose influence is felt, not only among the slave population of Virginia, but which extends even to the whites themselves. By a recent statement made to the Legislature of Virginia, the number of grown up white men and women in the State is estimated at nine hundred thousand, and of this number there are no-less than eighty thousand who can neither read nor write. The law, in concise terms, prohibits the instruction of all colored persons, by means of books or printed papers, but it does not prevent the giving of verbal or oral instruction even to slaves. In some of the Southern States a similar law exists in reference only to the slave population, but I was not aware until my arrest, that the law of Virginia was more stringent, and included in its operation the free colored people as well as the slaves. Had I known this, and had I not the constant example before me of those whom I supposed were well informed as to this matter, I should not have dared to set myself up in opposition to the laws of a State of which I was a resident.
