Educational laws of Virginia

by Margaret Crittenden Douglass

“Section 31. Every assemblage of negroes for the purpose of religious worship, when such worship is conducted by a negro, and every assemblage of negroes for the purpose of instruction in reading or writing, or in the night-time for any purpose, shall be an unlawful assembly: any Justice may issue his warrant to any officer, or other person, requiring him to enter any place where such assemblage may be, and seize any negro therein; and he, or any other Justice, may order such negro to be punished with stripes.

“Sec. 32. If a white person assemble with negroes for the purpose of instructing them to read or write, or if he associate with them in an unlawful assembly, he shall be confined in jail not exceeding six months, and fined not exceeding one hundred dollars; and any Justice may require him to enter into a recognizance, with sufficient security, to appear before the Circuit, County, or Corporation Court, where the offence was committed, at its next term, to answer therefor; and in the meantime, to keep the peace and be of good behavior.”

It will be seen from this, that in the enlightened State of Virginia, it is a crime for one portion of human beings to worship their Maker! Comment is unnecessary. Those men, whose moral sense was so blunted, so destroyed, that they could pass such a law as that, could not be expected to find much difficulty in enacting one subjecting to fine and imprisonment any one who taught negro children their letters. The old law, for which this is a substitute, was exceedingly explicit in this respect, but had become a dead letter. The new one is very loose in its language. It will be seen that the expressions “he” and “him” are used, allowing the Judge and jury the opportunity of a strict construction of the law, in case a lady should be concerned. Since my trial and conviction, I have been advised by one of the most eminent counsel in Virginia, that the Norfolk Court exceeded its powers, and violated the law by not construing the act literally in my case. It is possible that I may yet hold all the parties concerned responsible for their unlawful course. At any rate, it utterly demolishes the nice theory of Judge Baker, that he was bound to sustain the law, and leaves him without an excuse for his unnecessary severity towards me.

I now approach a subject vitally connected with the interests of the South and the welfare of humanity. In doing so, I have no rancor or malice to serve, but boldly speak my mind, and tell my Southern sisters a truth which, however they may have learned it by sad experience, has probably never been thus presented to them before. In this truth is to be found the grand secret of the opposition to the instruction of the colored race. It therefore becomes important in connection with my narrative. In this truth also lies the grand secret of the discontent and rebellion among the slaves. Knowing this, it is easy to perceive why such strenuous efforts are made to keep the colored population in darkness and ignorance. As it is, nature herself often rebels against what instinct teaches even the most degraded negro to be inhuman and devilish, and if to this were added the light of intelligence afforded by even the commonest instruction, wo to the darling system of this offspring of the institution of slavery. This subject demands the attention, not only of the religious population, but of statesmen and law-makers. It is the one great evil hanging over the Southern slave States, destroying domestic happiness and the peace of thousands. It is summed up in the single word—amalgamation. This, and this only, causes the vast extent of ignorance, degradation, and crime that lies like a black cloud over the whole South. And the practice is more general than even Southerners are willing to allow. While even the Northern libertine usually revolts from the intimate society of those in whose veins courses a drop of black blood, the Southern gentleman takes them to his very bosom and revels in their fancied charms, until satiety disgusts him, when he deliberately sells them into lower degradation as he would a disabled horse.

It is impossible to deny that this unnatural custom prevails to a fearful extent throughout the South. The testimony is of too positive and personal a character to be overcome. Neither is it to be found only in the lower order of the white population. It pervades the entire society. Its followers are to be found among all ranks, occupations, and professions. The white mothers and daughters of the South have suffered under it for years—have seen their dearest affections trampled upon—their hopes of domestic happiness destroyed, and their future lives embittered even to agony, by those who should be all in all to them as husband, sons and brothers. I cannot use too strong language in reference to this subject, for I know that it will meet with a heartfelt response from every Southern woman. I would deal delicately with them if I could, but they know the fact, and their hearts bleed under its knowledge, however they may have attempted to conceal their discoveries. Southern wives know that their husbands come to them reeking with pollution from the arms of their tawny mistresses. Father and son seek the same sources of excitement, and alike gratify their inhuman propensities, scarcely blushing when detected, and recklessly defying every command of God and every tie of morality and human affection. They have not even the paltry excuse that ordinary liberties sometimes make, that their love is real, though illicit—the whole practice is plainly, unequivocally, shamelessly beastly. Is there any wonder then that people addicted to these habits are rapidly returning to a state of semi-barbarism?

Is it to be supposed that the ordinary teachings of nature do not tell the sable sons and daughters of the South that this custom is inhuman and ungodly? Is not chastity a natural instinct, even among the worst savage nations of the earth? Will not the natural impulses rebel against what becomes with them a matter of force? The female slave, however fair she may have become, by the various comminglings of her progenitors, or whatever her mental and moral acquirements, knows that she is a slave, and as such, powerless beneath the whims or fancies of her master. If he casts upon her a desiring eye, she knows that she must submit. There is no way of escape, and her only thought is, that the more gracefully she yields the stronger and longer hold she may, perchance, retain upon the brutal appetite of her master. Still, she feels her degradation, and so do others with whom she is connected. She has parents, brothers and sisters, a lover perhaps, all of whom suffer through and with her, and in whose hearts spring up roots of bitterness which are destined to grow into trees whose branches will sooner or later overshadow the whole land.

How important, then, for these Southern sultans, that the objects of their criminal passions should be kept in utter ignorance and degradation. They must not read the Bible because that teaches them of the sin of their masters. They must not worship God, for the effect thereof would be to imbue them with a deeper horror of this great wickedness. They must not learn to read and write, for every mental and moral improvement only tends to bring out and improve those feelings and emotions that already repel this gross system of sensuality and licentiousness. Were the negroes instructed in their duties to themselves and to each other, their obligations to their masters and their God, and were these instructions exemplified by the consistent lives of their masters, with the natural religious tendencies of the negro race, the South would become the very garden of the Lord. Instead of becoming discontented and rebellious, the very reverse would be the case. There would be no fear of insurrections, for there would be no inducement. But when a man, black though he be, knows that, at any moment, he is compelled to hand over his wife, his sister, or his daughter, to the loathsome embraces of the man whose chains he wears, how can it be expected that he will submit without the feelings of hatred and revenge taking possession of his heart?

I have no desire to pursue this subject farther, at present. I give it, as the cause of the discontent and rebellion among the Southern slaves, and also as the cause of the creation of that disgraceful law, which now stands like a great black blot on the code of Virginia, and under whose unjust application I have been made to suffer. The subject is one that will not be suffered to rest, for I know my Southern sisters well enough to believe that they will not much longer rest tamely under the influences of this damning curse. I have told them plainly of the evil—the remedy is in their own hands.

Transcriber’s Notes

[Page 6]: “and, and, as she grew older,” changed to “and, as she grew older,”