Educational laws of Virginia

by Margaret Crittenden Douglass

Imagine my surprise, when I reached the steps of the courthouse, to find a crowd of colored men, women, and children, the parents and relatives of friends of our little scholars, waiting to learn the decision of the Mayor. They greeted myself and daughter with many blessings, and said that if we had anything to pay they had the money ready for us. I replied that such was not the case, and that there had been no harm done; and after warmly thanking them for their kindness and sympathy, we looked around for our little scholars, gathered as many of them as we could together, and took them back to the school-room, where we gave each of them their books and slates, and, with wounded hearts, took leave of them, one by one. It was a sad parting, and we grieved to think that they must henceforth grow up in darkness and ignorance. For several days it was as much as we could do to receive the visits of the parents and friends of those children, many of whom we had never seen before. They lamented over the breaking up of our little school, and many shed tears freely. They showered their blessings upon us, and prayed for our welfare, and were evidently truly grateful for all we had done for their children.

It is generally thought in the Southern States that the negroes are ungrateful, but I, for one, have never found them so. From the day that I first interested myself in these unfortunate people, to the day I left the city of Norfolk, they literally showered upon us their grateful blessings. In my opinion, those who call the Southern negroes ungrateful, are only those who never do anything to call forth that emotion. I believe the oppressed to be more susceptible of gratitude than any other class. I have ever found them so. May I ask what gratitude do they owe to those who will degrade them? What gratitude does that child owe to his own father, who coldly sells him as his slave? Let us first practice justice and mercy ourselves, and then ask for the gratitude of our slaves.

My scholars having been dismissed, and the school given up, in obedience to the requirements of the law, I felt perfectly satisfied that the matter had there ended. I had promised my daughter, some months before, a visit to New York, during the intended vacation of our school, but the authorities did not allow us the pleasure of thus indulging our scholars, having given them an earlier and much longer vacation than we ever dreamed of.

My daughter left Norfolk on the 29th day of June, for the city of New York, intending to return about the first of September. In her absence I was left entirely alone, without even a servant, and so remained for about six months, seldom going out, and receiving but few visitors, aside from my little scholars who would occasionally come to see me, and bring some little token of their continued affection. They all knew that I was very fond of flowers, and it was seldom that my table did not contain bouquets from their hands. Indeed, they kept me supplied with flowers during the whole summer. I still continued to visit them whenever they were sick, for I knew that no authorities could prevent this. Both I and my friends supposed that the matter was forever ended, until the 13th day of July, when, to my utter astonishment, I was served with a legal paper, of which the following is a correct copy:—

“The Commonwealth of Virginia

To the Sergeant of the City of Norfolk:

You are hereby commanded to summon Margaret Douglass, and Rosa Douglass, to appear before the Judge of our Circuit Court of the City of Norfolk, at the Court House of our said City, on the first day of the next November Term, to answer a presentment of the Grand Jury made against them in the said Court, on the 2d day of June, 1853, for this, that the said Margaret Douglass, and Rosa Douglass, and each of them, did, on the 9th day of May, 1853, at the City of Norfolk, unlawfully assemble with divers negroes, for the purpose of instructing them to read and to write, and did instruct them to read and to write, contrary to the Act of the General Assembly, in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Witness, John Williams, Clerk of our said Court, at the Court House, this 13th day of July, 1853, in the 78th year of the Commonwealth.

(Signed,) Jno. Williams, C. C.
A Copy, (Signed,) Jno. Williams, C. C.

This document needs but little comment. I merely ask, was not the cause a great one that enabled a poor weak woman thus to disturb “the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth of Virginia,” and that, too, “in the 78th year” of its existence? Were not the subject too serious, one might venture to laugh at the idea of the fearful perils to which that dignified and aristocratic State was subjected, by the fact that a few little negro boys and girls had learned that famous sentence “In Adam’s fall we sinned all.” Let the fact be recorded, and go down to posterity among the noble archives of that noble State, that her existence was jeopardized in the year 1853, by the shocking occurrence of some of its inhabitants learning “to read and to write.” Shades of Henry Clay, of Thomas Jefferson, of John Randolph, and of all the dead worthies of Virginia, behold a specimen of enlightened progression that is something more than an abstraction!