Why were slaves not aloud to read?

Question

I am lyke doing this prompt thing and I cant find anything about why they are not aloud to read. HELPP??

Answer 1

they were not aloud to read(blacks) because americans think that they dont have the capacity to understand what they were reading and that deep inside americans dont want black people to be educated cause then they would know that they have to fight for their rights/

Answer 2

Because reading is education. And education is power. The last thing slave owners wanted slaves to do is read. What if the slaves read the Constitution and said, "Wait a minute...?" Or what if they read stuff that could harm the slave owner or read stuff that could help them fight their owners, or establish some secret underground network, or so on? What if a slave went to the local courthouse and filed a lawsuit against their owner, or tried to register to vote? All these things require filling out applications and paperwork. Nothing works by word of mouth in the legal system and government in general, paperwork must be filled out. Written records are the only things that matter. After all, when something gets passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth, it gets distorted. However, when something is in writing, it's a record and it's recorded and will most likely never be forgotten.

Originally, slaves were sold off by African tribes that had defeated another African tribe and wanted to make some money off their people. So it worked out for the whites (and even Native Americans had slaves), because many of the slaves spoke different languages because they were from different tribes. Therefore, they couldn't organize a revolt against their capturers/slave traders on the boatride over and couldn't resist their slave owners effectively. If slaves could all write English, don't you think they would encourage eachother to revolt/make plans/write poems that went against what the slave owner wanted?

There are so many reasons.

Answer 3

I'm no historian...but if I recall correctly from my college history courses, I believe that slaves were not allowed to learn to read basically because of the fear of the masters. The slave owners feared that if the slaves became to educated, they may revolt against them. Also, if they could read and write, then they could actually understand documents concerning themselves and slavery better and they might have banded together to do something about their situation....just an educated guess.

Answer 4

By not allowing slaves to read, slaves were not only made slaves by their physical circumstance, but by the slavery of the mind that results from not being exposed to the liberty of ideas contained in the written word.

Answer 5

I'm not sure but I'd say the "masters" wanted the slaves to be ignorant figuring that they'd be easier to control. They knew and didn't want the slaves to be able to think for themselves for reading and understanding gives you the power to rise above the situation that you're in. And they considered them less than human.

Answer 6

A famous example comes from the autobiography of Fredrick Douglas (famous ex-slave who turned abolitionist and advised Lincoln). When his master discovered his daughter secretly taught Douglas to read, he screamed at his daughter saying that a slave wouldn't work after learning to read and would try to escape. He was right.

Answer 7

Women were also prohibited from learning to read and write long ago. The Bible used to only be printed in Latin so that the common people could not read it.

It's easier to keep people oppressed when they are denied education. If you can control their ability to learn you can more easily control them.

Answer 8

To keep them (slaves) ignorant of anything other than what they are told.

That's the same reason that education systems are in the dismal state they are: What you don't know won't hurt me.

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Answer 9

so white people could control slaves easily, of course...the ability to read = the ability to think = the ability to announce what they think = joining force for action!

Answer 10

Is that true? Was it a southern thing or what? I have no point of reference.