Solomon Northup, Frederick Douglass, and Eugene D. Genovese proved that THESE ARE FILTHY LIES!

[dalton99a]

10. Many people don't know that in the South it was a crime to teach FREE black children to read

not just slaves

On January 10, 1854, a judge in Norfolk, Virginia, sentenced a white woman, Margaret Douglass, to one month in jail for teaching free Black children to read. The jury had recommended a $1 fine, but Circuit Court Judge Richard H. Baker said he imposed the jail term to set an example for others who could undermine “peace” in Virginia with such “manifestly mischievous” opinions or performing similar activities. He also chided Douglass, who was a home-based vest-maker, for representing herself instead of hiring an attorney.

Resettling in Philadelphia soon after completing her jail term, Douglass published a 65-page memoir, Personal Narrative of Mrs. Margaret Douglass, a Southern Woman Who Was Imprisoned for One Month in the Common Jail of Norfolk, Under the Laws of Virginia, for the Crime of Teaching Free Colored Children to Read. While Douglass insisted in her trial and book that she was not an abolitionist, she denounced both the Virginia law that prohibited teaching literacy to free African Americans and the judge as short-sighted, disgraceful and cruel, and the hypocrisy and cowardice of Norfolk elites who taught Black children in Sunday schools but would not publicly acknowledge their actions. Douglass’ book also provided insights into white fear of Black literacy and beliefs about white supremacy, some of which Douglass also held.

https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/woman-jailed-teaching-black-children-to-read/