What were the legal prohibitions in the south, specifically in the
state of Georgia, on teaching slaves and former slaves to read? I'm
interested in the actual language from the state law both before the
Civil War, and, if applicable, afterward. What were the social or
other consequences for whites who taught blacks in the Jim Crow era?
Were there any significant instances of bodily harm that came to white
teachers of black children in the Jim Crow south prior to 1930? I'm
interested in incidents in Georgia, and specifically Atlanta.

Dear narrative-ga;

Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question.

In response to your request for legal language regarding Georgia slave
laws before during or after the Jim Crow era, this document should
answer all your questions:

SLAVE CODES OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA 1848
http://academic.udayton.edu/race/02rights/slavelaw.htm

Pay particular attention to this statute:

SECTION II – MINOR OFFENCES
#11 Punishment for teaching slaves or free persons of color to read.
“If any slave, Negro, or free person of color, or any white person,
shall teach any other slave, Negro, or free person of color, to read
or write either written or printed characters, the said free person of
color or slave shall be punished by fine and whipping, or fine or
whipping, at the discretion of the court.”

As you can clearly see, this law was one of the few in the slave code
that applied to whites as well as people of color. To make matters
worse, there were other “catch-all” statutes that provided for the
punishment of “offences not defined” (#23) and which prohibited a
person of color from testifying in court unless they were testifying
against another person of color (#41).

In time, with the end of the civil war and the introduction of the
thirteenth and fourteenth amendments, the slave codes gave way to
“black codes” that dealt primarily with segregation laws. This, of
course, was common, especially in the south, until the civil rights
movement of the 1960’s.

During the Jim Crow era, whites that taught blacks (and indeed later,
freed slaves and free people of color who taught students of color)
were very underpaid – if paid at all, and had to face terribly poor
conditions, few materials and inadequate facilities. They occasionally
suffered harassment at the hands of a bigoted society and were often
ostracized by their own communities, as in the case of Ellen Smith
Craft (1826 – 1891).
GEORGIA WOMEN OF ACHIEVEMENT – ELLEN SMITH CRAFT
http://www.gawomen.org/honorees/long/crafte_long.htm

Here are some other examples but they are not exclusive to the Atlanta
area:

“…in July 1871 the same paper reported that masked men had beaten a
white teacher of a black school in Bastrop.”
HANDBOOK OF TEXAS ONLINE
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/KK/vek2.html

“…white teacher who was whipped and told to leave the state…”
“…white teachers and school buildings were often the aim of murders
and arsons…”
KU KLUX KKLAN
http://www.8ung.at/thb/kukluxklan.pdf

“…Black schools were burned and pillaged throughout the South. Seven
schools were burned in Georgia in 1866…”
JIM CROW’S CHILDREN: The Broken Promise Of the Brown Decision
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/jimcrowschildren.htm

Notable teachers in Athens, Georgia in the 1860’s-1870’s that you
might consider learning more about with regard to this issue:

Annae Alders, Camilla Jackson, Eliza Ayer, Nancy Brooks, K.M. Beach,
Martha Ayers, Fidelia Morgan, Carrie Morse, Frederic Sawtelle, James
Stevenson, L.J. Kelley, Emma Florence Fitch, Scipio Simmons and Sarah
Van Nest.

“UGA professor chronicles work by educators of freed slaves”
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/061501/uga_0615010050.shtml

I hope you find that that my research exceeds your expectations. If
you have any questions about my research please post a clarification
request prior to rating the answer. I welcome your rating and your
final comments and I look forward to working with you again in the
near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga



INFORMATION SOURCES

SLAVE CODES OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA 1848
http://academic.udayton.edu/race/02rights/slavelaw.htm

UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
http://collections.ic.gc.ca/freedom/page21.htm

THE BROWN DECISION – FACT OR MYTH IN CONNECTICUT
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1992/1/92.01.09.x.html

EXAMPLES OF JIM CROW LAWS
http://academic.udayton.edu/race/02rights/jcrow02.htm

JIM CROW LAWS
http://afroamhistory.about.com/cs/jimcrowlaws/index.htm?once=true&terms=jim%20crow

SLAVERY CASES
http://academic.udayton.edu/race/02rights/slavery01.htm

GWINNETT COUNTY GEORIGA - SLAVERY AND THE CIVIL WAR
http://patsabin.com/gwinnett/history.htm

GEORGIA WOMEN OF ACHIEVEMENT – ELLEN SMITH CRAFT
http://www.gawomen.org/honorees/long/crafte_long.htm

JIM CROW’S CHILDREN: The Broken Promise Of the Brown Decision
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/jimcrowschildren.htm

“The Slave Rebellion of General Nat Turner”
http://rwor.org/a/v19/940-49/945/TURNER.HTM

“Crossing the Threshold: The Roles of Elite Southern White Women in
the American Civil War”
http://www.loyno.edu/~history/journal/1997-8/Matherne.html

THE SLAVE’S FRIEND
http://www.merrycoz.org/slave/SLAVE38.HTM

“UGA professor chronicles work by educators of freed slaves”
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/061501/uga_0615010050.shtml



SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINE USED:

Google ://www.google.com


SEARCH TERMS USED:

SLAVE EDUCATION LAWS

UNDERGROUND RAILROAD EDUCATION

UNDERGROUND RAILROAD SCHOOLS

PROHIBITED EDUCATING SLAVES

PROHIBITED EDUCATION SLAVES

SLAVE CODES

JAILED TEACHING SLAVES GEORGIA

BEATEN TEACHING SLAVES GEORGIA

ARRESTED TEACHING SLAVES GEORGIA

The specificity of this answer exceeded my expectation; the researcher
not only answered my questions, but he also anticipated my need for
concrete examples and used imagination in his use of sources.