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Importance Of Literacy And Literacy Essay

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Literacy and Slavery In the time when slavery had been practiced in South, people already knew that literacy is an important capability. Slave owners trained their slaves to perform complex tasks, such as working the fields, managing animals, and farming, but they don't teach their slaves how to read and write. Slaveholder’s society benefit from preventing its slaves from learning to read and write. Literacy is an important capability because, it’s the first step on the road to mental and physical freedom. Literacy is a person's ability to read and write. Writing and reading are important to help function in school, on the job, and in society. Reading and writing is a vital skills in finding a good job. Many well paying jobs …show more content…

This is, of course, not wanted by the slave owners because slaves are considered as property. Slave owners create an environment which the slave owners had created for the slaves was a perfect way of controlling slaves’ life. In an oppressive society benefit from preventing its slaves from learning to read and write. Slaves were only trained to perform complex tasks, such as farming, managing animals, working the fields. Slaveholders keep their slaves uneducated to control them and maximum use their human power. Most slave owners believed that teaching such skills was useless. Although some masters taught their slaves how to read and write, it was dangerous and illegal. For example Mr. Auld had told his wife that she no longer allowed to teach Frederick Douglass any more. But Douglass already start to learn how to read. Mr. Auld said “if you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell” but Douglass already take his ell. Douglass understood that illiteracy was a tool used by the white slave owners to keep full hands on their slaves. He also understood that ability to be literacy would be the next thing to freedom. Literacy had allowed him to review his social position, it caused him a lot of pain because he understood that he is lifetime slave in white society. Illiteracy allowed

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