Bending the arc of justice

The cruelty and evil displayed during the early days of the United States are perhaps unmatched in any period in human history. Slaves were indoctrinated that they were born inferior. It was even preached that it was part of God’s plan. Apostle Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians (King James Version, which is what was used at the time), “Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ.” There are plenty of other passages that God-sanctioned this type of behavior that justified the behavior of slave owners.

In 1828, Federick Bailey was born into the world of slavery with no legal rights or protections. He was separated from his mother during his infancy and sent to his grandparents. His father was a white man who may have been his mother’s slave owner. At six, he was separated from his grandparents and was sent to a plantation. Bailey was then sent to Captain Hugh Auld and his wife Sophia at ten. Bailey felt fortunate when he was sent to work in the home. In the home, Bailey began interacting with books and letters and discovered “the mystery” of reading. Bailey made the connection that the lines of the page correlated with the sounds people were making. Bailey began studying Webster’s Spelling Book. He memorized the alphabet but struggled to understand the sounds made to the letters. Bailey broke down and finally asked Sophia Auld to help him. At the time, slaves were prohibited from learning to read. Whether it was ignorance or empathy, Auld agreed to teach young Bailey. When Captain Auld discovered what had happened, outraged, he ordered it to stop immediately. Captain Auld explained to Sophia in the company of Bailey:

“A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master—to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world. Now, if you teach that nigger how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave.”

Bailey later recounted, “I now understood…the white man’s power to enslave the black man. From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom.” It’s important to note that in 1860, it was estimated that 5% of African Americans could read and write. By 1890, it was 39%. It wasn’t until 1969 that literacy grew to 96%.

Without Sophia’s help, Bailey continued to find ways to teach himself how to read and then taught other slaves. Bailey wrote, “Their minds had been starved…They had been shut up in mental darkness. I taught them, because it was the delight of my soul.”

(I cried reading that passage the first time. It is so beautiful.)

Bailey eventually escaped and fled to New England, where slavery was illegal. He then changed his name to Frederick Douglas and became a social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, statesman, and the most important civil rights movement leader during the 19th century.

It is easy to forget almost all of human history; we lacked tools for reading and writing. Books are a modern invention. And it wasn’t until the printing press was invented that we mass-produced them. That was just 500 years ago. With access to literature, all things are possible in the pursuit toward dignity and equity.