Carter Godwin Woodson 
Education of the Negro Prior to 1861 [PDF ebook] 
A History of the Education of the Colored People of the United States From the Beginning of Slavery to the Civil War

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. The Spanish and French missionaries, the first to face this problem, set an example which influ enced the education of the Negroes throughout America. Some of these early heralds of Catholi cism manifested more interest in the Indians than in the Negroes, and advocated the enslavement of the Africans rather than that of the Red Men. But being anxious to see the Negroes enlightened and brought into the Church, they courageously directed their attention to the teaching of their slaves, provided for the instruction of the numerous mixed-breed offspring, and granted freedmen the educational privileges of the highest classes. Put to Shame by this noble example of the Catholics, the English colonists had to find a way to over come the objections of those who, granting that the enlightenment of the slaves might not lead to servile insurrection, nevertheless feared that their conversion might work manumission. Tolegislation by their assemblies and formal declara tions of the Bishop of London, the abrogation of the law that a Christian could not be held as a slave. Then allowed access to the bondmen, the missionaries of the Church of England, sent out by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Heathen in Foreign Parts, undertook to educate the slaves for the purpose of extensive proselyting.