None of us was ’lowed to see a book or try to learn. Dey say we gitsmarter den dey was if we learn anything, but we slips around and gits hold of dat Webster’s old blue back speller and we hides it ’til way in de night and den we lights a little pine torch and studies dat spellin’ book. We learn it too. I can read some now and write a little too.

Jenny Proctor, enslaved in Alabama, interviewed in Texas, ca. 1937

I have no education, I can neither read nor write, as a slave I was not allowed to have books. On Sundays I would go into the woods and gather ginseng which I would sell to the doctors for from 10¢ to 15¢ a pound and with this money I would buy a book that was called the Blue Back Speller. Our master would not allow us to have any books and when we were lucky enough to own a book we would have to keep it hid, for if our master would find us with a book he would whip us and take the book from us. After receiving three severe whippings I gave up and never again tried for any learning, and to this day I can neither read nor write.

George Thompson, enslaved in Kentucky, interviewed in Indiana, 1937