Douglass, Margaret (b. 1882) Educational Laws of Virginia, the Personal Narrative of Mrs. Margaret Douglass.

Description:

Douglass, Margaret (b. 1882) Educational Laws of Virginia, the Personal Narrative of Mrs. Margaret Douglass. Boston: Published by John P. Jewett & Co., 1854. First edition, octavo, publisher's printed limp brown paper wrappers, stab sewn, somewhat chipped, front cover detached, 8 1/4 x 5 in.

Douglass was a Southern white woman who served one month in jail in 1854 for teaching free black children to read in Norfolk, Virginia. She defended herself in court and published this account of her experiences. Douglass was a racist, and supported slavery, but simultaneously believed that the Virginia law against teaching black children to read was "one of the most inhuman and unjust laws that ever disgraced the statute book of a civilized community." Further complications abound. Douglass also blamed the existence of the law on white men who sexually abused enslaved black women. She felt that some of the white men who prosecuted the case against her had fathered some of her students. The law in question was abolished in 1867.
Estimate $300-400


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