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The treatise of Dr. Carter Godwin Woodson on _The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861_ offers an impressive array of evidence to show that there were many more Negroes than have usually been supposed who had some literary knowledge while still under slavery. Other evidence bearing on a subject of so great importance cannot but have interest for historians of that period.
Some of the statistics in the United States Census of 1870 are in point: Figures are there given for the colored men of voting age, that is for those over 21, who were unable to read and write. There are also given the total numbers of colored men of voting age in the several States. Subtracting the former from the latter will then give the number of those able to read and write. The results appear in the table presented below:
COLORED MALES 21 YEARS OF AGE AND UPWARD IN 1870; WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR ABILITY TO WRITE
=====================+===========+===========+=========+========== | | Unable to | Able to | Per Cent | Total | Write | Write | Able ---------------------+-----------+-----------+---------+---------- United States | 1,032,475 | 862,243 | 170,232 | 16.5 Southern States | 932,612 | 820,670 | 111,942 | 12.0 All other states | 99,863 | 41,573 | 58,290 | 58.4 ---------------------+-----------+-----------+---------+---------- Alabama | 97,823 | 91,017 | 6,806 | 6.9 Arkansas | 26,789 | 23,681 | 3,108 | 11.6 District of Columbia | 10,143 | 7,599 | 2,544 | 25.1 Florida | 18,842 | 16,806 | 2,036 | 10.8 Georgia | 107,962 | 100,551 | 7,411 | 6.9 Kentucky | 44,322 | 37,889 | 6,432 | 14.5 Louisiana | 86,911 | 76,612 | 10,301 | 11.7 Maryland | 39,123 | 27,123 | 11,997 | 30.6 Mississippi | 89,920 | 80,810 | 9,116 | 10.1 Missouri | 23,886 | 18,002 | 5,880 | 24.6 North Carolina | 78,012 | 68,669 | 9,350 | 12.0 South Carolina | 85,475 | 70,830 | 14,645 | 17.1 Tennessee | 64,131 | 55,938 | 8,193 | 12.8 Texas | 51,575 | 47,235 | 4,340 | 8.4 Virginia | 107,691 | 97,908 | 9,783 | 9.1 ---------------------+-----------+-----------+---------+----------
This Census gives the figures for women of color over 21 years of age who were unable to write; but not the whole number of women of color over 21. If however we assume the proportion of all Negro males to all Negro females to hold the same for those over 21 we arrive at the conclusion that the whole number of women of color over 21 was 1,072,847 for the United States; of whom 946,332 were unable to write and 126,515 were able. That is, in 1870, there were approximately 126,515 women of color of 21 years of age and upward who were able to read and write. This number added to the 170,232, found for the number of literate men, gives a total of 296,747 Negroes of 21 years of age and upward who were able to read and write; which is 14 per cent of the whole number. There must have been a considerable increase between 1863 and 1870, but one can hardly suppose it to have been over 4 per cent, or 84,212, which substantiates the estimate of about 10 per cent of the Negroes as able to read and write at the date of emancipation. We may suppose that the number of those who were able to read, but did not add to this the accomplishment of writing, must have been much larger.