Early Quaker education in PennsylvaniaWoody, Thomas
History
Early Quaker education in Pennsylvania
Woody, Thomas
Education -- Pennsylvania -- History; Society of Friends -- Education -- History; Thesis (Ph. D.)
[Sidenote: Social approval given those who freed slaves]
Very early, the meetings were urged to give their attention to the
religious and school education of the negroes that were in their
possession,[1259] but a majority of the reports from meetings are to
the effect that this did not receive satisfactory attention.[1260] No
evidence remains in any records to show that there was a separate school
ever established for Negroes, and it is quite possible that there never
was during the 18th century. The demands transmitted through Bucks
Quarterly were not so strictly enforced in regard to education as in
regard to liberation, and it is more than probable that it was in most
cases determined by the individual conscience than by the group. In
regard to forcing liberation by public opinion, there are many examples
where individuals were singled out and threatened with ejection from the
society if they refused their slaves freedom,[1261] but there are few
references to such action taken for failure to educate them; there are,
however, occasional ones mentioned. Most references to their education
were in the nature of advice, which doubtless was followed in many
cases,[1262] and disregarded in many more.
[Sidenote: Registration of 1782 showed large proportion of slaves in
Quaker townships]
In spite of the continuous exertions of the Friends’ meetings to keep
down the number of slaves purchased, and to increase the number of
liberations among those already possessed by their members, it appears
from an investigation of the matter made by Davis, that almost one-third
of the total number of slaves in 1782 (Bucks County) were to be found
in the townships Falls, Middletown, Lower and Upper Makefield, Bristol
and Wrightstown, where the Quakers were most numerous.[1263] The entire
number of slaves registered in 1782 was five hundred and twenty, and
this may be regarded as fairly accurate since failure to register them
meant the loss of the slave.[1264] The number registered in the townships
where Baptists and Presbyterians were settled, Warwick, Warrington,
New Britain, Newtown and Bedminster, was very small, while the German
districts registered but thirty-two.[1265]
[Sidenote: Early records of slave holding meagre]
The meetings constituting Western Quarterly Meeting (Chester County),
Kennett, London Grove, and New Garden have very meagre references to
slaves or slave holding up to about 1770. One of the monthly meetings,
London Grove, was not established until 1792,[1266] and between that date
and 1800 made no reports of any consequence.
[Sidenote: Visit performed to all slave holders]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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