to purchase their freedom and possibly that of other members of their families. Slaves who worked in towns, particularly those who were factory workers, had more opportunities to save money to meet the price they would bring if sold on the market: ô[Factory work] allowed the slaves more independence. Manufactures often found it too costly to provide housing for company slaves, so many were allowed to choose and pay for their own accommodationsö (Butler, 1998, p. 31). Thus slave and free blacks in industrial cities of the South maintained close contact. Many free blacks established benevolent organizations and secret societies to assist their enslaved brethren.
Although large numbers of African-Americans, free and slave, were denied opportunities to obtain schooling, many somehow managed to learn to read and write, a significant milestone in their progress. Slaves in New England had the best chance of getting some education because the laws in these colonies did not prohibit the teaching of slaves. Fortunately for these slaves, New Englanders had great respect for learning.
The major force which pushed for the education of African-
Americans was the Church. Religious groups, either out of a
belief that Africans should be taught how to read the Bible so that they might become good Christians, or through a genuine desire to educate black people, started classes for them. Blacks benefitted from a spirit of evangelism among many religious groups. For example, colonial revivalist George Whitefield advocated field preaching, and the metaphor of the unwalled and inclusionary church, ôThe Lord, I am persuaded, would have His Gospel preached in the fields; and building a church would, I fear, insensibly lead the people into bigotry and make them place the Church again . . . in the church wallsö (Whitefield, 1994, p. 35). Of all the religious groups, the Quakers were most concerned with educating the Africans, espe...