DAGUERREOTYPED BY ROOT.—ENGRAVED BY SARTAIN.
Margaret Douglass
EDUCATIONAL LAWS OF VIRGINIA.
THE
PERSONAL NARRATIVE
OF
Mrs. Margaret Douglass,
A SOUTHERN WOMAN,
WHO WAS IMPRISONED FOR ONE MONTH
IN THE
COMMON JAIL OF NORFOLK,
UNDER THE LAWS OF VIRGINIA,
FOR THE CRIME OF
TEACHING FREE COLORED CHILDREN TO READ.
“Search the Scriptures!”
“How can one read unless he be taught?”
Holy Bible.
BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY JOHN P. JEWETT & CO.
CLEVELAND, OHIO:
JEWETT, PROCTOR & WORTHINGTON.
1854.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by
MARGARET DOUGLASS,
in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern
District of Pennsylvania.
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NARRATIVE &c.
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I am perfectly aware that the public cannot be interested inmy personal history previous to the occurrences which thisnarrative is designed to lay before them, nor am I vain enoughto suppose that there would be any thing in it worth relating.It will, however, be seen necessary that I should state who andwhat I was, and under what circumstances I found myselfsuddenly placed, by the authorities of the city of Norfolk, in aposition of such unenviable notoriety. This position was notone of my own seeking, nor was I the agent or representative ofany association. I was not a “Northern emissary,” engaged inundermining the institutions of the South, and recklessly defyingher laws, but only a weak and helpless woman, endeavoring todo what I deemed my duty to God and to humanity. In orderto relate the circumstances as they occurred, so that they may befully understood, my narrative must necessarily assume apersonal character, for it was I, and I alone, who was contendingfor a heaven-born principle against not only the authoritiesof Norfolk, but against the united strength of the wholeState of Virginia. The entire population of the commonwealththat claims to be the first and noblest in the land were theplaintiffs in this case, I, alone, the defendant. My storytherefore must not be called egotistical.
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It is necessary also that I refer to myself, in order to do awaywith any impression that I was or am an Abolitionist, as thatterm is usually understood at the South, for I am aware that astrong effort will be made to induce this belief on the part ofthe community, in order to weaken the effect which I hope mybook is destined to produce. I deem it proper, then, to stateat the outset that such is not the case, and that I was not contendingagainst any of the Southern institutions, but onlyagainst a particular law of the State of Virginia, and of, as Ibelieve, some of the neighbo