s whom they have been nurturing since the womb. I was dreaming of freedom again; more for my childrens sake than my own. I planned and I planned. Obstacles hit against plans. There seemed to be no way of overcoming them; and yet I hope. ( Harriet Brent Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl page 126)One thing both women and men in slavery learned and learned fast was that no matter what the cost (short of death) an education and faith in God were the strongest elements in surviving for them. Richard Wright writes in his autobiography, Was I always to hang on the fringes of life? What I wanted was truly modest, and yet my past, my diet, my hunger, had snatched it from before my eyes. But these self-doubts did not last long; I dulled the sense of loss through reading, reading, writing and more writing. (Black Boy American Hunger page331) They all considered their minds their most important muscle on their body and they would deem it weak if it was not exercised as often as possible. Information gathered from a web site concerning a musical group named the Jubilee Singers, (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/singers.html) contained the story of Dr. George White who attempted to open the first educational facility for African Americans. Here is an excerpt from a letter Dr. White wrote expressing his concern for the education of slaves, We spare no pains or expense in the education of the people. I write thus plainly and earnestly -- yet kindly -- because a great and good enterprise is in danger of being crippled by this lack of prompt fulfillment of your obligations. Dr White knew the importance of education because he knew it would lead to religion by empowering African Americans to read the Bible and not have to have it interpreted by anyone. With Religion came hope and under the circumstances, for the slaves, hope was the only thing giving them the will to go on. Even though African American people have been discriminated agai...
