be it enacted_, That all meetings of free negroes
or mulattoes at any school-house, church, meeting-house, or other
place, for teaching them reading or writing, either in the day or
night, under whatsoever pretext, shall be deemed and considered
an unlawful assembly; and any justice of the county or
corporation wherein such assemblage shall be, either from his own
knowledge, or on the information of others of such unlawful
assemblage or meeting, shall issue his warrant directed to any
sworn officer or officers, authorizing him or them to enter the
house or houses where such unlawful assemblage or meeting may be,
for the purpose of apprehending or dispersing such free negroes
or mulattoes, and to inflict corporal punishment on the offender
or offenders, at the discretion of any justice of the peace, not
exceeding 26 lashes.

"SEC. 5. _And be it enacted_, That if any person or persons
assemble with free negroes or mulattoes at any school-house,
church, meeting-house, or other place, for the purpose of
instructing such free negroes or mulattoes to read or write, such
persons or persons shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in a
sum not exceeding $50, and, moreover, may be imprisoned, at the
discretion of a jury, not exceeding two months.

"SEC. 6. _And be it enacted_, That if any white person, for pay
or compensation, shall assemble with any slaves for the purpose
of teaching, and shall teach any slave to read or write, such
person, or any white person or persons contracting with such
teacher so to act, who shall offend as aforesaid, shall, for each
offense, be fined, at the discretion of a jury, in a sum not less
than $10, nor exceeding $100, to be recovered on an information
or indictment."

This law was rigidly enforced, and in 1851, Mrs. Margaret Douglass, a
white lady from South Carolina, was cast into the Norfolk jail for
violating its provisions.

West Virginia was not admitted into the Union until 1863. Wisconsin,
Vermont, New Hampshire, and New Jersey did not prohibit the education
of their Colored children.

THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

presents a more pleasing and instructive field for the examination of
the curious student of history.

In 1807, the first school-house for the use of Colored pupils was
erected in Washington, D. C., by three Colored men, named George