es and slaves
instructed in "common literature."[1] Two years later the Abolition
Society of the State of Maryland proposed to establish an academy to
offer this kind of instruction. To execute this scheme the American
Convention thought that it was expedient to employ regular tutors,
to form private associations of their members or other well-disposed
persons for the purpose of instructing the people of color in the most
simple branches of education.[2]

[Footnote 1: _Proceedings of the American Convention of Abolition
Societies_, 1796, p. 18.]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid._, 1797, p. 41.]

The regular tutors referred to above were largely indentured servants
who then constituted probably the majority of the teachers of the
colonies.[1] In 1773 Jonathan Boucher said that two thirds of the
teachers of Maryland belonged to this class.[2] The contact of Negroes
with these servants is significant. In the absence of rigid caste
distinctions they associated with the slaves and the barrier between
them was so inconsiderable that laws had to be passed to prevent the
miscegenation of the races. The blacks acquired much useful knowledge
from servant teachers and sometimes assisted them.

[Footnote 1: See the descriptions of indentured servants in the
advertisements of colonial newspapers referred to on pages 82-84; and
Boucher, _A View of the Causes_, etc., p. 39.]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid._, pp. 39 and 40.]

Attention was directed also to the fact that neither literary nor
religious education prepared the Negroes for a life of usefulness.
Heeding the advice of Kosciuszko, Madison and Jefferson, the advocates
of the education of the Negroes endeavored to give them such practical
training as their peculiar needs demanded. In the agricultural
sections the first duty of the teacher of the blacks was to show them
how to get their living from the soil. This was the final test of
their preparation for emancipation. Accordingly, on large plantations
where much supervision was necessary, trustworthy Negroes were trained
as managers. Many of those who showed aptitude were liberated and
encouraged to produce for themselves. Slaves designated for freedom
were often given small parcels of land for the cultivation of which
they were allowed some of their time. An important result of this
agricultural training was that many of the slaves thus favored amassed
considerable wealth by using their spare time in cultivating crops of
their own.[1]

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