# 15 How did Jackson learn to read? A new possibility has emerged (too late for the book!):
HOW DID JACKSON LEARN TO READ? A NEW CLUE
In my book A Plausible Man, I speculate at various points about how fugitive activist John Andrew Jackson learned to read. In many slave narratives or life memoirs about bondage and freedom, the depiction of literacy is usually shown as a fraught and uneven journey. Ot the author acknowledges that they are not literate and that they have dictated the story in some way In his narrative, Jackson says almost nothing about his own literacy (which is an oddity for these kinds of narratives), but there is little doubt that he was, in later life, functionally if not fluidly, literate. He uses his own name on the title page of his book, which was published in 1862, and there were a variety of opportunities in later life that he might have received some instruction. Letters signed by him with the same handwriting over several years also indicate very strongly that he was generally literate. Of course, he also signed some documents with an X late in life (Land deeds, for example), which could suggest he didn’t wish to perform his literacy to the white officials or administrators or simply that he was elderly and in a hurry. An X was considered a legal signature for his purposes. At one point, he was reportedly a teacher with the Freedmen’s Bureau (which was probably a misunderstanding), but even so, it suggests he was considered literate enough to pass or be mistaken for a teacher in the late 1860s.
Some possibilities for how he learned to read and write include
That he learned to read and write while living in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. There were no formal schools for adult fugitives in that city at that time, but it is possible he received some tutoring.
It is possible his 2nd wife (Julia), who had also escaped from captivity in North Carolina, was literate and helped him.
In an angry pamphlet he wrote in England in the 1860s, he complained about Spurgeon’s Tabernacle and how members there didn’t share books with him - which suggests at some points he had been involved in some of their Sunday school classes and a bit of reading or education might have been involved then, as well. That is to say, he may have received some lessons in the 1850s from Spurgeon’s parishioners before the relationship with that organization went downhill.
A new bit of information has come to my attention, though, which fleshes out another possibility.
In an M.A. thesis completed in Spring of 2022 for the University of South Carolina’s Public History program, “The Presbyterian Exception. The Illegal Education of Enslaved Blacks by South Carolina Presbyterian Churches, 1834-1865,” Margaret Bates discusses the culture and practice of the Salem Black River Presbyterian church (the same one built in 1846 which the English Family attended and which featured extensive upper seating for enslaved people). In her study, she examines the records of the church that pertain to the education of Black congregates (including literate people enslaved by members of the English family that had enslaved Jackson and his family).
While I had previously seen references to the Salem Black River church educating enslaved people, I confess it seemed unlikely or exaggerated, and I didn’t pay much attention to it. That was my mistake! Bates’ thoughtful thesis makes it seem quite possible that Jackson could have received some basic instruction as a young adult from that church community. Perhaps not enough to be literate, but enough to have some basic grasp of letters and words, perhaps, so that when a further opportunity to learn presented itself (say, in Salem, Boston, Saint John or London), he was primed with some core knowledge.
Jackson was born perhaps in 1820 or 1825. He escaped in Christmas of 1846….but the efforts at teaching enslaved people had begun before he left - Bates reports that records reported testing enslaved people on their ability to read and their biblical knowledge in 1835, so Jackson certainly could have been in the young cohort of learners allowed to, encouraged to, or perhaps even forced to, attend classes. These classes would have been illegal at the time so it is complicated to square them away with all that is known about the culture of Lynchburg and the English family of that era (see my book) but it does indicate the complexity of the period.
Indeed, Jackson might not have mentioned any early lessons because he didn’t wish to make the Salem Black River Church parishioners seem too munificent or kind. He wouldn’t have wanted to paint them in any positive light, and I can imagine him thus avoiding the topic when working out his life story under the Baptist sponsorship in London several decades later while the Civil War raged on.
It was too late to put any of these speculations about his literacy into the book, but it’s certainly both humbling and good to learn more as projects evolve.
As for why and how this Presbyterian congregation justified and carried out instruction in reading and writing when the predominant culture or the time (and state laws) prohibited the instruction of Black folks, even under white supervision…well, that’s a story for another day but Bates’ thesis is a good starting point.
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To Cite:
Ashton, Susanna. "How did Jackson learn to read? A new possibility has emerged (too late for the book!).’" Runaway Chronicles. Squarespace. 8/19/2024. https://susannaashton.com/the-runaway-chronicles/-15-how-did-jackson-learn-to-read-a-new-possibility-has-emerged-too-late-for-the-book
Salem Black River Presbyterian Church, built in 1846 (I'm pretty sure this picture is in public domain but if I'm mistaken, please let me know)