27 pages • 54 minutes read
Learning to Read
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Symbols & Motifs
Law as Amoral and Changeable
At the poem’s start, Chloe informs the reader of northern and abolitionist allies’ efforts to build educational opportunities for newly freed Black citizens in the South. While the US government sanctioned these programs, many white southerners and Confederates resented Black people and their allies’ goals of educational equality.
Prior to the Civil War, pro-slavery states undermined any attempts by Black individuals to learn. Virginia and North Carolina barred any gatherings to teach free and enslaved Black people to read and write. Other states, such as Alabama, placed steep legal fines on anyone caught teaching a Black person. The pro-slavery states feared rising literacy rates among Black people as it would “make us all too wise” and destabilize the institution of slavery (Line 8).
Like with slavery, it was only after the war that anti-literacy laws changed. Figures like Uncle Caldwell and Ben strove to learn the written word during their enslavement despite the act being illegal.
When Watkins Harper places the men’s success next to the legal post-war efforts to educate freed Black people, she implicitly frames the law as fickle and amoral. While it now allows “the Northern folks” to send “Yankee teachers down,” it once condemned it (Lines 1-4). Watkins Harpers asks her readers to see the law as a flawed neutral force. It can bring or prevent justice.
Instead of looking toward the law as moral guidance, Watkins Harper posits morality as a form of reason. Black people did not need to already know how to read in order to understand barring them from it was immoral. It is telling that the first book Chloe wants to read is the Bible, essentially a book of moral philosophy (Line 29). Additionally, legality should not and cannot define one’s ability, as seen through Uncle Caldwell and Ben’s success (Lines 13-24). Breaking the law does not always equate to breaking a moral code.
Material Goods
Material goods play an essential role in building a sense of joyous independence in “Learning to Read.” When slavery legally existed in the United States, a system of laws called the slave codes codified enslavers’ treatment and control of enslaved people as property by limiting agency. These laws barred enslaved individuals from forming contracts, owning property, and buying and selling goods under the threat of torture, retribution, or death. Enslavers especially saw education as a threat. Not only were enslaved people forbidden from pursuing literacy, possessing and spreading any literature deemed “inflammatory” by their captors was listed as a specific criminal act under the codes.
This information makes it clear why Uncle Caldwell went through such great lengths to protect his book from his enslaver. Uncle Caldwell could feasibly be found guilty of buying and owning personal property, teaching himself and other Black people to read, and engaging with “inflammatory” literature. Deconstructing and hiding his book under his hat took great bravery. An extra layer of sadness appears when considering his use of “pot liquor fat,” a byproduct of boiled greens or beans (Line 14). Even though pot liquor provides nutrition, he nourishes his mind rather than his body by using the fat to disguise the pages (Lines 13-16). To keep his book (which is not a byproduct), he must pretend it is a byproduct, essentially an afterthought (Lines 17-20). Additionally, the pot liquor fat reveals the scraps that enslaved people had to live on despite their enslavers’ abundant wealth.
Uncle Caldwell’s experiences set up Chloe’s celebration and pursuit of material goods. When recounting her educational journey, Chloe states that her incentive was to read her Bible (Line 29). The act of reading allows her to access and participate in freedoms she previously did not have. Her ability to purchase goods enables her to buy glasses to better see the words on the page (Line 37). The glasses aid her reading, and her reading then helps her buy a cabin (Lines 37-41). In her eyes, they represent self-determination and healing from past personal and generational traumas.
The Bible
Religion and spirituality, especially Christianity, provided solace and guidance for many Black people during their enslavement. Chloe’s statement that she wants to learn how to read so she can study the Bible translates as her fulfilling previous generations’ dreams of freedom, honoring their memory, and continuing that tradition of hope into the future.
Watkins Harper sets up Chloe’s actions as a promise fulfilled and memorial by contrasting Chloe with previous generations. Ben did not have a book (Lines 21-24). Uncle Caldwell had to hide his book (Lines 15-20). Since Watkins Harper never reveals the book’s title, she leaves readers with the impression that Uncle Caldwell had limited options of what books he could obtain.
Chloe’s Bible, on the other hand, distinctly belongs to her (Line 29). She uses her Bible to gain knowledge and better her life.
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