The only book learning we ever got was when we stole it. Master bought some slaves from Cincinnati, that had worked in white folks houses. They had stole a little learning and when they came to our place they passed on to us what they knew. We wasn’t allowed no paper and pencil. I learned all my A.B.C.’s without it. I knows how to read and aint never been in a school room in my life. There was one woman by the name Aunt Sylvia. She was so smart she foreknowed things before they took place. Anonymous
