PATHWAYS TO FREEDOM: THE MEANING OF TEACHING ENSLAVED PEOPLE

ABSTRACT The objective of this paper is to discuss the meanings of education for enslaved people in the 19th Century. Many studies in the field of education historiography point to the importance of various actions regarding the schooling of enslaved people and freedmen. This research attempts to map out existent bibliography focusing on this theme and to indicate the existence of many paths and possibilities around this research object. This project analyzes various sources, such as newspapers, autobiographical writings, and movies, in the search for understanding the paths trod by enslaved subjects. Education is understood as an entry way for social mobility and ascension in times of slavery. Education was part of the resistance for enslaved people and, for many of them, it represented a path toward attaining freedom.