Hannah Craft uses knowledge of the Bible as a marker of a dangerous education for slaves, not connected to their ability to read or write, but due to the content of the material. The knowledge gained by slaves through the reading of the Bibles allows for slaves to find themselves within the narratives and put them up against the ideologies peddled by the religious white class that owns them. This dangerous education is seen as a disadvantage to Hannah within the narrative when she is in unsavory predicaments but is seen as a sign of good virtue when surrounded by those less cruel or opportunistic.
When being traded to the slave trader, Saddler, Trappe remarks of Hannah’s knowledge of the Bible assuming that it would be a positive trait to those who would want to own her. Instead, Saddler responds to him with “Bah: I hardly think that religion will do her much good, or make her more subservient to the wishes of my employers. On the whole I should prefer that she wasn’t religious because religion is so apt to make people stubborn; it gives them such notions of duty and that one thing is right and another thing wrong; it sets them up, so you’ll hear them telling that all mankind are made of one blood, and equal in the sight of God” (p.108). This is an observation of religious as a whole, that is then hyper focused on the danger it poses when possessed by slaves. Aside from the final comment of equality in the sight of God, the description of religion in this quote too applies to the white population. To Saddler the notion of right or wrong and stubbornness is not unique to slaves, but rather religiosity. In the hands of a slave, it can foster a personality that is less subservient, but it is because that is the effect of religion on all who are exposed.
To this it seems that Craft is pointing to the danger of religion as not only an educational advantage for slaves once they accomplish the reading and understanding of the Bible, but rather an equalizer between slave and master in temperament and ideology. You can know the bible without having acquired the skill to read, therefore it is not this sort of education that is threatening nor is it mentioned in the text by Craft when Trappe is describing the good qualities of Hannah. Rather it is the religion itself that offers a particular insight on humanity and its relationship to God that threatens the system of slavery by potentially making slaves more “stubborn” and aware or “right and wrong.”
What is the difference between how religious knowledge by slaves is treated in Craft in comparison to Stowe?
Why do you think slave owners used religion to justify their owning of slaves to their own slaves if the knowledge of religion itself was dangerous?