The word instruction, however, as used in various documents, is rather confusing.

Before the reactionary period all instruction of the colored people included the teaching of the rudiments of education as a means to convey Christian thought.

But with the exception of a few Christians the southerners thereafter used the word instruction to signify the mere memorizing of principles from the most simplified books.

The sections of the South in which the word instruction was not used in this restricted sense were mainly the settlements of Quakers and Catholics who, in defiance of the law, persisted in teaching Negroes to read and write.

Yet it was not uncommon to find others who, after having unsuccessfully used their influence against the enactment of these reactionary laws, boldly defied them by instructing the Negroes of their communities.
Often opponents to this custom winked at it as an indulgence to the clerical profession.