Renty taught himself and others to read though doing so was illegal and lethal

Evidence

My heart once again started racing. I thought of Kunta Kinte, the crazy African. I thought of my mother saying, “They called Papa Renty ‘the Black African.’ ” Both men embody the bravery, strength, and determination of men who had been stolen from their homes, beaten, tortured, torn from their families. And this man, Agassiz, was using them to prove that they were inferior. My Papa Renty! A man who taught himself and others to read when it was not only illegal to do so but could get a person killed. It was not only disheartening; it was also ironic. — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 166

Categorization

• XREF: Resonates with Parable of the Sower’s theme of forbidden literacy and self-teaching in the reader’s library, and with the archival-obstruction thread central to the stated purpose.