publication of Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World, which openly advocated rebellion,[4] and Nat Turner’s Rebellion of 1831. The United States is the only country known to have had anti-literacy laws.[5] Anti-literacy laws were laws, primarily in the United States, that prohibited enslaved and sometimes free Black people from learning to read or write. These laws were enacted in many Southern slave states between the 1740s and 1830s. The primary rationale was to maintain the control and subjugation of the enslaved population, as literacy was seen as a potential threat to the institution of slavery. Here’s a more detailed look: Rationale: Enslaved people who could read and write were seen as more likely to escape or rebel, as they could potentially access information and create false documents. The laws also stemmed from fears of slave insurrections, such as the Nat Turner Rebellion in 1831, which was seen as partly influenced by abolitionist literature