Who taught Calpurnia to read in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Miss Buford taught Calpurnia to read in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Calpurnia is the Finch family's African-American housekeeper and an important maternal figure for Jem and Scout after their mother's death. Although the children initially see her mainly as a strict domestic authority, the novel gradually shows her intelligence, education, independence, and influence within both the Finch household and Maycomb's Black community.

Calpurnia learned to read from Miss Buford, who was Miss Maudie's aunt. One of the books associated with that education is Blackstone's Commentaries, a legal text that helps underscore how unusual and valuable literacy is for Calpurnia in the novel's segregated Alabama setting. Calpurnia later passes literacy on to her son, Zeebo, and teaches Scout how to write.

A common mix-up is confusing Miss Buford with Miss Caroline, Scout's first-grade teacher. Miss Caroline is connected to Scout's difficulties with formal schooling, while Miss Buford is connected to Calpurnia's education. Calpurnia's ability to move between formal English at the Finch home and the church's speech community also reveals her social and cultural range.