Answer: Slavery blacks were not allowed to learn to read and write
Explanation: she was 116 she was very gutsy after all she had been through as a slave so so many years till Lincoln abolished slavery. when she finally learned to read if a white were to help a slave he or she was punished by the slave owner.
Ones tree means their distant family and such (Family Tree). "Without roots" is another way of saying without family as the person does not know his distant relatives.