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Compare And Contrast The Actions Of Frederick Douglas And Emmeline Pankhurst

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Doing Wrong for The Right Reasons There used to be a time where men, women, and people of color were not treated equally. Before a time of equality, women, and people of color, had little to no rights and were restricted within their society. Frederick Douglass and Emmeline Pankhurst knew that their society did not favor people of color or women and, would go on to fight for equal rights for the rest of their lives. Both Pankhurst and Douglas choose to break the law to bring attention to people’s natural rights and defend them. Frederick Douglass was born in 1818 and accomplished many different things throughout his entire life. Of the many things he did and was, he was a very big supporter of women’s rights and equal rights. It is argued …show more content…

Douglass was not aware of who his father was or even when his birthday was and figured out at an early age that, that was typical information for a kid to know. “The white children could tell their ages. I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same privilege.” (Douglass, 1.1). It left Douglass uneasy knowing that people were treated differently based on the color of their skin and Douglass would go on to bring the idea of race consciousness into existence. After writing Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, people would slowly get an idea of the harsh and shameful lives that slaves lived. This would be the start to a life-long protest of natural rights and a call to America asking them to live up to their Declaration of Independence and show the world that the slave system dehumanizes people. “I have found that, to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason. He must be able to detect no inconsistencies in slavery; he must be made to feel that slavery is …show more content…

There were many different things that Pankhurst wanted to bring attention to and fight for but her key issues focused on voting rights for women, fair trials, and taxation. Pankhurst felt that in Britain, women were not being treated equally and were deserving of more rights within their society. It took up until the death of Pankhurst in 1928 for women to have the same rights as men. “Ever since my girlhood, a period of about 30 years, I have belonged to organizations to secure for women that political power which I have felt was essential to bringing about those reforms which women need.” (Pankhurst, 1). During this time in society, women were viewed as incapable of fending for themselves and that they could not make their own, beneficial life decisions. After the passing of her husband, Pankhurst was left with four children, three daughters and a son, and would be responsible for raising and educating them. Whenever Pankhurst would write her poor law guardian to ask for money for basic necessities to raise her children and to pay her daughter’s way through school, she would be denied any money because the guardian felt as if putting the money towards the daughters education was a waste of money and resources. She thought that it was wrong that only married women had suffrage rights, that men and women did not receive equal pay, or that it was only right men and

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