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Compare And Contrast Frederick Douglass And Booker T Washington

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And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history – money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery – the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.” C.S. Lewis wrote these empowering and insightful words of wisdom which actively play a role in these autobiographies. These autobiographies revolve around the lives of different men with similar circumstances. They are stories of drive and determination. They are about men who were held down in a place of racial oppression until they rose above the occasion and became tenacious workers. These men were Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglass. Both of their lives took place during the 1800s …show more content…

It was a most terrible spectacle. I wish I could commit to paper the feelings with which I beheld it” (Douglass 4). Douglass witnessed severe punishment of fellow slaves, including his family members, and he experienced the pain firsthand.
Both of these men were confined in slavery and were treated unequal to other
Americans. However, Washington received the less violent side of slavery as he was treated with less bloody, brutal acts. He was not treated as harshly as Douglass.
In addition, Washington and Douglass articulated different perspectives on slaveholders.
Living in different time periods and their vastly different masters led to their individual opinions on slaveholders. Washington did not possess severely harsh opinions of the slaveholders. He believed they participated in only what they knew. He did not blame his possible white father either. He expresses the following: “But I do not find especial fault with him. He was simply another unfortunate victim of the institution which the Nation unhappily had engrafted upon it at that time” (Washington 2). Even though it was a trying situation, and a challenging life,
Washington chose to purposefully live without holding anything against those who hurt …show more content…

As Washington grew older he also spoke words of wisdom around the world, including his famous speech that is titled The Atlanta
Exposition Address. Washington poured much of himself into the community and gave himself away for the better of the African-American race.
Douglass was born long before Washington and was known as an abolitionist. His role led him to share of the atrocities of slavery so that it would end. When he escaped from slavery, he traveled to New Bedford. As he wandered the streets, he came to the realization that it is entirely possible for the American people to live abundant lives without slaves. He became passionate about bringing an end to slavery. He began working and eventually subscribed to the Liberator, a newspaper regarding the status of slavery. He asserted that “Its sympathy for my brethren in bonds – its scathing denunciations of slaveholders – its faithful exposures to slavery – and its powerful attacks upon the upholders of the institution – sent a thrill of joy through my soul, such as I had never felt before” (Douglass 69). He illustrates that

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Lincoln and Douglass were self-made, self-educated, and ambitious, and each rose to success from humble backgrounds. Douglass, of course, was an escaped slave. Douglass certainly and Lincoln most likely detested slavery from his youngest days. But Lincoln from his young manhood was a consummate politician devoted to compromise, consensus-building, moderation and indirection. Douglass was a reformer who spoke and wrote eloquently and with passion for the abolition of slavery

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When comparing to Franklin and Douglass they both live a different lifestyle from one another. Ben Franklin’s family was so abusive to him while Douglass had rough times when he was growing up and he was not educated the fact that he did not know his own name. This will be a signs for oppression, in that they utilized those lack of learning will stay with those slaves down, also make their history questionable providing for the ranch the place they functioned those main feeling for home they'd ever recognize. Ben Franklin was not educated at first but he knew his age and he self-educate himself.

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Both King and Douglass were advocating for the same thing: their constitutional sanction of freedom. Both men, in their respective letters touch upon parallel thoughts and beliefs that revolve around the much bigger topic of racial inequality and discrimination. Both men were discriminated against and they talk about their experiences and plight in their very distinctive yet special styles. Born in the year 1817, in an era of open and unashamed slave trade, Frederick Douglass’s story begins as a serf to Mrs. Hugh in the city of Maryland.

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Frederick Douglass’s Hope for Freedom Hope and fear, two contradictory emotions that influence us all, convicted Frederick Douglass to choose life over death, light over darkness, and freedom over sin. Douglass, in Chapter ten, pages thirty-seven through thirty-nine, of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, utilizes various rhetorical techniques and tone shifts to convey his desperation to find hope in this time of misery and suffering. Mr. Covey, who Douglass has been sent to by his master to be broken, has succeeded in nearly tearing all of Douglass’s dreams of freedom away from him. To expound on his desires to escape, Douglass presents boats as something that induces joy to most but compels slaves to feel terror. Given the multiple uses of repetition, antithesis, indirect tone shifts, and various other rhetorical techniques, we can see Douglass relaying to his audience the hardships of slavery through ethos, the disheartening times that slavery brings, and his breakthrough of determination to obtain freedom.

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In “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, Douglass narrates in detail the oppressions he went through as a slave before winning his freedom. In the narrative, Douglass gives a picture about the humiliation, brutality, and pain that slaves go through. We can evidently see that Douglass does not want to describe only his life, but he uses his personal experiences and life story as a tool to rise against slavery. He uses his personal life story to argue against common myths that were used to justify the act of slavery. Douglass invalidated common justification for slavery like religion, economic argument and color with his life story through his experiences torture, separation, and illiteracy, and he urged for the end of slavery.

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Washington. He was an educated African American, born in slavery, and saw as the leader of the black folk. His main agenda was to promote the policy of submission since black folk could only survive in it. They wanted political power, civil liberties, higher education, accumulation of wealth, and consolidation of the south, and for their values and beliefs, Washington publicly shamed them. Th black folk further internalized the propaganda that slavery was justified, they neglected their own education, and their future depended mainly on their own efforts.

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In the 1700-1800’s, the use of African American slaves for backbreaking, unpaid work was at its prime. Despite the terrible conditions that slaves were forced to deal with, slave owners managed to convince themselves and others that it was not the abhorrent work it was thought to be. However, in the mid-1800’s, Northern and southern Americans were becoming more aware of the trauma that slaves were facing in the South. Soon, an abolitionist group began in protest, but still people doubted and questioned it.

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Douglass points to the vast unwillingness from the group of whites that refuses to fully perceive and accept African-Americans as deserving and equal citizens of the nation. Based on his personal experiences as a slave, Douglass is abundantly aware that the battle to abolish slavery is not an easy task. For the first twenty years of his life, he witnessed firsthand the abject cruelty of that institution in our country. Tactfully, Douglass seizes this opportunity to publicly highlight the unmerited and coarse differences in the treatment between the whites as opposed to the blacks living in the United States during this time period. He makes a “powerful testaments to the hypocrisy, bigotry and inhumanity of slavery” (Bunch 1).

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A common controversy in American history is the fact that Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves. Many claim that he freed them with the Emancipation Proclamation but it’s more complex than that. There were many events that helped free slaves and the Emancipation was only a small portion of America’s journey to freedom and “equality”. In reality, Lincoln helped the process of freeing the slaves but, he did not do it himself. Lincoln was not an abolitionist.

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The Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass shows the imbalance of power between slaves and their masters. In his book, Douglass proves that slavery is a destructive force not only to the slaves, but also for the slaveholders. “Poison of the irresponsible power” that masters have upon their slaves that are dehumanizing and shameless, have changed the masters themselves and their morality(Douglass 39). This amount of power and control in contact with one man breaks the kindest heart and the purest thoughts turning the person evil and corrupt. Douglass uses flashbacks that illustrate the emotions that declare the negative effects of slavery.

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Frederick Douglass’s narrative provides a first hand experience into the imbalance of power between a slave and a slaveholder and the negative effects it has on them both. Douglass proves that slavery destroys not only the slave, but the slaveholder as well by saying that this “poison of irresponsible power” has a dehumanizing effect on the slaveholder’s morals and beliefs (Douglass 40). This intense amount of power breaks the  kindest heart and changes the slaveholder into a heartless demon (Douglass 40). Yet these are not the only ways that Douglass proves what ill effect slavery has on the slaveholder. Douglass also uses deep characterization, emotional appeal, and religion to present the negative effects of slavery.

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The legendary abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass was one of the most important social reformers of the nineteenth century. Being born into slavery on a Maryland Eastern Shore plantation to his mother, Harriet Bailey, and a white man, most likely Douglass’s first master was the starting point of his rise against the enslavement of African-Americans. Nearly 200 years after Douglass’s birth and 122 years after his death, The social activist’s name and accomplishments continue to inspire the progression of African-American youth in modern society. Through his ability to overcome obstacles, his strive for a better life through education, and his success despite humble beginnings, Frederick Douglass’s aspirations stretched his influence through

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PAGE 2 In the Narrative Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass, he uses this text to explain his purpose in “throwing light on the American slave system”, or show it for what it really is, as well as show his position on how he strongly believes slavery is an issue that needs to be addressed and how it differs from those who defended slavery, with experiences from his own life to support his argument. Douglass uses experience from his early days as a young slave to throw light on the aspect of physical abuse. According to his narrative, Douglass states, “Master, however, was not a humane slaveholder.

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Frederick Douglas never had a formal education. He spoke of his time as a slave in order to rally the antislavery movement. Booker T. Washington was able acquire an education at Hampton institute by working many jobs to pay for it. He became a teacher; he spoke as a way to raise money and support for the education of African-Americans.

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Frederick Douglass writes his narrative to educate the reader on the horrors of southern slavery. Douglass writes with the purpose of turning the reader against slavery and fight for abolishment. Throughout Frederick Douglass’s narrative he crafts figurative language such as imagery, repetition, and similes to shed light on the horrors of slavery and to get people to fight against slavery. To give the reader a detailed picture Frederick Douglass utilizes imagery. Douglass uses imagery in great detail when describing the beating of Aunt Hester, Before he commenced whipping Aunt Hester, he took her into the kitchen, and stripped her from neck to waist, leaving her neck, shoulders, and back, entirely naked.

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