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Essay On Frederick Douglass Abolitionism

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Slavery was a very cruel injustice from 1776 until 1865 when some courageous men and women decided to help end it. African Americans were discriminated against and treated differently just because of their appearance. “President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." (Archives.gov). That’s when the abolitionist movement was adapted. Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery and its practice of it. There were a lot of abolitionists such as Harriet Tubman, one of the biggest parts of the Underground …show more content…

Douglass did not know much about his mother, but what he remembered of her remained with him forever. Douglass never knew the identity of his father, though he always knew that his father was white, possibly his first master, Anthony. He faced a lot of hardships along the way to freedom which include having to manipulate, be sneaky, and be secretive. He used people for his benefit because of how he was treated. Frederick Douglass then taught other slaves to read and write. (Mentalfloss.com). He once said in one of his autobiographies “In moments of agony, I envied my fellow slaves for their stupidity.” What he means is that he couldn’t stand having to look at his fellow slaves and watch them suffer instead of gaining knowledge like he was able to escape Slavery. Douglass also said, “I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing.” He thought that knowledge wasn’t everything there was to the world and life, he wanted to know but not so much that one day it would become a curse rather than a blessing. One of his biggest accomplishments in his whole career was he helped at least 400 runaway slaves with the help of his wife, (Homework.study.com). Finally, He escaped slavery at age 20 and went on to become one of the most important political activists fighting for emancipation and the equality of all people, …show more content…

It gave them the courage that they needed to keep fighting for their freedom and no discrimination, (Cram.com). Not only did he help African Americans to learn but he also embraced the women's rights movement. He believed that defenseless and helpless groups should support each other. Douglass played a critical role in the 1848 Seneca Falls Woman's Rights Convention, (Sec.state.ma.us). Douglass also traveled the country a lot to promote abolition and the agenda of the organization; American Anti-Slavery Society, which tells us he spent a lot of time just to make sure every single person is treated fairly, equally, and so there would be no discrimination against anyone, (Britannica.com). After his sons joined the infantry, he noticed the unfair treatment black troops received. During the war, he also “advocated with Lincoln himself about rights for black Americans. For example, when black troops protested they were not receiving pay and equal treatment to that of white troops, Douglass met with President Abraham Lincoln to advocate on their behalf,”

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He went on to later be the first African-American man to ever vote, and lived a miraculously long time without ever being forced back to slavery. Douglass also became the first African-American to ever be nominated for vice president. One last thing that astounds me about this man is that he supported the women’s rights campaign, and women’s suffrage rights, even though he himself was a man.

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156 Words | 1 Pages

Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass were heroic men who fought for freedom for all people. Many people were influenced by Lincoln and Douglass, Lincoln was able to speak about how slavery was horrid and Douglass was able to tell people about how it was to be a slave. “I felt like one who had escaped a den of hungry lions.” (SB p. 71) Douglass gave an image to people who hadn’t seen the evil of slavery for themselves. People were able to look up to Lincoln as a leader, as a captain who could lead them through the tough times of civil war.

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He was born to a woman slave and a white man. He was raised primarily by his relatives and only occasionally met his mother, who died when he was a young boy. He never met his father, but knew only that he was a white man. During this time, he witnessed the first-hand horrors and mistreatment of slaves and spent many days hungry and cold. Shortly after the death of his mother, Douglass was sent to live with a man in Baltimore and his life became relatively normal for several years.

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Frederick douglass was in a way a role model for other African Americans and his sources provided them with belief that they could achieve the same education as a white male as Douglass had done. Frederick douglass was the most well known african American at the time and he used his position to help other African americans any way he could and that included the abolition of slavery. Without sources like these African americans would not of had the motivation to think that they could be more than just

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Douglass travelled to many different states to give speech. He decided to publish his Narrative which was a dangerous decision because he was a fugitive slave. However, nothing can stop his ambitions, he didn’t only stop at America, but also came to other country like Ireland and Britain to give lecture. In London, he had to face discrimination by the white people, and had many chances to meet great people to learn how to improve his speeches such as Lord Brougham, and he also had many opportunities to work with the leaders who contributed to end the slavery system. Douglass made friends with several people who had the same thinking with him about abolishing slavery.

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1080 Words | 5 Pages

Fredrick Douglass was born in February of 1818  he was an activist in the abolishment of slavery and a staple of what helped us abolish slavery, of course, there were other people that did help but Frederick Douglass was more known and he worked alone Fredrick Douglass changed my view of all men created equal by simply recruiting African American men to fight in the united states army he changed the view because of the fact that he wanted all men to be equal no matter what race you were, to be honest. Frederick Douglas even wrote his own newspaper article he wrote his own autobiography as well he changed to view successfully that men were all equal instead of only white men. Fredrick Douglas once said “if there is no struggle there is no progress”

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It was believed that women weren't capable of independently thinking about a lot of things that the men did. Douglass wanted to do everything in his will to prove that this was false. So he began to pave the way for women and give them a helping hand towards their civil rights, voting rights, and social rights. Douglass got involved with many political parties, which wasn't easy due to him being African American. Nobody wanted him to get what he wanted, it was a struggle for Douglass.

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1080 Words | 5 Pages

Most of his time was in the movement of the abolition of slavery. He did not want any other black person to face brutality, humiliation, and pain. His arguments became very useful in the anti-slavery movement. It is through his experiences of being a slave that he urged for the abolition of slavery (Douglass, 1845). Douglass’ style of narration makes the reader to be involved in the story emotionally.

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He also struggled for stopping the racial violation and helped the fleeing slaves to escape. One of the main point of Douglass’s speech was slavery should be stopped. And he also argued that what’s the point of celebrating Fourth July if the term liberty doesn’t apply equally for all? He also exhibited that a slave is also a human being like others. If white people have the right to utilize all the rights and facilities as a citizen, on the whole as a human, why will the black people lead a life as sub human?

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During this time Douglass influenced much of the new legislation passed, one of the most notable pieces of legislation that he argued in favor of was the 15th amendment. He argued that freedom for black slaves would be almost useless if their voting rights weren’t protected and because of this Abraham Lincoln had decided to pass the 15th amendment. Despite the fact that it was completely out of control, the fact that Douglass was an African American man in the 19th century united states was an incredible weakness. Even though he was a very educated and talented writer as well as speaker, many people during that time were unwilling to listen to what he had to say just because of his race. Despite being a black American and facing almost every obstacle imaginable, Douglass overcame all odds and, in the end, had a huge impact on the future of the United

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498 Words | 2 Pages

Douglass tells about his own childhood and how his father might have been a slaveholder. He explains

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Douglass was once a slave but eventually reached his goal to escape because he endured many struggles which all helped him. Examples of struggles Douglass had to face were the numerous amounts of cruel slave masters that would leave him without clothing, food, water, and on top of all of this intense labor, and whippings. An example of the pain Douglass endured is from chapter 10 when he states, “Mr. Covey gave me a severe whipping, cutting my back, causing the blood to run, and raising ridges on my flesh as large as my little finger.” (Douglass 59). This just shows the struggle a slave had to endure to just to survive on a plantation.

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702 Words | 3 Pages

According to the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, on page 11, it states,”... Mr. Auld found out what was going on, and at once forbade Mrs. Auld to instruct me further, telling her that it was unlawful as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read…” Slaveholders would put the blame on slaves for not knowing how to read, when it was actually them who forbid slaves from learning the ability at all. Reading was against the white people’s advantage because a slave could overpower them with such knowledge, which is a factor that brought Douglass to success. In addition to the text, on page 28 it states,”By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slave thus ignorant.”

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He became known as an inspirational person. Not many people are willing to go against what others believe, but Douglass was. His slave owner thought that it was “unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read” (Douglass 29), but that did not stop him from pursuing further knowledge. Education has a powerful effect that makes others fear that one has superiority over them one way or another. Slaves had their basic human rights taken away from them because slave owners wanted them to lack the ability to form an opinion on what was happening to them.

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650 Words | 3 Pages

The abolition movement can be traced back to early colonial times. One of the earliest to protest the slave trade was the religious group, the Quakers. The Quakers fought hard to abolish slavery because it went against their religious belief in equality. In 1868, a group of Quakers ventured to Germantown, Pennsylvania to petition “the traffick of men-body.” The Quakers also played a

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