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Frederick Douglass & The Power of Literacy
Frederick Douglass & The Power of Literacy
Narrative of the life of frederick douglass, an american slave my bondage and my freedom
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Douglass’s passion to gain knowledge motivated him to teach himself how to read and write; however, Wright’s knowledge developed from being able to go to school and so this is indicative of Douglass experiencing education far worse than Wright. According to Douglass, it was prohibited for slaves to be educated. Since slaves did not have access to an education, Douglass had to find ways to self-teach himself. By virtue of Douglass’s learning, he asserts that: “All the little white boys whom I met in the street… I converted [them] into teachers… [and] I finally succeeded in learning how to read” (Douglass 146).
Frederick Douglass, social reformer, writer, and abolitionist, was born into slavery in Talbot County, Maryland. His exact birthday remains unknown, but believed to be born around 1818. His mother died when he was around the age of 10, after only seeing her a few times. At this young age, he was chosen to work in the home of a plantation owner, who is believed to be his father. At around the age of 12, he was sent to Baltimore to work for Hugh Auld.
During his young years, Douglas believed and sought education as the pathway to freedom, which would lead to economic success and a way out of poverty. He believed education was critical for African Americans to achieve equality. Douglass secretly set up schools for slaves and taught them how to read and write . Thanks to his literacy, he could lecture and write about the evils of slavery and campaign to abolish it. He fought for the rights to vote.
Because of his education, he formed a hatred towards slaveholders and was discontented with his wasted life as a slave. In his essay, Douglass expressed that the thought of freedom may have been the only thing that kept him hopeful through his anguish. If slaves, like Douglass, were able to question their rights to freedom, or successfully argue and fight their way out of slavery, the institution of slavery would crumble. Douglass was an example of what slaveholders feared: that education and slavery, when mixed, were dangerous to both slaves and the institution of slavery. Douglass’s used his education to fight out of slavery, and eventually become an example of past and modern battles to promote
In Frederick Douglass’s essay “Learning to Read and Write,” he uses his essay to get the point across by being educated in reading, he learns he is a “slave for life.” By that saying he realizes that if he ever becomes free from slavery, he will never be free in a state of mind. He is always going to be a slave, weather it would be master huge, or learning. So learning to read and understand the meaning of words he sees his problem of being able to read and have the ability to understand what happening around him; through “The Colombian Orator.” And after reading and understanding, no man should be a slave.
Liberation Through Education Frederick Douglass, proclaimed human rights leader during the 19th century abolition movement, in his critically acclaimed autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass tells his personal experiences of overcoming obstacles a slave faced leading up to the point in which he breaks his own chains of slavery. Frederick Douglass’ most instrumental moment of his life was when he was under the ownership of the Auld family and gained the gift of literacy from Mrs. Auld. His ability to read had a profound effect on his development, such an effect that Mr. Auld felt the urgency to suppress any further growth. From this point on, Frederick Douglass had the knowledge to hate what his current and future
Douglass expresses in his essay, Learning to Read, that he truly realized the depravity of his situation by reading various texts about slavery that presented opposing viewpoints. “Learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing. It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy. It opened my eyes to the horrible pit” (193). Not only did Douglass’s path to enlightenment awaken him to the degeneracy of slavery and abhor learning how to read, it even prompted him to harbor suicidal thoughts.
Education opens a gateway to Douglass and enlightens him of what is beyond the walls of enslavement urging him towards independence. Slaves being intellectually informed of their surrounds terrified slaveholders due to them being aware of their loss of control over slaves because they are no longer ignorant. Although Douglass was appreciative that some slaves were able to escape through the famous Underground Railroad, he was critically unsure about sending the uneducated slaves off to a place unknown to them as they “do nothing towards enlightening the slave” (71). He views it as doing much “towards enlightening the master” (71). The Underground Railroad created the slaveholder’s fear of their slaves escaping since they were aware of their actions.
Douglass' life took place in a time where the white man ruled over the black folk, and made the whole race slaves. The lacks were not given any sort of education, on the other hand whites were given an opportunity to learn. "... It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but offered no ladder upon which to get out." (Douglass 36)
Education played a big role in Frederick’s life. Douglass had this great idea where he believed that having an education would help him survive the slave world. As he begins his narrative he introduces himself as a former slave and the son of a white master. He sees how even though he is son to a white male, he is still seen as a slave, uneducated and ignorant. Douglass mentions his narrative that at this point of life he really has no accurate account of his real age.
A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world”(Douglass 34). The masters think that if the slaves can learn just a little, like reading, then the slaves will take even more like learning how to write and how to communicate better. Mental violence towards these helpless slaves was not needed through being uneducated because this made them helpless in their potential to their work they could have done, they were only useful for the easy jobs on the farm and in the house babysitting, when some of these strong slaves had a huge potential of being great, hard workers. Violence by keeping the slaves ignorant to the open world was crueler than the physical whippings the slave masters gave
In today’s society, education is the key to becoming successful. Consequently, there are people who do not seem to realize the impact education has on their future. Education is the foundation upon which people build their futures on. Education is also been frowned upon, although it is a good thing. Education was a curse for African-Americans when slavery existed.
Frederick Douglas is one of the most well-known African Americans leaders whose journey to success was nothing short of a miracle. Frederick Douglas was born in 1818 many years before slavery was finally abolished (Douglass,13). Frederick Douglass escaped slavery when he was just twenty years old and used his new found freedom to help fight for other oppressed people. Douglas became an abolitionist and advocated for women's rights and also fought very hard to make sure that African Americans would have access to education. Frederick Douglass wanted to change the United States of America into a place where all people could live freely regardless of their backgrounds and he noted that education was one of the most powerful tools to do such a thing.
In The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the narrator, Frederick Douglass, undergoes a series of transformations that changes his view on slavery: primarily, his Mistress’s decision to teach him the alphabet. Teaching a slave how to read and write was unlawful and dangerous during this time. Despite the risks, Douglass learns how to read and write in the hopes of it leading to freedom. Frederick Douglass’s courage reflects his ambition for knowledge and his desire for freedom and emphasizes the thematic truth that one is not free unless the chains holding them back are broken. Douglass’s pursuit of knowledge continued, despite strong opposition from his mistress and master, who thought, according to popular belief at the time,
Frederick Douglass was a young male slave born just outside Easton, Maryland in 1818. Douglass was enslaved up until the abolishment of Slavery on December 6th, 1865. Douglass had tried to change his life by attempting various ways to escape. Douglass wrote his autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass to provide insight about the truths of slavery. One of the arguments of people who defended slavery is that the economy would essentially crash if slavery came to an end.
