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Frederick Douglass Learning To Read And Write Analysis

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Can you image learning to read as a slave in the late 1800’s during American slavery? Or teaching yourself to write, as an adult in prison around the rise of racial segregation? Neither can I. But these are the circumstances portrayed in Frederick Douglass’ “Learning to Read and Write” and Malcolm X’s “Learning to Read” in which they accomplished what many take for granted. During the era of legalized forced labor in the United States, it was law to treat African Americans as property, striping them of any humanizing qualities. Fast forward 100 years and this might still hold true. While laws were in place to treat everyone as “separate but equal”, African Americans still struggled to flourish in a country that did not socially accept the …show more content…

Upon realizing that the basic education taught could someday lead to desires of freedom, therefore interrupting her southern way of life. Master Hugh’s wife ceases her teaching of young Douglass but the thirst for literacy remained. Understanding from his mistress’s behavior that “education and slavery were incompatible with each other”, Douglass decided to take matters into his own hands. With the pavement and brick wall as his book and a lump of chalk as his pen, Douglas cleverly accomplished a great deal. He was “compelled to resort to various stratagems” to achieve literacy. One of Douglass’ first plans involved befriending all the little white boys in his neighborhood with the reward of bread in exchange for some knowledge on how to read. As well as learning to write by copying the letters ship carpenters would write on pieces of timber and then tricking a neighborhood boy into a writing game to see who was the better writer. He concocted these strategies knowing that a punishment awaited if caught by his master. Actually, this was one of the main reasons why many enslaved African Americans did not venture to pursue literacy. For most the cost of learning to read and maybe achieving freedom greatly faltered in comparison to the cruel treatment slave masters would

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555 Words | 3 Pages

While working on the plantation, Douglass was taught how to read by his slave master’s wife. However, the lessons stopped per the request of his slave master, yet, that did not stop him from continuing to learn how to read. At the age of sixteen, he was sold to a “slave breaker,” named Edward Covey, who was a very harsh slave master. After spending less than a year under Covey’s control, he tried to escape with a group of slaves, but was later caught by authorities and was

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600 Words | 3 Pages

Learning to Read and to write is a sample of Fredrick’s Douglass literature. An African- American who was born in Maryland and was supposed to become a slave for his entire life. In his piece of writing ‘’Learning to Read and Write’’, the author tells the reader how learning the basic rules of reading and writing was a challenge while being a slave. Besides being a young twelve year old boy who does not own his personal life, his doesn’t deserve the right to eradicate the disease of illiteracy from his life for the only reason that many other Africans and Indians suffer from, slavery. The first audience of Douglass’s text is everyone who read ‘’Narrative of the life’’ from which the text was excerpted as well as whoever is in the same situation as being a slave or feeling concerned

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999 Words | 4 Pages

From a young age, Douglass wanted to learn to read and write, as he knew it would get him closer to freedom. The wife of Douglass’ master had begun teaching him to read and write,

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66 Words | 1 Pages

In “learning how to read and write,” Fredrick Douglass tells about how he achieved the ability to read and write. Thou, it seems like an easy task, Douglass accomplished his goals in a time where society condoned slavery. Despite all the barriers Douglass faced, he accomplished his journey, and learned to read and write; therefore engaging the audience to overcome any obstacles just as he did.

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613 Words | 3 Pages

Furthermore, Douglass used education as a mental resistance when he realized the necessity of escaping to freedom. This can be illustrated by the time he worked in the Baltimore’s industry. Douglass was well educated about the trade of caulking; therefore, Mr. Hugh allowed him to work for other masters in the

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1580 Words | 7 Pages

Douglass got a new viewpoint on slavery when he moved to Baltimore and lived with his new master Hugh Auld and his wife Sophia, who taught Douglass the alphabet for a while until her husband reprimanded her. Douglass learned the rest of the alphabet and how to read from his white friends in town and practiced everyday by himself. He had a fascination with abolitionist newspapers and continually read The Columbian Orator. This was a major turning point in Douglass’s life, reading about abolitionists and free slaves gave him the strength and hope he needed to one day escape and become the man he is. He now had a greater

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142 Words | 1 Pages

Frederick Douglass, a 19th-century African-American activist for the abolition of slavery, was a slave for first two decades of his life. Consequently, his oppressed position was the main root cause of all obstacles he faced during his early years, as discussed by him in essay “How I Learned to Read and Write”. The first obstacle he witnessed was his inability to read because of his mistress’ attitude who ceased to instruct him and grew to believe that, “Education and slavery were incompatible with each other”. It was an obstacle because young Frederick did not have a teacher who would create a learning program for him, and thus his learning to read became more difficult, and it was rather chaotic and unstructured. However, Douglass overcame

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582 Words | 3 Pages

Frederick Douglass in his narrative “Why I learned to Read and Write” demonstrates how he surpassed many obstacles along the way towards getting an education. These obstacles not only shaped Frederick’s outlook on life but also influenced him in his learning to read and write. Frederick’s main challenge was that of not being an owner of his person but rather a slave and a property to someone else. Frederick Douglass lived in the time when slavery was still taking place and slaveholders viewed slavery and education as incompatible. The slave system didn’t allow mental or physical freedom for slaves; slaveholders were to keep the apt appearance and slaves were to remain ignorant.

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347 Words | 2 Pages

The acquisition of literacy was so important to Frederick douglass because it was something he couldn’t have. Douglass first realized he craved education when his mistress stopped teaching him. Douglass thought of reading as a curse, “It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out” (24). He could see the potential an education gave a person, but because he was a slave, there lies a large obstacle that allowed him to maximize his potential. Douglass asked the white boys who were being handed an education to carry their books so he could read and learn from them.

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474 Words | 2 Pages

Douglass in “Learning to Read and Write” identified that there is no end to learning; there was always more to find out about or hear a different opinion on. Because of learning, he heard the word abolition for the first time. Just the thought of becoming free was enough for Douglass to continue striving to acquire information. The ability to read allowed him to learn more about current events than his fellow slaves which in turn gave him ideas about freedom. Education ultimately brought him to freedom which dramatically increased his quality of

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498 Words | 2 Pages

He converted unknowingly little “White boys” that he would meet on the street into his teachers and over time, Douglass finally learned how to read. The young boys that helped teach Douglass how to read would soon grow up and be free to do as they wish, but he would be a slave for life! By learning to read, not only did Douglass gain the knowledge

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540 Words | 3 Pages

The mistresses were chief influences in his life. Mrs. Auld, his second mistress, taught Douglass the alphabet and then instructed him on how to read short words. He continues to explain Mr. Auld’s utter disapproval of his wife’s lessons and the negative impacts this new ability would impose in Douglass’s life. Mr. Auld believed, according to his own words found in Douglass’s personal narrative, “a nigger should know nothing but to obey his master” and that, “Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world”(Douglass, 330). As if he were a mother spouting off important truths to her child, Auld warned of serious threats to a slave’s life Douglas.

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392 Words | 2 Pages

African-American slaves were forbidden to obtain the knowledge of being able to read or write, stemming from the fear of white masters that educated slaves will overpower them. Douglass managed to learn to read by bribing poor and hungry white boys into teaching him in exchange for bits of bread. Douglass illustrates his thirst for literacy through “[The] bread [he] used to bestow upon the hungry little urchins, who, in return, would give [him] that more valuable bread of knowledge” (pg 23). This reveals how much Douglass valued education and took advantage of all the knowledge he had access to. Today’s youth, especially the ones belonging to a minority

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560 Words | 3 Pages

Douglass states: “The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers. I could regard them in no other light than a band of successful robbers, who had left their homes, and gone to Africa, and stolen us from our homes, and in a strange land reduced us to slavery” (Douglass 51). Reading and writing opened Frederick Douglass’s eyes to the cause of the abolitionist. He became knowledgeable about a topic that white slave owners tried to keep hidden from their slaves. Literacy would eventually impact his life in more ways than what he could see while he was a young slave under Master Hugh’s

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1080 Words | 5 Pages

In Frederick Douglass’s narrative essay titled “Learning to Read” he recalls his journey to literacy. Throughout the essay Douglass reveals how he learned to read and write, despite the fact that education was strictly prohibited to slaves. Initially, Douglass learned how to read through his mistress, but he later learned from the little white boys on the streets. As for learning to write, he often times observed ship carpenters and replicated the copy-books of his Master’s son. Frederick Douglass did not have the same opportunities students have today, yet despite his adversities, Douglass was able to become a literate slave, and ultimately free himself from slavery with the power of

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