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Frederick Douglass Path To Freedom Essay

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N-e-w B-e-t-f-o-r-d, this what was Fredrick Douglass read when he stepped off the boat to the north. Just reading those words was an accomplishment. In his book The Narrative and Life of Fredrick Douglass, an American Slave he details his experiences where knowledge is very key. Douglass shows how knowledge gained him the ultimate reward of freedom. Knowledge is the path to freedom. If Ms. Auld didn’t teach Douglass how to write his path to freedom wouldn’t have even started. “After I had learned this, she assisted me in learning to spell words of three or four letters. Just at this point of my progress, Mr. Auld found out what was going on, and at once forbade Mrs. Auld to instruct me further” (40). When Douglass got older and wanted to be a free slave his knowledge came in much handy to help his friends and even himself to escape. “The week before our intended start, I wrote several protections, one for each of us” (78). When Douglass was younger Mrs. Auld would teach Douglass grammar everyday, but when her husband found out then he got mad and said, “The first step …show more content…

When Douglass stepped off the ship to New Bedford he was astonished how things could look so beautiful without slaves taking care of everything. “Every thing looked clean, new, and beautiful. I saw few or no dilapidated houses, with poverty-stricken inmates; no half-naked children and barefooted women, such as I had been accustomed to see…” (97). Douglass was also very surprised that the people were wealthy and they didn’t have slaves. He was accustomed of seeing slaves be the “wealth factor” not as much money. “The people looked more able, stronger, healthier, and happier, than those of Maryland. I was for once made glad by a view of extreme wealth, without being saddened by seeing extreme poverty” If Douglass didn’t learn starting at a younger age, then this new life filled with freedom wouldn’t have been a

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