Frederick Douglass The Idea Of Progress

Frederick Douglass, an African-American abolitionist and statesman, once said “ Without a struggle, there can be no progress”. Many believe that progress is given, but in actuality progress is earned. In everyday life people see others fail and give up and others who fail and keep trying. There are only two types of people in this world workers and quitters; progress will only fall in the hands of people whose hands are open. That being said progress includes multiple steps in order to reach a goal. If someone does something right off the bat that's not considered progress, that is just success. Progress is defined by a forward or ongoing movement toward a destination; therefore, if someone is truly making progress they have to commit failure, not just once but multiple times before reaching

Like all other words, progress has been around longer than most can remember. In fact according to the Oxford English Dictionary the word progress was originally derived in the 14th century and defined as “ a going on, action of walking forward”. Progress originated from two Latin elements, pro and gredi, meaning “to walk forward”. Historically, the earliest connotation was fairly simple and only used when talking about royalty and high class. Historian J.B. Bury, alive during the early 1900’s, was known for his theory on progress. In Bury’s book, The Idea of Progress, he states, “ Civilization has moved, is moving, and will move in a desirable direction”. Clearly that represents what progress is, but this idea of progress was created during the Enlightenment era which