How Did Frederick Douglass Contribute To The Women's Rights Movement

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It would be hard to think about a society in which human beings would bring down other human beings and prevent them from making progress. However, this was the reality in the United of States of America during slavery. For years and generations, slaves and people of color had to endure this harsh reality. Slaves owners and anti-abolitionists have denied education, voting rights, and used religion as a means to keep slaves and people of color oppressed. Slave owners kept their slaves uneducated in order to keep them oppressed. Slave owners felt that educating a slave would be a danger to them and their way of life. They believed that an educated slave would be able to realize that slavery was unjustified and fight back, even though most slaves …show more content…

Many may argue that the oppression of slaves and people of color gave rise to civil rights activists such as Frederick Douglass who played a major role in women’s suffrage. In The Contributions of Frederick Douglass, pg. 2, Travis T. states, “With his role in the Women’s Rights Movement, Frederick Douglass really helped to spread the belief of equality. In 1884, he took part in the very first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls. He signed the Declaration of Sentiments while there in Seneca Falls.” Not only did Douglass push for the freedom of Akran Americans and their right to vote, Douglass also helped push the Women’s Suffrage Movement. His role in the Women’s Suffrage Movement was significant and might not have been possible without have been oppressed as a slave. However, the weakness of this argument is the fact that the 15th Amendment failed to address the issue of women’s rights. In The Contributions of Frederick Douglass, pg. 2, Travis T. mentions, “Susan and Douglass had a disagreement over the passing of the Fifteenth Amendment. Douglass liked the fact that it gave African Americans more rights, but Susan disliked the fact that it left out women. Frederick Douglass believed that it was important to secure the rights of African Americans before working to pursue women rights.” Sure Douglass pushed for both movements, but when it came down to making a decision, he felt that it was too risky to also push for women’s rights along sides rights for American Americans. He believed that also asking for women’s rights in the same amendment would be asking for too