How Did Frederick Douglass Overcome Fear Of Education

In 1845 Douglass published his autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Since birth, he had been stripped of his freedoms and treated like any other form of property. As time progressed, he frequently changed masters as he moved all throughout the South. Because his childhood was physically depleting, the thought of freedom always was in the front of his mind. Douglass made the best of most of his situations by finding ways to learn to read and write as well as teach the other enslaved to do the same. He soon realized that education is a skill that all of his masters feared, making him want to discover more of it. As Fredrick Douglass reflects on words from his old masters and personal experiences, he suggests that education

Fear of education displayed by past masters made Douglass consider the benefits of becoming literate. Douglass had hateful masters from the moment he was born. These terrible masters stripped the enslaved of their blood, energy, and their hope for freedom. As Douglass is slowly learning to read from Mrs. Auld, his master enters the room, degrades Douglass, and treats him as any other property. Mr. Auld fears education for slaves so much that he believes “If you teach that n***** how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave.” (48). After hearing a demoralizing quote like this, most enslaved people would be upset. They might take his words and see their chance at an education disappear, but Douglass looked at this statement another way. He came to the realization that masters believed that knowledge would give any enslaved person the chance to become intellectually free. After Douglass had learned to read and write he wanted to share his intellectual wealth with his new-found family. On

After Douglass obtained a foundation of reading from Mrs. Auld and children on the street, he started to find time in his day to pick up books and expand his interests on pressing topics. He acquired a document that included excerpts from speeches regarding Catholic Emancipation. He quickly realized that all of the declarations made by the speaker are about human rights. So much rage filled Douglass about the way he was being treated that he “was led to abhor and detest my enslavers.” (54). He started to understand that human rights applied to all humans, including people who had a different skin color. As he read he realized that the religion that all of his masters had practiced were the result of this emancipation. His ability to read helped him gain consciousness of the fact that he had rights too, resulting in him growing hungrier for freedom. After Douglass had realized how much reading had changed his perspective on life and freedom, he felt a driving need to share that knowledge with others. After just a few weeks on Mr. Freeman’s farm he established a family with the other enslaved and they quickly noticed his ability to read and write. He began teaching his friends how to read the bible on Sunday’s which brought Douglass joy simply by knowing that he was helping the abolition movement. His charity of teaching his friends was the sweetest engagement with which I was ever blessed.” (90).