Summary Of Learning To Read And Write By Frederick Douglass

In his essay “Learning to Read and Write” Frederick Douglass describes how he learned to read and write and the challenges he had to address in his condition of being a slave since childhood. His enslavers did not want him to get an education or to learn anything that could make him someone valuable because for them, slavery and education were not compatible. Despite all the obstacles that his or (he) enslavers put to him were not easy, he did not stop his aspiration to learn to read and write to become a person of character; he looked for other ways to learn to read and write since his enslavers did not allow that. He tries to enlighten that education and freedom are rights that every human being should have; education gives us the opportunity

“The plan which I adopted, and the one by which I was most successful, was that of making friends of all the little white boys whom I met in the street. As many of these as I could, I converted into teachers.” (Douglass 70). What he is trying to say is that he tried to make new friends because he wanted them to teach him how to read since his mistress stopped teaching him the alphabet because of her sudden change to a stonehearted woman. But by teaching him the alphabet, the first step was taken because he was interested about learning more and more. The plan that he adopted was successful; he learned how to read with the gently aid of the little white children in his neighborhood. In his interest of learning more, he now started to read every newspaper or any book he had opportunity to read, and by reading he started to discover what it really meant to be a slave; he started to shape and discover a new identity of which he was not so glad to discover. Since then, he started to be tormented about his condition of being a slave for life; he started to think about why he was not as free as the other children would be when they were adults. He loathed his masters because he considered that everybody should have the rights of freedom and education (rights that were not given to him). He is not only referring to his torment on

The exact year and date of Douglass's birth are unknown, though later in life he chose to celebrate it on February 14. Douglass initially lived with his maternal grandmother, Betty Bailey. At a young age, Douglass was selected to live in the home of the plantation owners, one of whom may have been his father. His mother, an intermittent presence in his life, died when he was around 10. Douglass tried to escape from slavery twice before he succeeded. He was assisted in his final attempt by Anna Murray, a free black woman in Baltimore with whom Douglass had fallen in love. On September 3, 1838, Douglass boarded a train to Havre de Grace, Maryland. Murray had provided him with some of her savings and a sailor's uniform. He carried identification papers obtained from a free black seaman. Douglass made his way to the safe house of abolitionist David Ruggles in New York in less than 24 hours. In addition to abolition, Douglass became an outspoken supporter of women’s rights. In 1848, he was the only African American to attend the first women's rights convention at Seneca Falls, New York. Elizabeth Cady Stanton asked the assembly to pass a resolution stating the goal of women's suffrage. Many attendees opposed the idea. Douglass stood and spoke eloquently in favor, arguing that he could not accept the right to vote as a black man if women could not also claim that right. The