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The Importance Of Slavery In Frederick Douglass

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“While I was saddened by the thought of losing the aid of my kind mistress, I was gladdened by the invaluable instruction which, by the merest accident, I had gained from my master.” quoted Frederick Douglass. In that moment of the scene that 's where the role of literacy began. Once literacy is exposed to the slaves, they would become unmanageable for the slaveholders to handle. Slaves would then realize that the key to their freedom is literacy. Why is teaching slaves how to read and write is such a problem that slaveholders fear it? In the book, Douglass illustrates how literacy is a key component of revising a slave from the mental bonds of story. Chapter six, when Hugh Auld forbids Sophia Auld to stop giving Douglass writing and reading lessons is when Douglass learns that knowledge must be the way to freedom, while Auld believe education will ruin slaves. Without knowing it Aulds revealed a way for slaves to be free on how which whites manage to keep blacks as slaves so they can’t free themselves. Hugh didn 't want Douglass to be educated because he thought Douglass would become unmanageable and unfit to become a slave if he enters the world of literacy. What would happen if slaves are revealed to education? Why are slaveholders so big on not teaching slaves how to read and write? You start to raise questions and curiosity on finding out the answer. Frederick recalled “I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty to wit, the white man’s power
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Slaves were not supposed to be able to read or write and this made it hard. His mistress always got mad anytime she saw him reading. It was hard for him to accept the things he had read since they gave him more details about his race and what he was going through. Douglass learning how to read and write caused him to deal with his readings emotionally and mentally. Alexie thought that him learning how to read made him smart and he was very proud of doing so.

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Douglass for example emphasized the importance of education for slaves. Douglass is a first had observer of the strategy of slave owners to keep their slaves ignorant. By keeping slave uneducated they are unable to express the horrible things that happen to them to the world. Hugh Auld forces his wife to stop teaching Douglass to read (auld stopping teaching quote) , so Douglass teaches himself. For him learning to read was a major turning point in his quest for freedom and it enabled him to put out his book, which would inspire many to turn against slavery.

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Abolitionism was a well-known movement around the time of the Civil War and its aim was to put an end to slavery. The people of the early nineteenth century viewed the elimination of slavery in numerous ways. Some fought against the end of slavery, some appeared to mildly support the cause and yet others wholeheartedly supported the ending of slavery until their dying day. Charles Finney was a religious leader who promoted social reforms such as the abolition of slavery. He also fought for equality in education for women as well as for African Americans.

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Many of us take education for granted and don’t learn to our fullest potential, but Fredrick Douglass soaked in every piece of information up because he knew it was his way out. “Learning to Read and Write” is a famous article based on what Fredrick Douglass went through to earn a valuable education while being enslaved. Author Fredrick Douglass, wrote “Learning to Read and Write”, published in 1845. Throughout the article, he takes us through different events he goes through while being enslaved. Douglass begins building his credibility with personal facts and successfully demonstrating logic and pathos appeal.

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Slaves could become regular citizens with knowledge, reducing the power of the almighty white man. A second reason is that if slaves learned to read, they could feel as if they did not need

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Frederick Douglass must have been aware of this because in his narrative, he actively opposes the idea. He describes the masters as people who would “much rather see [the slaves] as engaged in degrading sports, than to see [them] behaving as intellectual, moral, and accountable beings”(48). At a very young age, Douglass learned from the kindly Mrs. Auld how to read, and eventually how to write. He later began a school on the day of the Sabbath for other slaves who desired this knowledge. In Douglass narrative, he proves that unlike the slave owner’s perceptions, African Americans could be “scholars” that “ardently [desired] to learn”(48).

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Frederick Douglass in his narrative “Why I learned to Read and Write” demonstrates how he surpassed many obstacles along the way towards getting an education. These obstacles not only shaped Frederick’s outlook on life but also influenced him in his learning to read and write. Frederick’s main challenge was that of not being an owner of his person but rather a slave and a property to someone else. Frederick Douglass lived in the time when slavery was still taking place and slaveholders viewed slavery and education as incompatible. The slave system didn’t allow mental or physical freedom for slaves; slaveholders were to keep the apt appearance and slaves were to remain ignorant.

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African-American slaves were forbidden to obtain the knowledge of being able to read or write, stemming from the fear of white masters that educated slaves will overpower them. Douglass managed to learn to read by bribing poor and hungry white boys into teaching him in exchange for bits of bread. Douglass illustrates his thirst for literacy through “[The] bread [he] used to bestow upon the hungry little urchins, who, in return, would give [him] that more valuable bread of knowledge” (pg 23). This reveals how much Douglass valued education and took advantage of all the knowledge he had access to. Today’s youth, especially the ones belonging to a minority

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One reason why slave owners did not educate their slaves was because it was untraditional, and therefore would make a slave disobedient. Slaveowners in the early 1800s kept to traditional methods of treating a slave because of the belief that slaves were meant to be obedient and get work done. For example, Hugh Auld, one of Douglass’s masters, states to his wife, Sophia Auld, on page 42, “a nigger should know nothing but to obey his master- to do as he is told to do…if you teach that

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Although Frederick Douglass was not expected to be literate, he taught himself how because he believed that education should be for everyone, not just a few privileged children. Frederick Douglass was a slave for life in the southern United States before the Civil War. He had no regular teacher because, at that time, most slave owners did not believe that their slaves should be taught to read and write. White slave owners thought that if slaves knew how to read, they would go against their owners and fight against slavery.

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Because of this, he successfully creates a contrast between what the slave owners think of and treat the slaves and how they are. Douglass says that slave’s minds were “starved by their cruel masters”(Douglass, 48) and that “they had been shut up in mental darkness” (Douglass, 48) and through education, something that they were deprived of, Frederick Douglass is able to open their minds and allow them to flourish into the complex people that they are. By showing a willingness to learn to read and write, the slaves prove that they were much more than what was forced upon them by their masters.

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With all the knowledge he was gaining, he began to comprehend everything around him. The things he was learning fascinated him, but the “more [he] read, the more [he] was led to abhor and detest [his] enslavers”(Douglass 35); however, that should not be viewed as a negative affect but a positive one. No one should want to be deceived for their entire life. This hatred that he built up motivated him to continue to further educate himself. As a result, he later motivated other slaves to earn an education by having “[availed] themselves to [an] opportunity to learn to read” (Douglass 69) by Douglass teaching them every Sunday.

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Human slavery requires ignorance, just as an individual’s freedom, from oppression, requires knowledge attained by education. To maintain order and control over slaves, slavery demands ignorant slaves; thus, keeping slaves ignorant prevents slaves from recognizing the empowering value of education and education’s ability to liberate slaves from the effects of ignorance. Frederick Douglass’s pursuit of education helped him discover the dark, hidden truths of slavery in his article, “How I Learned to Read and Write.” Thus, the pursuit of education inspires a desire for freedom. The desire to learn generates determination and motivation.

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1080 Words | 5 Pages

In Frederick Douglass’s narrative essay titled “Learning to Read” he recalls his journey to literacy. Throughout the essay Douglass reveals how he learned to read and write, despite the fact that education was strictly prohibited to slaves. Initially, Douglass learned how to read through his mistress, but he later learned from the little white boys on the streets. As for learning to write, he often times observed ship carpenters and replicated the copy-books of his Master’s son. Frederick Douglass did not have the same opportunities students have today, yet despite his adversities, Douglass was able to become a literate slave, and ultimately free himself from slavery with the power of

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However, literacy turns out to be not only bliss, but also painful. Indeed, while learning to read Frederick becomes more and more aware of the injustices of slavery, and this leads him to regret this knowledge “Learning how to read had become a curse rather than a blessing” ( Douglass ) . Douglass believes in the importance of education. He thinks that education is a key part to our life; it is the only way to get freedom. Literacy is very powerful because it can set anyone free to pursue dreams.

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