Autobiography Of Frederick Douglass

Picture this going through life without the ability to read or write. Without these abilities, it is impossible for a person to be a functioning member of society. In addition, imagine that someone is purposely limiting your knowledge to keep a leash on your independence. Not only is an American slave raised without skills in literacy, he cannot be taught to read unless someone breaks the law. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the reader is given a detailed explanation of why slave masters keep their slaves ignorant and the effects such a strategy has on the slaves’ lives. In his autobiography, Douglass describes how the knowledge he obtains has substantial positive and negative effects on his psyche. He is given renewed passion and hope for freedom while struggling with the burden of enlightenment of his situation. Ultimately, however, education shapes his fate, and he achieves freedom and prominence as an advocate for abolition.

Judith Sargent Murray wrote an essay, in 1790, that would ask a question, and eventually, start an argument over the intellectual and spiritual equality of men and women. Murray asked, “Is it upon mature consideration we adopt the idea, that nature is thus partial in her distributions?” Though she was advocating for the equal rights of women, when she was writing the essay, this question can be applied to all human beings. Are there human beings who are naturally superior to others, whether it be physically, intellectually or spiritually? The thought that there are a select few individuals who are superior to others has been a driving force in American History. One example being the enslavement of African Americans. Their enslavement was essentially based on the thought that nature was partial in her distributions and that African Americans were inferior to white men, and therefore it was acceptable to treat them as property. During this time in history, the debate over slavery was a heated one, with the majority of the population having considerably extreme opinions on the issue. Many people spoke out about the immorality and inhumanity of slavery, but none had a more convincing argument, for the abolition of slavery than Frederick Douglass.

I chose to do my report on Frederick Douglass because while I was reading his biography, it seemed very interesting. What I found most interesting was that Frederick was born a slave. He also was an escaped slave. Plus despite everything he went through he became the most important black American leader of the nineteenth century.

The brutality that slaves endured form their masters and from the institution of slavery caused slaves to be denied their god given rights. In the "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass," Douglass has the ability to show the psychological battle between the white slave holders and their black slaves, which is shown by Douglass' own intellectual struggles against his white slave holders. I will focus my attention on how education allowed Douglass to understand how slavery was wrong, and how the Americans saw the blacks as not equal, and only suitable for slave work. I will also contrast how Douglass' view was very similar to that of the women in antebellum America, and the role that Christianity played in his life as a slave and then

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is written by the ex-slave Frederick Douglass and recounts his life as a slave and his ambition to become a free man. This edition is edited with an introduction by David W. Blight, an American History teacher.

Most people are fortunate enough to say they know who their father is and what day they were born on. One young slave, Frederick Douglass, was never able to find these things out because of his life in slavery. In Douglass’ book, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, we come to find out what the life of a slave is really like from the perspective of one. In the book, Douglass covers his time in slavery and his escape to the north where he was very active against slavery.

Boxill, Bernard. "Frederick Douglass’s Patriotism." Journal of Ethics 13.4 (2009): 301-317. EBSCO. Web. 19 Oct 2015. Bernard argues that Frederick Douglass always was a patriot even throughout slavery. He states that most Americans are patriots even if they do not agree with the politics, but rather just a love for their country. It talks about Americans who give selfless amounts of time toward the improvement of America.

“To know the pains of power, we must go to those who have it; to know its pleasures, we must go to those who are seeking it: the pains of power are real, its pleasures imaginary” said Charles Caleb Colton. Slavery reared its ugly head on millions within the U.S., the masters and overseers of those slaves all the while holding a power that was especially evil. Frederick Douglass, one of the millions, documented his time as a slave in his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. In his time as a slave, Douglass faced numerous hardships. His owners sought to dehumanize him and take away any sense of freedom that he would find within himself.

“Whilst 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. Though conscious of the difficulty of learning without a teacher, I set out with high hope, and a fixed purpose, at whatever cost of trouble, to learn how to read. The very decided manner with which he spoke, and strove to impress his wife with the evil consequences of giving me instruction, served to convince me that he was deeply sensible of the truths he was uttering. It gave me the best assurance that I might rely with the utmost confidence on the results which, he said, would flow from teaching me to read.” (Douglass, 29-30).

Throughout the time leading up to the conclusion of the Civil War, the concept of human nature and the corresponding enterprise of particular forms of governance and sociality were continually conflicting in determination of a human. “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself,” “Letters from an American Farmer,” by J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, and “The Autobiography,” by Thomas Jefferson are all great examples of literary works in which the relation of the individual “I” vs. “We,” as enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, are very evident. Each of the text explores the ideas: “What is a person?” and “what is an American.” All three pieces relay examples regarding the subject of personhood in the country during this time, how it was, and how it changed. In the piece “The

The theme of individual versus society has been featured in many pieces of literature over time. This conflict can be described as an individual’s struggle against the confines of their culture or society. The individual wrestles with either upholding society’s rules or breaking them. The conflict of the individual versus society is included in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass. In his memoir, Douglass, who was a slave at the time, learned how to read and write. This was deviant from society in that period because slaves were not allowed to read and write. This conflict also appears in real life situations, such as the women’s suffrage movement or the Civil Rights Movement. Members of these movements did things that deviated from societal norms at the time. The theme of the individual versus society is presented as an individual deviating from society’s ideals.

Slavery, as a form of labor, has not inflamed a whole-scale political and social crisis more seriously anywhere than in the United States during the nineteenth century. In fact, the slaves were forced, kidnapped or “born” to be the suppressed and were not only required to perform endless labor, but also tortured, suppressed and bestially destroyed in numerous heartless ways — physically and mentally. However, a few decades before the outbreak of the civil war, it was barely possible for the ordinary to know about the details of how the slaves lived in the south due to several factors such as the limit of communications. Fortunately, Fredrick Douglass, an educated run-away slave, wrote and published “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick

Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Boston: Anti-Slavery Office, 1845. Ibiblio.org. Elegant Ebooks. Web. 29 Nov. 2015.

The autobiography by Frederick Douglass is very interesting. It talks about his life and his contribution to the abolition movement. This is an incredible tell perseverance to be with his love that is free in the north and to help others that have been in captivity.

Douglass focuses on not having any knowledge about his age or the day he was born. Based on the reading Douglass seems to really care about the lack of knowledge. I think it stops him from doing things. For example, defending himself from his master of other people.Based on the autobiography it states that,''slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs,and it is the wish of most masters within knowledge to keep their slaves thus.''Slave keepers also keep their slaves thus for their own advantage. In my opinion, it left his a big impact and hardships not having enough knowledge.