Federick Douglass Quote Analysis

Three main sections of Douglass’s speech and how they work together. Describe the function of each section.

Early in the 1800’s American History, there were two different economical and cultural activities. The north created the industrial economy and the south depended on agricultural plantation. The development of textile industries in the north and in Europe led the high demand of cotton production and then slavery became more important source of manpower to the southerners. While the northern believe slavery as immoral and non-religious act to be abolished, Christianity in Southern America was wrongly defined to legalize the establishment and extension of slavery and a protector for the slaveholders’ inhumane practices. The slaveholders in the South forged the biblical fact that Ham was cursed and thus he should serve his brothers. They give

Slaves didn’t know their mothers or birthdays.  Assess the impact on their mental  well  being ?

This quote comes from the famous abolitionist, writer ,and social reformer Fredrick Douglass. What Fredrick is saying is without the pursuit, perseverance and determination to accomplish something in life. A great example is the civil rights era when Martin Luther King was pushing the government to give equal rights to African Americans and through a great struggle his goal was met though it was after his death because of his perseverance African Americans have the same rights as white Americans. If he had quit on the movement African Americans would have continued to be disrespected and discriminated against. Martin Luther kings Perseverance is a testament to the Frederick Douglass quote in many aspects it really helps you to understand what

Frederick Douglass was a freed slave in the 1800’s who was famous for his ability to read and write, uncommon of a black man at the time. On July 4th, 1852, he gave a speech to citizens of the United States. In this speech, he called out the “hypocrisy of the nation”(Douglass), questioning the nation's treatment of slaves on a supposed day of independence. Frederick Douglass effectively uses rhetorical strategies to construct his argument and expose the hypocrisy of the nation.

1.) The Nawab is well-known for being a generous person, especially to his guests, for he is always making sure they are feeling happy and welcomed in his home. Although he tries his best to be extra polite to everyone, he has his dominant ways. He has been ruling since a young age, therefore, he is used to getting everything he desires, and he knows how strong and powerful of person he is. Although he likes to entertain Europeans, he is inferior and not well-liked by them, and he does not really like them back as well. He mentions his dislike for talking with Major Minnies, who is always seems to be threatening him about something, provoking a flustered and angry Nawab at the end of all their conversations. Harry heavily relies on the Nawab,

Right away the title sets a foundation on what the story will be about. A reader would picture in his mind a person learning how to read and write in the very beginning. Douglass states he was able to learn how to read and write without "having a regular teacher." Douglass and I are similar in the way of being able to self teach, but the degree of intellect is much higher in Douglass's case. Instead of being able to teach myself how to read and write, I can only teach myself basic concepts of math. Douglass uses intellectual wording in his work which backs up the ideas that readers have about him being intelligent. An interesting subject that caught my attention was how he bravely opened up about racial discrimination. I find it appealing

First, Douglass believes that education is a sharp sword to break the chains of slavery. Also, he figures that white men have the power to control African Americans as slaves by keeping slaves ignorant: “‘If you teach that nigger (speaking

Douglass has officially taken in the letters in order and is resolved to figure out how to peruse. He offers bread to poor neighborhood young men in return for perusing lessons. Douglass composes that he is presently enticed to thank these young men by name, yet he realizes that they would languish over it, as showing blacks still constitutes an offense. Douglass reviews the young men thoughtfully concurring that he not any more should have been a slave than they did

The story of Frederick Douglass was riddled with several events that changed his life. Those events participated in representing his identity. Douglass started his autobiography in an exemplary autobiographical style using a simple topical expression. “I was born in Tuckahoe, near Hillsborough, and about twelve miles from Easton, in Talbot County, Maryland.” (Douglass, p.12). In this first sentence, Frederick Douglass identified himself and located the place where he was born (Lee, p.11).

It is well known that teaching a slave to read or write was a crime, but most slaves did not understand why. However, Douglass pushed and pushed for reading and writing because he knew the truth, and the truth is that knowledge is power. This intellectual inferiority that the slave owners talked about only existed because they deprived the slaves of the knowledge that they were so hungry for. Douglass not only uses his narrative as an expository on the truth about slavery, but it is also a testimony against the belief that black people are intellectually inferior. It is seen in the book that the slaves are capable of learning and in fact do want to learn. Douglass, although he is supposedly intellectually inferior, states, “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.” -(Page 47). If the nation deems Douglass and his “kind” intellectually inferior, then there should be no way that Douglass will continue to learn to read and write, but he does continue on with his education. This is because Douglass is not intellectually inferior, he is just as capable as any other man along with the other slaves. This is just one example of Douglass’s testimony against the belief of slave owners and their wrong opinion of slaves intellectual capability. Douglass is not the only

He was a black man struggling, like every other black man of that time, his American Dream was interrupted by Willy’s betrayal. Willy stole Walter and his families money, and their American Dream. Walter needed to be more independent especially from his job as a chauffeur. He hopes to be his own boss.” Yea you see, this little liquor store we got in mind cost seventy-five thousand dollars, and we figured the initial investment on the place be ‘bout thirty thousand dollars, see. That be ten thousand each. Course, there’s a couple of hundred you got to pay so’s you don't spend your life just waiting for them clowns to let your license get approved-”(Hansberry 15). This is Walter’s first thought of independence and American dream while talking to Ruth. Walter confronts Mr.Linder, after the association offers money to buy them out of the neighborhood.” What I am telling you is that we called you over here to tell you is we are very proud and that this is - this is my son, who makes the sixth generation of our family in the country. And that we have all thought about your offer and we have decided to make a move into our house because my father- my father- he earned it. We don't want to make no trouble for nobody or fight no cause- but we will try to be good neighbors. That’s all we got to say. We don't want your money”(Hansberry 12). Here Walter takes charge of his life. Instead of taking the offer he wants to earn the money himself. By standing up for himself, Walter is making way for his future happiness and the American

Living as a poor, black American, opportunities to success was limited to help him achieve his dream. Although Walter had an abundance of family support, he was blinded by the business deals that he wanted to accomplish. He said, “Mama – sometimes when I’m downtown and I pass them cool-quiet-looking restaurants where them white boys are sitting back and talking ‘bout things…sitting there turning deals worth millions of dollars…sometimes I see guys don’t look much older than me – (1.2.)” Walter believed that because of his lack of wealth, his life would be insufficient and pointless. When he sees that the “guys don’t look much older than [him]”, he loses hope in what he can accomplish. As he gets older and older, he fears that he will continue to work as a chauffeur; he fears that he will work to death like his father and fail to support his children to change the never ending cycle. Without the “deals worth billions of dollars”, he simply couldn’t see his American Dream- a future where he wouldn’t have to work day and night, where Mama didn’t have to work til she died, where his wife didn’t have to take care of the kids of strangers and where his son didn’t have to worry about milk

Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave/civil rights activist states in his autobiography The Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass: “(Mrs. Auld) assisted me in learning to spell words of three or four letters… (Mr. Auld) said, ‘if you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell… learning would spoil the best nigger in the world.’” Douglass eventually learns to read, and escapes. An article by a Harvard Student states: “Most White Southern slaveholders were adamantly opposed to the education of their slaves because they feared an educated slave population would threaten their authority. Williams documents a series of statutes that criminalized any person who taught slaves or supported their efforts to teach themselves.” This reveals how afraid masters were; they couldn’t bear to lose power. They were willing to dehumanize slaves as much as necessary to minimize their “threat” to

Furthermore, Walter did fully express that money is freedom for a black male in dead-end job. He felt this way because one, he is in his 30’s, not enough to provide and two, life in the 50’s were some hard times. Also, the influence he see every day will want to make a man