Pros And Cons Of Frederick Douglass

Originally illiterate and unaware of the evils of slavery and segregation, Douglass was taught the basics of the English language by his slave master’s wife. Soon after the beginning of his instruction, Douglass had developed a raging fire that could only be quenched with more knowledge. As his pursuit of reading and writing lead him to become literate, it also gave him a real-world understanding of the evil concept of slavery. As time went on, he began to resent his master and mistress for subjecting any human being to such a fate. It was his belief that the color of your skin or your country of origin should have no standing to what rights and abilities any person has. Becoming literate further exemplifies Douglass’ refusal to adhere to societal expectations, as people of black heritage were not allowed to be taught how to read in the United States. This was the way of the land, but it didn’t inhibit his resolve to become a learned man who was capable of understanding language, reading and writing. This passion is what set him apart from other people, not his

         When Douglass was born become a slave, grew up in the south to engage in heavy slave labor, tortured, and several times nearly lost his life.  However, his strong will struggle in difficult circumstances, assiduous self-culture.  Slaveholders see bad discipline, he took him over to a dedicated tame slaves and whites - Covey to discipline. Douglass decided to revolt after being repeatedly beaten,

Mr. Douglass learned to read and write. His mistress according to Mr. Douglass, “kindly commenced to teach me the A, B, C. After I had learned this, she assisted me in learning to spell words of three or four letters” (Douglass, 48). Which would have been illegal. She didn’t stop teaching him until her husband’s response to teaching him to read “If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master – to do as he is told to do. Learning will spoil the best nigger (speaking of myself) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy.” Mr. Douglass considered the pathway to his freedom to be learning to read and that keeping him illiterate was the means of the white man’s power so he set out to learn how to read and according to him “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” (Douglass, 52). He learned how to use the system to his advantage. He learned that “A city slave is almost a freeman, compared with a slave on the plantation” (Douglass, 49). And used this to his advantage. He also was able to get “the privilege of hiring

Frederick Douglass was so over slavery that he decided to escape from it and become free. Before escaping, he went to work for Mr. Butler who had a shipyard and from there he would try to run away. Mr. Butler never suspected anything bad from Douglass, so he would pay him twenty five cents. Working for Mr. Butler was not a bad experience for Douglass, Mr. Butler was a good master towards him. Douglass loved his friends and was sad he would have to leave them again. When the day came, he was more nervous than ever, since escaping from your

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” - Frederick Douglass. In his lifetime, Frederick Douglass faced more struggles than most can imagine. He was born a slave in 1818 on a harsh plantation in Tuckahoe, Maryland. His mother was a slave and his father was believed to be an overseer on the plantation. He was prohibited from gaining an education, which only caused his desire to learn to grow stronger. His thirst for knowledge was only quenched through vigorous study and teaching against the strict orders of his owners. He taught others to read and write, all the while studying the works of the abolitionist movement, and in 1838, he escaped the plantation and became a free man, fleeing to New York. He soon met William Lloyd Garrison, a popular abolitionist, and supporter of the women’s rights

As being as slave at one point and time, and escaping to live and tell the story. Frederick Douglass was and still could be a huge influence on today’s younger society in everyday life. In chapter 10, Douglass goes on to say “I’m coming to a fixed determination to run away, we did more that Patrick Henry, when he resolved upon liberty or death.” (555) I feel as if Douglass is provided a great example for all types of people. I take it as he is giving off the idea that whatever one has enough determination to do, they can do. Just like him.

Throughout Douglass’s experience as a slave, he finds that masters consistently seek to deprive their slaves of knowledge. They steal the slaves chance to learn in order to crush their wills to be free. They had also crushed the ability for slaves to learn so that the slaves could not even comprehend the state of being

Education provides Douglass critical analysis over different situations he overcome being a slave. Although it was hard for Douglass to get knowledge without being noticed by his masters, but it was his enthusiasm and courage to learn which lead him to become literate. Literacy makes Douglass unhappy about his situation. It is better for a slave to be illiterate because, in this way they will not be aware of any other life then slavery. Literacy helps Douglass to make his way for being free.

In The Life of Frederick Douglass An American Slave, written by himself the author asserts that the way to enslave someone is to keep them from learning at all. Douglass supports his claim by, first, when Frederick was small he was never able to tell his age or the date, and secondly, they were never allowed to be taught how to read that was something always hidden from him as a young child. The author’s purpose is to inform the reader that as a slave there were so many things they were not allowed to have that we may take for granted, in order to make it very clear that we should not take our education and opportunities for granted. Based on The Life Of Frederick Douglass An American Slave, Douglass is writing for the white people who believed that slavery was right, he wanted to make it very clear that the slaves and Douglass had nothing handed to them.

Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world… if you teach that nigger how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would be unfit for him to be a slave”’ (Douglass 6). Douglass’s master makes it clear that education and knowledge was sacred and a prize possession that a slave or African American should know nothing

Frederick Douglass was a young slave with an aspiring dream to learn and further his life of knowledge and education. There was only one thing stopping him: his lack of freedom. The ability to read and access to an education is a liberating experience that results in the formation of opinions, critical-thinking, confidence, and self-worth. Slave owners feared slaves gaining knowledge because knowledge is power and they might have a loss of power, which would result to the end of cheap labor. Slave owners made the slaves feel as if they had no self-worth or confidence. If the slaves got smarter they could potentially begin to learn how unjust and wrong slavery was and they would have enough reason to rebel against it. Douglass was learning how to read and write from his slave owner’s wife. Unfortunately, both of them were told how wrong it was for him to be learning because a slave was not to be educated and was deemed unteachable. There was also another fear that the slave owners had. They feared that slaves would have better communication skills which would lead to escape and ways to avoid slavery. Reading opens your mind to new ideas and new knowledge one has never had the opportunity of knowing.

Every morning children complain about having to go to school. Many kids across American do not understand how fortunate they are that they are able to learn. However, slaves were unlucky. Treated as animals, Masters made sure that they were not educated to even the simplest things, such as reading or writing. Many slaves were not allowed to know their age or place of birth. A slave was considered lucky if they were taught something simple as the alphabet. If one asked Frederick Douglass he would say something different. Throughout his autobiography “A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” he makes it evident that learning is a curse, while I believe learning is never a curse.

Douglass was able to figure out who around him had the ability to read and write and how to get them to share their knowledge, all without his masters’ knowledge. Douglass understood that white people were able to keep blacks in slavery by keeping them ignorant. Later he opened a school for fellow slaves, who “came because they wished to learn” even though they risked being “given thirty-nine lashes”(75) if caught. The fellow slaves showed that the ability to learn was not limited to just Douglass, since he was able to teach them to read and write. These events detailed in Douglass’ book provide further proof that neither he nor slaves as a whole were intellectually inferior, that it was the slavery system that made education illegal for slaves that fed this

Douglass was motivated to learn how to read by hearing his master condemn the education of slaves. Mr. Auld declared that an education would “spoil” him and “forever unfit him to be a slave” (2054). He believed that the ability to read makes a slave “unmanageable” and “discontented” (2054). Douglass discovered that the “white man’s power to enslave the black man” (2054) was in his literacy and education. As long as the

On July 4th, 1776 the United States gained independence. During the slave trade, millions of African lives were lost. Since then, hostility and tension have continued to grow after controversies spark up debate once more. To protect the newfound rights of American citizens, the constitution entitles every American person to be given the same rights under the term liberties, also known as civil liberties. Although America now enforces civil liberties delivered in the United States Constitution to be prioritized, the discriminatory actions against different beliefs, ideals forced upon women, and evident tension between races reveals the previously imposed rules.