The South has long been associated with the atrocities of slavery, segregation, and racial violence. The institution of slavery is one of the most atrocious identities of the South. White slave owners did not want to lose their superiority and had to find a way to keep their slaves in subordination. Slaveholders believed that by obstructing the slave population from gaining an education, especially in the method of reading and writing, they could keep their slaves and avoid rebellions that could lead to slaves gaining their freedom. White southerners during the antebellum period feared slave uprisings and chose to withhold education from their slaves in an attempt to maintain the southern identity of white superiority. The antebellum …show more content…
Beatings, whippings, dismemberment, and lynching were tactics that were employed to keep the slave population in subordination. If it had not been for the brave men and women who learned to read and write even though they knew they could lose their lives if their master found out we would not know both sides of the peculiar institution of slavery. Only a whitewashed version would be available if slaves had not been brave enough to risk their own lives to make the lives of others better. The historical importance of autobiography could not be more clear than when reading slave narratives because without them we would not have a full picture of the antebellum south. Bibliography Black, Leonard. “Leonard Black The Life and Sufferings of Leonard Black, a Fugitive from Slavery. Written by Himself.” Accessed April 30, 2018. http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/black/menu.html. Cornelius, Janet Duitsman. When I Can Read My Title Clear: Literacy, Slavery, and Religion in the Antebellum South. University of South Carolina Press, 1991. Cornelius, Janet. “We Slipped and Learned to Read: Slave Accounts of the Literacy Process, 1830-1865.” Phylon (1960-) 44, no. 3 (1983): doi:10.2307/274930. Holsey, Lucius Henry. “Autobiography, Sermons, Address, and Essay of Bishop L. H. Holset, D. D.” Accessed April 30, 2018.
The “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” is an autobiography in which Frederick Douglass reflects on his life as a slave in America. He writes this book as a free slave, in the North, while slavery was still running its course before the Civil War. Through his effective use of rhetorical strategies, Frederick Douglass argues against the institution of slavery by appealing to pathos and ethos, introducing multiple anecdotes, using satirical irony, and explaining the persuasive effects of slavery and reasoning behind keeping slaves uneducated.
Published in 1845, Frederick Douglass’s autobiography, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave”, is a historical account of his life that told of the challenges and obstacles that plagued the lives of slaves in pursuing freedom from injustice and persecution from white wealthy slaveowners. In particular, an excerpt titled “Learning to Read” shines a light on the tragic reality African Americans lived in every day during the 19th century. The circumstances surrounding the restriction of growth and development centered around the limited availability of education, or lack thereof. Frederick Douglass uses the Aristotelian appeals of ethos, logos, and pathos to build his credibility and connect with the audience on a more personal note, though he struggles with primarily focusing his paper by appealing to popularity. Nevertheless, he is successful in employing these strategies to tell a riveting memoir documenting his struggles in learning how to read and write to speak out against the injustices of slavery.
Slavery has always been viewed as one of the most scandalous times in American history. It may seem that the entire institution of slavery has been categorized as white masters torturing defenseless African Americans. However, not every slave has encountered this experience. In this essay I will focus on the life of two former slaves Harriet Smith and Mr. George Johnson and how in some cases their experience were similar as well as different in other aspects. The negative aspects of slave life were unquestionably heinous and for that reason especially, it is also important to also reveal the lives of slaves whom were treated fairly and with respect.
A synthetic analysis of two works from African American literature reveals that there is no greater accomplishment than learning to read and write. Literacy is what allows us to gain knowledge through learning. This topic is important because based on a study conducted by the U.S Department of Education and the National Institution of Literacy, 32 million adults in the U.S are still unable to read and write and African Americans are expected to make up nearly half of that amount. In both Fredrick Douglass’ “Learning to Read” and Malcolm X’s “A Homemade Education,” common themes regarding literacy and freedom are identified and both reflect why literacy is so important. The two texts prove how crucial the processes of learning to read
Slavery was brought to America in the 1600’s taking millions of Africans from West Africa. But in 1804 the North voted to abolish slavery but the South refused making states escape the union.Slavery in the South had an effect on the economy, but also on the slaves.Frederick Douglass, who was once a slave with his family in Maryland suffered greatly, but still pushed on and finally escaped and became a national leader of the abolition in the south movement.He made a narrative about his life as a slave and stated that the purpose of the narrative is to “throw light” on the American slave system.The goal of this paper is to discuss three aspects his narrative discusses that he “throws light” on, his position against the feelings of defenders of
Susie Baker was born under the slave law in Georgia, in 1848. She was raised by her grandmother in Savannah, Georgia. It was Susie’s grandmother that ensured she learned to read and write. Susie was sent discretely to study with a friend of the family, and tutors were sought out wherever they could be found. Discretion was necessary because some southern
During the 1800s, slaves received treatment comparable to that of livestock. They were mere possessions of white men stripped of almost every last bit of humanity in them. African-Americans were constricted to this state of mind by their owners vicious treatment, but also the practice of keeping them uneducated. Keeping the slaves illiterate hindered them from understanding the world around them. Slave owners knew this. The slaves who were able to read and write always rebelled more against their masters. Frederick Douglass, author of "A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass," and Harriet Jacobs, author of "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl," were prime examples. Both slaves had been taught how read and write at a young
In the narrative excerpt “Learning to Read and Write” (1845), which originally came from the autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass recapitulates his journey into the coming of literacy that shifts his point to how slavery really is. Douglass develops and supports his main idea by providing a flashback of his own experience as a slave learning to read and write and through dialogue with rhetorical appeals, such as ethos, pathos, and logos. Douglass’ apparent purpose is to retell his story of the obstacles he faced to finally become a free man to guide and prompt other fellow slaves to finally take action for their freedom; he also wants to establish a foundation in which people of higher power, such as abolitionists, are more aware of the slavery situation. The intended audience for this excerpt is the general public of the time consisting of fellow slaves, slave owners, and abolitionists; the relationship Douglass establishes with the audience is equivalent to a news reporter and the people receiving the message—he exposes the truth to them.
(3) When first reading these narratives one would often assume, by what history tells us, that slave owners were cruel, hated men who often beat slaves severely if they committed even the slightest infraction. While this depiction does stand true for some slave owners, I was surprised to find that most of the former slaves interviewed in the “Slave Narratives” often held their masters in high regards, referring to them as kind and good. Former slave Harriett Gresham even goes as far to say that her master, Mr. Bellinger was “exceptionally kind”. Many slaves in the narratives described their masters as good to his slaves and never whipping them unless it was absolutely necessary. However, when the former slaves spoke of the “paterollers”, white men who roamed the roads in search of runaway slaves often beating them and returning them to their owners, they were described as being very cruel to slaves showing no sympathy to any slave found running away from a
However, Douglass tells us that through pseudoscience and the prevention of slaves from learning how to read and write gave the white slave-owners tangible evidence for their findings. Douglass continues saying that the inability of slaves to read and write made them dependent on their owners. Slave-owners understood that if slaves became educated, that would be the first step to dissent (Douglass 20). By controlling the slave’s education, they were able to control what the rest of America knew about slavery. Until slaves like Frederick Douglass came around, the common northerner had little to no idea what slaves actually went through.
Writing in the favor of black people has always remained controversial from the very beginning. Critics regard such writing as “a highly conventionalized genre” indicating that “its status as literature was long disputed but the literary merits of its most famous example such as Frederick Douglass 's Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass…are widely recognized today.” (Ryan:537) Despite of such severe resistance, writers like Douglass have penned down their autobiography to present the misery of their fellow beings.
Slavery is a humongous topic involving both slaves and former slaves. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave Story is one such story. Douglass suffered punishments, and watching others get punished, he uses those experiences to make his argument against slavery.Douglass’ tone in the narrative is sarcastic and dark. Frederick Douglass successfully uses vast quantities of rhetorical devices, illuminating the horror and viciousness of slavery, including the need to eliminate it.
Blassingame, John W. The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South. New York: Oxford University Press, 1972.
In a Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave written by himself, the author argues that no one can be enslaved if he or she has the ability to read, write, and think. Douglass supports his claim by first providing details of his attempts to earn an education, and secondly by explaining the conversion of a single slaveholder. The author’s purpose is to reveal the evils of slavery to the wider public in order to gain support for the abolition of his terrifying practice. Based on the purpose of writing the book and the graphic detail of his stories, Douglass is writing to influence people of higher power, such as abolitionists, to abolish the appalling reality of slavery; developing a sympathetic relationship with the
People often wonder about the struggles of slave life, including the fact that it was extremely difficult to become literate as a slave. Frederick Douglass, who was once a slave who learned to read and write, outlines these obstacles and the effects that they had on him in a chapter titled “Learning to Read and Write” within his autobiography. Said chapter reveals Douglass’s innermost thoughts and attitudes towards many things during his time as a slave, including his mistress, slavery itself, and reading. Douglass displays an appreciative and later aggravated tone towards his mistress, an outraged tone towards slavery, and an enthusiastic tone that later becomes resigned and despairing towards reading, exemplifying that tone can strongly influence the portrayal of a topic.