Similarities Between Frederick Douglass And Malcolm X

Frederick Douglass was very fortunate to have learned how to read. In his time if you were a slave and had no education you couldn’t escape to freedom. Frederick Douglass’s key to education was his mistress (155). At first she was very nice and was giving him the education he needed and wanted but then from the influence of her husband she became rotten and denied him the right to his education “My mistress, who had kindly commenced to instruct me, had in compliance with the advice and direction of her husband no, not only ceased to instruct, but had set her face against my being instructed by anyone else” (155). But then he was fortunate enough to get some boys around where he lived to continue teaching 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. As many of these I could I could, I converted into teachers,

Fredrick Douglass is an extremely determined person with an unceasing enthusiasm to learn. He fixates goals and then tries to achieve them. He also is optimistic, for when things traverse downhill, he decides not to give up. He appreciates what is at his disposal rather than despair about things which he cannot get. For instance, when he used to be sent on errands, he always took his book with, and by completing one part of his errand quickly, he found time to get a lesson before he returned. He says “In learning to read, I owe almost as much to the bitter opposition of my master, as to the kindly aid of my mistress. I acknowledge the benefit of both.” which attests to the above statement.

In the pre-Civil War plantations of the South, slaves were forbidden to read or write. In other words, they were forced to be ignorant and locked in mental darkness. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, he writes in dept about his life as a slave in these plantations. After leaning the ABC's and learning to spell words consisting of three or four letters from Ms. Auld, Frederick Douglass illustrates how he secretly taught himself how to read and write using various strategies such as: Learning the letters on the timber at Durgin and Bailey's ship yard, getting lessons from the white boy's he met on the street, Webster's Spelling Book, and master

Both Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass educated themselves. Malcolm X was educated till the 8th grade. As for Frederick he wasn’t educated at all. Once Malcolm was in prison he came across an inmate called by the name of Bimbi. Bimbi was a great speaker and a well-educated man which made Malcolm motivated to start how to read and get educated. Malcolm read books in prison but did not understand what the book was about. Malcolm got ahold

Frederick Douglas was born into the slave trade in Talbot County, Maryland. He was sent to work on a plantation for the Hugh’s Family for about seven years. This is the location where his learning truly began. His mistress was a “kind, tender-hearted, woman” who treated Frederick as a human instead of property the family owned. This was a dangerous thing for both parties at this time in history it was considered wrong. Frederick States “Slavery proved as injurious to her as it did to me” which I see the connection he had made to her change of personality because of slavery. She had heavenly qualities that slavery was able to divest from her. It was injurious to Fredrick not only for the lashings a salve would

Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were very significant during the Civil Rights Movement. Both were excellent speakers and shared one goal but had two different ways of resolving it. Martin Luther King Jr. chose to resolve the issues by using non-violence to create equality amongst all races to accomplish the goal. Malcolm X also wanted to decrease discrimination and get of segregation but by using another tactic to successfully accomplish the similar goal. The backgrounds of both men were one of the main driven forces behind the ways they executed their plans to rise above the various mistreatments. Martin Luther King Jr. was a more pronounced orator, a more refined leader, and overall saw the larger picture than Malcolm X.

Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X were very huge leading figures during the Civil Rights movement. Though they had many differences, they had some similarities. Both men’s fathers were preachers and both men were religious preachers themselves. Dr. King and Malcolm X were around the same age and they were both assassinated. Coincidentally, both men had the same number of children and eventually they had the same ideologies for the Civil Rights Movement. However, Dr. King and Malcolm X were different in ways such as Malcolm X wanted black supremacy and Dr. King wanted equality, Malcolm X saw violence as an option to achieve his goals if peace did not work and Dr. King believed in complete nonviolence, and Malcolm X

Fredrick Douglass was a slave, who secretly learned how to read and write in many different forms such as his mistress and pieced together the elements of literacy through outside sources such as old books, and writing tools from young children. Unlike Malcom X, he received an education although it was limited, and went to prison where he accessed books from the library. Malcom X stated in his essay Learning to Read, “An inmate was smiled upon if he demonstrated an unusually intense interest in books.” Meaning reading was not allowed for slaves. Unlike Douglass situation, if he would have shown interest in a book he would have been punished for it. Being a slave Douglass had to keep his development in reading and writing hidden while Malcolm insisted on writing letters to Elijah Muhammad with his new acquired vocabulary. This proved that Malcolm’s education was easier to gain unlike Fredrick Douglass, through slavery reading and writing was much

Since the beginning of writing, literature has played a pivotal role in shaping the history of the world. The same holds true when referring to the early American history topic of slavery. Many abolitionists wrote in hopes that their views will persuade people in America to take a stand against slavery. While there were many authors that led the anti-slavery movement, the most successful writers were the slaves that lived through this atrocious time period and were able to recall their experiences. Two prominent authors during this time period were Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs. While the two writers shared many common experiences due to their time being a slave, they also had had a variety of differences. Harriet Jacobs wrote mostly wrote in a way that appealed to people’s emotions and focused on what a woman goes through as a slave; whereas Douglass focused on freedom and manhood.

1. Douglass taught himself how to read and write. At first, Douglass’s mistress taught him how to read the alphabet before her husband prohibited her from doing this. After that he started to teach himself how to read by reading books and newspapers, and how to write by copying his little Master Thomas’s written in the spaces left in the copy-book when his mistress goes to the class meeting every monday afternoon. However his most successfully way of teaching himself how to read was to make friends with the white boys whom he met in the street. He bribes them with food to get them to teach him. He also learned how to read and understand the meaning of the name on the timber.

Once both became literate, it had an immediate impact on their lives. Both discuss the importance it had on every aspect of their being. In Fredrick Douglass’ “Learning to Read,” Douglass states, “The reading of these documents enabled me to utter my thoughts, and to meet the arguments brought forward to sustain slavery; but while they relieved me of one difficulty, they brought on another even more painful than the one of which I was relieved. The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers” (128) which proves the reality Douglass faced when he learned of the oppression his people were facing. Learning to read and write helped him understand slavery, abolition, and oppression therefore pushing him to want to gain knowledge, become educated, and fight for his civil rights. Literacy is ultimately is what helped Douglass escape slavery. Once he escaped, Douglass was able to communicate with the world, through his writing, to spread the truth in order to affect public opinion about the oppression at hand. In Malcolm X’s “A Homemade Education,” he also makes it clear that reading and writing made a significant impact on his life. He states “My homemade education gave me, with every additional book that I read, a little bit more sensitivity to the

Mr. Douglass was not rich whatsoever. As a matter of fact, he was a slave. He didn’t have much, but the young lad had two positive personality traits that guided him on his path to learning to read and write. Douglass was very perpetual. Despite the fact it took him longer due to not having a constant teacher, and not being able to get a chance to find a book or paper all the time, he refused to give up the fight. Do doubt about it, he was determined to learn the skill even if took until he was old and gray. Which it didn’t. He was also very resourceful with where he got his information and how he caught it. Whenever he found a book or paper, he would often collect it and read it. Other times he would give extra bread to the poor white kids in exchange for them giving him some more knowledge. Since he was a serf, food was not an issue, so he was able to use a little

Can one think undergoing suffrage of unjust slavery and being held in a penitentiary be compared? In the excerpt of Frederick Douglass (Learning to Read and Write) and in Malcolm X (Learning to Read): both dealt with the oppression that the white race as brought to them. Douglass lists the ways which he learns how to read and write. He discusses how everyone is vulnerable to corruption under slavery. In the excerpt of Malcolm he tells the reader how he first started reading and he describes how the white man has always had the upper-hand when it comes to non-white people. Frederick

The civil rights movement was a monumental part of history and still has a large impact on society today. Martin Luther King Jnr took charge in leading the movement and achieved many things while he was leading it. The civil rights movement may not have even taken place without King and everting he put into the movement to make it happen. Malcolm X was another very influential leader that was taking charge to be a part of the movement, but had a very different approach.

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed - we hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal" (King, “I HAVE A DREAM…,” pg.4 ¶.5). Both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were major figures in the fight for racial equality but their ideals were diametrically opposed. In MLK JR’s March on Washington speech, he calls for peaceful resistance and integration into an equal society. Malcolm X, however, disagrees with that in his Message to Grassroots and argues equality cannot be obtained peacefully and that living together wouldn’t be much better than slavery. By comparing the two men’s goals and messages expressed in these speeches we can gain an understanding of the feelings of the general populace on the issues of racial inequity.