Frederick Douglass An Abolitionist

Slavery is a topic very capable of putting an emotional weight on a person. This is even more so for those that have actually experienced it first-hand. Frederick Douglass, one of the more influential African-Americans in history, himself, was once a slave. He experienced everything that comes with being a slave in first-person. All the wickedness, hardships, and mental and physical damage, that came with being a slave, were experienced by him. Frederick is able to experience freedom after taking the step himself and escaping slavery. After what is almost an entire life of slavery, one would expect him to have many thoughts floating in his mind about his new found freedom. In the passage from the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass use figures of speech and syntax, and repetition of key phrases to convey his feelings of excitement, insecurity, and loneliness from escaping slavery and arriving in New York in 1838.

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave was written by Douglass himself, giving a detailed description of the slaveholders cruelty. Douglass was born in Tuckahoe, Maryland, and he makes known that he does not know his specific birthdate, “... no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it.” (47), but it was approximately around 1818. Once being enslaved, and then escaping in 1838 he became known as an eloquent speaker for abolitionists, being able to deliver passionate speeches about the role of a slaveholder and their relationship to their slaves, especially since he was one of them. Douglass even discovered the true meaning of the songs sung by enslaved people, “ I did not, when a slave, understand the deep meaning of those rude and apparently incoherent songs, I was myself within the circle; so that I neither saw nor heard as those without might see and hear.” (27). The book is not an easy read for those who believe in equal rights, as Douglass put into painful words the description of brutal whippings, signs of no mercy, and people being taken advantage of because if they had shown mercy they believed they would have lost their dignity.

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

Fredrick Douglass explains in this excerpt from The Narrative Life of Fredrick Douglass that no matter how hard they try, a white person will never understand what its like living the life of a slave. Throughout the excerpt Fredrick Douglass talks about how freedom from slavery is not how he ever imagined it would be. He says that once free, he was lonely and could trust no one, which contradicts all the positive connotations of freedom. This excerpt, in addition to the whole narrative, is aimed at white intelligent people since Fredrick Douglass’s audience could only people who knew how to read and write in 1838. Fredrick Douglass conveys his point through his syntax, imagery, and figures of speech.

Frederick Douglass is the most famous African-American abolitionists and the greatest American orators. Throughout American history, African-Americans were victims of American governmental policies of harsh slavery. However, Frederick Douglass transforms the way people should understand slavery. He takes charge of upholding slavery to himself and defends the freedom for those in slavery. While other African-Americans did not have a voice, he became the voice for African-American slavery. In this way, Frederick Douglass is a mental and physical hero because of his courage and achieving freedom from slavery through his strength of character and education.

One of the most well-known slavery narratives was lived and written by Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Frederick Douglass was a civil rights activist who was born into slavery on a plantation in eastern Maryland in February 1818. His exact birth date is unknown, he states in his narrative, “I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it.”2 His birth name was Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, which was given by his mother Harriet Bailey, who died when he was about 10 years old. At a young age, Douglass was picked to live in the home of a plantation owner Captain Anthony, whom some believe may have been his father. In his narrative that was published in 1845, sixteen years before the Civil War began, Douglass describes his life as a slave and his aspiration to become a free man. He describes the painful struggle to break free from the physical and mental bondage of slavery. Frederick Douglass resisted slavery by withstanding along with defying his owners. He prepared himself for life as a free man by self-improving himself through the use of education. Douglass’s experience reveals about the difficulties enslaved people would face, when and if they were granted their freedom, was that if they were not educated they were not totally “free.”

Frederick Douglass is perhaps the most well-known abolitionist from American history. He is responsible for creating a lot of support for the abolitionist movement in the years before the Civil War. He, along with many others, was able to gain support for and attention to the abolitionist movement. People like him are the reason that slavery ended in the United States.

In this book Fredrick Douglass finds shows himself growing up as a slave in Baltimore, Maryland. He eventually escapes from his master and becomes a run away slave as he flees to the north. Douglass however is most popularly known for his pressure on the supreme court to obtain equal rights for African American citizens. He made huge advances in civil rights for his fellow African American brothers and sisters. His contributions have caused a balancing of society that is still getting better to this day.

In his search for freedom from the shackles of slavery, Douglass discovered that the enslavement of his race embodied injustice. Using this line of thinking, Douglass arrived at the conclusion that freedom equates with justice. He details his unbearable state of mind after realising the injustice of his enslavement when he states,”It was this everlasting thinking of my condition that tormented me”(Douglass 35). Freedom acts as Douglass’s driving motivation

In the context of the entire narrative, since Douglass has been born, he has been dehumanized. He was separated from what he had as a family, and could not do anything as he and those around him were subject to horrible suffering and punishment. This very experience helps Douglass eventually execute the idea of

He spoke of his emotions later in the essay with “ I often found myself of regretting my own existence, and wishing myself dead;” Douglass values the ability to read and write with a full understanding, even though his slave owners didn’t allow him to do so. He believed that he would forever remain a slave, unlike the white children. “ I wished I could be as free as they would be when they got to be men.”

Douglass explains the way they were treated and talked about. “ The fate of many a slave has depended upon the turn of a single card; and many a child has been snatched from the arms of its mother by bargains arranged in a state of brutal drunkenness” (Faigley page 384) Any mother with tender hearts would be moved by those words. He persuades people to side with him, and feel for him. He wants people to be upset by his words so that things will get changed.

Douglass would read his documents over and over again.When reading them they would frequently flash memories through his mind. Of how cruel people can be to go to Africa and steal a child from their home to become a slave.Douglass had loathed them so much for being the most wicked of men. I don’t think you would like it if someone were to come at the middle of the night and take you away from your family.Bring you to some land and make

Patrick Henry once said, “give me liberty, or give me death.” In the eyes of Frederick Douglass and countless others enslaved, this took on a much deeper meaning to them. “It was doubtful liberty at most, and almost certain death is we failed.” [51] Frederick Douglass was one of the most commonly known slaves to have existed. Slavery has been around since the 1700s, but the subject of slavery is controversial because it not only includes information written from former slaves, but information acquired from historians. The question that has with stood the test of time is, “are these encounters that have been written out, exaggerated or the whole truth and nothing but the truth?” In the early 1800’s Frederick Douglass was born in Tuckahoe, Maryland, and grew up on Colonial Edward Lloyd’s plantation. Children would be separated from their mothers before they were twelve months in age-Frederick too was separated from his mother. As a result of entering slave-hood at an early age, he did not know his birthdate (like most slaves). Frederick Douglass’s account on slavery could be seen as biased as a result of first hand experiences with being held as a slave. Although, Douglass is able to be direct our thoughts to these experiences in such a light, you feel as if you are witnessing it happen right before you. Because of Douglass’s quest for freedom, his daring attitude, and determination to learn, he shows us the way through American Slavery in his eyes. Douglass provides

An additional point which Douglass proves to be true is that slavery can really hurt a slave’s mind mentally. I don’t think the slave owners realized how much it could hurt the slaves when they mistreated them, and in return it really did some damaging things to their heads. They began to believe everything their masters said about them, which were in fact false. During the holidays, the masters give their slaves quite a bit of alcohol and get them pretty drunk. The slave owners trick them into thinking they’re getting more freedom and then when the holidays are up they go back to treating them poorly. Douglass writes, “I have said that this mode of treatment is