Frederick Douglass Impact On Society

Frederick Douglass, who was born into slavery around 1818, will forever remain one of the most important figures in America's struggle for civil rights and racial equality. As an ex-slave, his inspiration grew beyond his boarders to reach the whole world. Without any formal education, Douglass escaped slavery and became a respected American diplomat, a counselor to four presidents, a highly regarded speaker, and an influential writer. By common consent Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845) is recognized as the best among the many slave narratives that appeared before the Civil War. He amazed people when he spoke bravely in his Fourth of

Douglass was introduced to the movement in 1841 when a man named William Coffin heard one of his speeches at an anti-slavery meeting and was so impressed with his oratorical skills that Coffin invited him to share his story as a slave in a convention organised by the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society (MAS). This therefore supports my previous discussion that black people could contribute to society and live normal lives without white people diminishing their human rights and privileges and making them slaves.

Frederick Douglass was an African American who rose from slavery to become a leading voice in the abolitionist movement; he was also known to be a public speaker and writer who published many works. Frederick Douglass then went on to write an autobiography titled “My Bondage and My Freedom”, discussing in great detail the struggles of being a slave. Throughout his autobiography, Douglass argues very boldly that slavery was in institution that victimized not only slaves, but also slave owners and non-slave owning whites. Frederick’s statement is true in the sense that slavery dehumanized slaves, it destroyed the natural good in slave owners, and slavery robbed non-slave owning whites.

Slavery was an embarrassing time in America’s history. In 2016, slavery has become a distant memory. It’s easy for us to admit that slavery is wrong but, in Frederick Douglass’s time no one thought that it was. Frederick Douglass went on to write books and give speeches in hope that one day all slaves would be free. In the book called “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, he attempts to shine light on the American Slave system in the 1800’s.

Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, or better known, Frederick Douglass was born in February 1818 to Harriet Bailey in Talbot County, Maryland. For a long time, Frederick did not know his birthdate or his family lineage and it haunted him till the day he died. Frederick Douglas family lineage reach as far back into the beginnings of America and maybe even further into American prehistory. Douglass was believed to have Native American blood in him. Just from the description of him, “his broad forehead, heavy cheekbones, and yellow-brown skin” (Preston, pg.9) and his childhood master calling him “little Indian boy” (Preston, pg.9) made a lot of people assume that he was. Douglass once recalled about the time when a stranger on a Hudson River steamer “‘who took me for one of the noble red men of the far West.’…Douglas replied that he was not an Indian but a Negro, he said the man turned away in disgust.” (Preston, pg.9) Frederick Douglass was proud that he was a Negro even though he had no problems with Native Americans.

Fredrick Douglass (1818-1945), both a fugitive slave and a free man, was one of the most courageous and influential leaders of the abolitionist movement. His narrative, published in 1845, illustrates his childhood and early manhood experiences as a salve, as well as his escape to the North and find of freedom. Within his narrative entitled “The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass,” Douglass argues that in order to achieve physical freedom, a slave must seek knowledge and an education.

Frederick Douglass is from the autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Douglass was born in Tuckahoe, Maryland, in February 1818 as a slave. His mother was Harriet Bailey and his father was rumored to be Aaron Anthony, a white plantation manager. He learns how to read and write when at Master Hugh Auld’s plantation. Frederick Douglass learned how to read not knowing that slavery was bad, but he started to read newspapers and would see all the effects slavery has on everyone. Douglass quickly regretted learning how to read and write and would wish death upon himself, all he wanted was to be free.

Who is Frederick Douglass and why was he important to African American History? Frederick Douglass born February 1817 the exact date of his birth was unknown. His mother who was a field slave was separated from her son at birth. Never knew his father it could have been possible of his mother’s master of being his father. Fredrick Douglass was born into slavery and didn’t have much of a childhood and was forced to work hard and to be treated cruel. Then he moved into the Auld home a northern family where slaves weren’t treated as badly. It was then he learned the basic reading writing abilities which turned out to be his gateway to freedom. Douglass was then relocated but eventually after all the beatings at the age twenty he used the knowledge he had gotten while living with the Auld family and planned an escape and was successful. Then advanced and become an anti-slavery activist. Then proceed even more being a writer of anti-slavery. Who would have thought a former slave could be so brilliant and clever? Well no one did know he used all resources around him which then became his key element to freedom. Then Douglass went on a spent a mass amount of time and effort on achieving freedom for other slaves. Douglass dedicated much of his life into accomplishing justice for all Americans more precisely African American, women, and minority groups. Believing in equality of all people no matter the skin color nor gender. Fredrick Douglass then became the prominent voice of

“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” This is a quote from Frederick Douglass, a famous abolitionist. This quote was an example on what Frederick Douglass believes in. Frederick Douglass was an important and influential figure in history that had a positive impact on the world because he showed the northern states the cruelty of slavery.

When a man grows up as an untaught slave in the southern eighteenth-century, he has no other ambitions than to be free. But for Frederick Douglass, freedom was merely step one. Douglass began his life on a plantation owed from the moment he arrived. He was not destined to stay put there. Born in (what he can come close to) 1818, he began life out as a man in chains but ended up a respected wordsmith, but still apologetic for his short comings. Douglass learned how to read, write, and give speeches; he influenced a nation for changes among writers today; and he had different approaches to the era he lived in, but knew he wanted change to exist among all. These things were needed to occur in order for the slavery and African-American society to be recognized as equals among all. His wit was not small nor was his leadership not seen as defiance. Each step of his journey, brought him to a different place where he faced a challenge that could not have been met any other way, but with strength and education where he was successful in obtaining. Douglass was not only a speaker, but was an author of his time. Many colleagues wrote of him and his life even after he passed away. In Douglass’ works he spoke of his ignorance and blunders, but continued to sow his good seed. In the book “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas an

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 has brought much attention to the wrong doings of slavery but he also brought attention to the nations other problems, like women's rights. “In 1848, he was the only African American to attend the first women's rights convention at Seneca Falls, New York…Douglass stood and spoke eloquently in favor, arguing that he could not accept the right to vote as a black man if women could not also claim that right. The resolution passed.” (biography)

Frederick Douglass is a social reformer, speaker, abolitionist, author and a statesman. He was born in the United States of America in Talbot County, Maryland. Frederick Douglass taught himself how to peruse Frederick Douglass put in around two years going in Great Britain talking with the reason for abolitionist.

When you think of great Americans in our history there are countless that come to mind. Some immediately think of the many presidents we have had, others think of inventors, but what about the people that are in between – the people that fought for equality. Fredrick Douglass arguably had the greatest impact on American society, especially African American society, in the nineteenth century. Douglass is credited as being an abolitionist, author, editor, and diplomat. He used literature, books, newspapers, and even speeches, to leave a long lasting mark on our society. Douglass advised presidents and lectured to thousands about different causes, including women’s rights. A cause he felt a strong connection with was the abolishing of slavery, being that he was once a slave.

Fredrick Douglass also came to exude a great sense of racial pride as his life progressed. At first, his only perception of his people was that of a lowly slave nation. Yet, he was dedicated to trying to improve their lot. After his fellow slaves learned that he was literate, they “insisted that I must keep a Sabbath school.” He agreed to this proposal because he felt that the only shot his “brothers” had at gaining their freedom was through the power of the written word. Later, when he and his fellow slaves were jailed after their plans to escape to freedom were revealed, he states that “our greatest concern was about separation.” Douglass felt a sense of responsibility and kinship towards the members of his own race, and was loath to break these bonds. His racial pride reached its peak when he saw the houses that the free blacks in the North lived in. Douglass proudly writes that “I found many, who had not been seven years out of their chains, living in finer houses, and evidently enjoying more of the comforts of life, than the average of slaveholders in Maryland.” When Douglass saw how well some of his kinsmen were living, he could not help but change his impression of his people being a downtrodden slave nation. He came to recognize his race for what they truly were: a people equal in stature to any other, even the lofty Caucasians.