Frederick Douglass: The Power Of Knowledge

Throughout this excerpt from his autobiography, Frederick Douglass constantly refers to the importance of Education and Literacy. He continuously details not only that education represented power, but also that an educated and literate slave would be dangerous in the eyes of the slave-loving southerners. Education all throughout time has represented knowledge, and knowledge is seen as power, both of which could easily corrupt someone, hence why slave owners chose to keep slaves in the dark in regards to education. Douglass argued that education was seen as the key to success and free thoughts, however, both were luxuries unknown to a slave unless they took matters into their own hands.

Frederick Douglass was born in Tuckahoe, which is located in the Talbot county of Maryland. He had no knowledge of his age. In fact, a large portion of the slaves did not. Frederick was not allowed to question the master concerning his age. The masters like to keep the slaves as ignorant as possible. The lack of knowledge he possessed was a source of unhappiness throughout his childhood. Frederick took note that white children knew their ages, but was not sure why he wasn't allowed the same privilege. The nearest estimate he possessed was made as a result of hearing his master state that he was about seventeen years old in the year of 1835.

In the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an American Salve,” the author, Frederick Douglass, teaches significant lessons through his outstanding accomplishments. A superior example of striving for more and not settling for less was shown through various of Douglass’s actions. Furthermore, he strove to achieve his greatest potential and didn’t put a cap on his diverse selection of possibilities. The author’s persistent determination for success amplifies the messages taught throughout his book. Through learning to read, escaping slavery, and becoming a motivational speaker; Frederick Douglass has taught us to continually pursue greatness and to never stop striving for our highest potential.

Frederick Douglass was a prominent African American social reformer in the 1800’s. Frederick Douglass’s work includes 1,000 of speeches and autobiographies throughout his quest for reform. Douglass escaped slavery at the young age of 20 years old. He went on to spread his voice on social justice through a long profound, powerful, and influential career. Frederick Douglass’s famous Fourth of July speech has caused much criticism over the years. Douglass believed that on a day when white Americans were celebrating the slaves and former slaves were reminded of how their liberty and equality were disgraced in America.

Frederick Douglass declares that freedom cannot allow slavery to exist. His first hand encounters with the cruel nature of slavery affect his overall opinion. It is difficult to deny the accuracy of the first hand experience of slavery. Once you have seen inhumane behaviors, it is hard to erase them from your mind. All slaves “were ranked together at the evaluation. Men and women, old and young...were ranked with horses, sheep, and swine. When this occurred, Douglass was more aware of “the brutalizing effects of slavery upon both [the] slave and slaveholder” (Douglass 27). Frederick Douglass is saying that the slave masters treat the humans, not as well as they should be treated in fact they are treated just how an animal is treated. Slave Masters should not treat their slaves like that, even though it may seem like they deserve to be treated that way, it’s never okay to treat someone less than how they should be treated. Through Douglass’ writing we are able to see first hand how cruel these behaviors are, by using examples from his life and what he’s experienced.

In 1840, the US census shows that there were 2.5 million slaves. Frederick Douglass was not one of these unfortunate African Americans due to the fact that he ran away from his plantation in 1838 at the age of 20. He, among other things to benefit society, helped free the slaves and abolish slavery. His horrific childhood and self-motivation helped him shape a better nation free of slaves because he had to go through things he would never want anyone to go through. He has made an enormous impact on society today with slavery and his books. Frederick Douglass was a powerful figure who benefitted society because he has raised the antebellum North’s awareness to slavery to help

There, Douglass learned to how to read, with the help from Mrs. Auld, who was the mistress of the household (“Frederick Douglass,” PBS 1). By teaching Douglass to read, Auld was defying the law. That was quite valiant for her to do, considering she did not get anything from doing this for Douglass. Soon her husband found out that she was teaching Douglass and ordered her to bring it to an end (Reed 2). Even though the teaching from the inside of the Auld household was halted, Douglass still searched for ways to learn elsewhere. He was able to receive help from a school for boys along the street clandestinely (“Frederick Douglass,” PBS 1). Succeeding in his life, Douglass had put together that literacy and freedom are connected. He concluded this by getting help from the school boys when he was learning to read more. When Douglass was twelve, he managed to buy a book called The Columbian Orator. The book was filled with excerpts on natural rights, debates, and revolutionary speeches (“Frederick Douglass,” National ). The book gave words to the feelings he had about slavery, and that was when he had learned the meaning of abolition (Reed

Frederick Douglass autobiography learning to read and write was written in 1845 and is a story of his struggle to learn to read and write. The story talks about how he was self-taught because back when he was a kid, a slave in Maryland, it was not allowed for a slave to learn to read and write. Douglass had to sneak and trick people into teaching him how to read and write. He never went to school, never had a teacher to guide him or supportive parents like had while I struggled through school.

Frederick Douglass was born in Tuckahoe, Maryland. His mother was Harriet Bailey, who was separated from him when he was an infant and died when he was seven years old. Frederick’s father was a white man (who could have been his master but he never found out).

By definition the word abolition means,” The act of abolishing... the state of being abolished... the legal prohibition and ending of slavery, especially of slavery of blacks in the U.S.(Definition).” When Frederick Douglass wrote his personal narrative it had a profound effect on the abolitionist cause. People were astounded at how it opened their eyes to the horror of what slavery genuinely was. The book allowed people to recognize how slaves felt, and reminded them that they were intellectual beings who had thoughts and feelings. Many repeating themes throughout the novel changed the lives and beliefs of many northerners, especially regarding education, equality, and freedom for slaves and

He now knew what empowered them and what he needed to become empowered, and he states that "The argument which he so warmly urged, against my learning to read, only served to inspire me with a desire and determination to learn" (48). He prized this lesson and took advantage of it. Frederick Douglass now set a goal for himself to learn how to read at any cost.

The narrative begins with Douglass being oblivious to the identity of his father. This theme of Frederick Douglass being young and naïve is continued throughout the beginning. The idea of slaves being young and naïve is seen in almost all slave narratives. One of the ways slave owners kept slaves captive is through keeping the slaves ignorant. It is nearly impossible for a slave to escape slavery if they cannot read and write. Slave owners knew how impossible this was so they kept them ignorant, they kept them from learning. Since ignorance is what seems to hold slaves captive, one could easily conclude that knowledge is the key to freedom. Douglass figured this out at a young age. He starts learning from Mrs. Auld but eventually ends up

Frederick Douglass, a famous abolitionist leader and writer, was born into slavery in the early 1800’s. Douglass published many books and papers illustrating the time in which he lived, all of them portraying his perspective of growing up as a slave in Talbot County, Maryland. During this time slaves had no rights. They were bought and sold constantly, and were consider property the slave owners. Slaves mainly worked in the fields, but Douglass on the other hand, was lucky enough to live as a servant to the Master and his family. In his essay, “Learning to Read and Write”, Frederick Douglass described the events that took place in his early childhood and adolescence years that helped him acquire the skills to learn to read and write. These skills are ultimately what enabled Douglass to free himself from slavery and pursue his own passions to fight slavery with his words. In Contrasts, Peter Elbow is a modern day English professor who has published numerous essays regarding methods on how to improve People’s writing skills. One of his methods is known as “Freewriting.” Although these two essays were published nearly two centuries apart, they contain similar methods of organization and purposes within their writing. The authors used a step-by-step method of writing where each supporting detail adds the previous one and guides the reader closer to the main principle of the paper.

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.

When he talks about life in Baltimore, Douglass mention the well-off situation him compared to his previous master but that this kind of kind situation also don’t prevent him from acquiring knowledge (p.91). He also mentions that well feeding and clothing in Baltimore cannot taking his liberty from him (p.102). Douglass told about his master’s wife Ms. Sophia, she was a full of kindness and eager to teach him Alphabet until her Mr. Auld told her to stop. According to Douglass, Ms. Sophia was kind and spontaneous in her nature and she was the only first person that treated Douglass as a human being (p.96) but it took several years to turn this natural sweetness to fretful bitterness. Is this bitterness being because Douglass curiosity for learning