Similarities Between Frederick Douglas And Malcom X

Frederick douglass was abandoned by his grandma at the age of 6 at the plantation of his master. At age eight, Douglass was sent to live with Hugh and Sophia Auld , relatives of douglass’ master, in Baltimore to work as their houseboy. Sophia taught Douglass the alphabet until (because of the law against teaching slaves) her husband forbade her to continue. Douglass depended on himself to learn by exchanging food for reading and writing lessons from neighborhood boys. From The Columbian Orator, which he paid for at the age of twelve or thirteen, he was able to understand the power of spoken and written word and it's ability to bring positive change that will remain.

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,

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

“Whilst I was saddened by the thought of losing the aid of my kind mistress, I was gladdened by the invaluable instruction which, by the merest accident, I had gained from my master. Though conscious of the difficulty of learning without a teacher, I set out with high hope, and a fixed purpose, at whatever cost of trouble, to learn how to read. The very decided manner with which he spoke, and strove to impress his wife with the evil consequences of giving me instruction, served to convince me that he was deeply sensible of the truths he was uttering. It gave me the best assurance that I might rely with the utmost confidence on the results which, he said, would flow from teaching me to read. ( Douglass 6.3)”. Since his master forbid his mistress to teach Douglass anymore, the power of reading and writing

The ability to read gave Douglass a place of leadership among his fellow slaves. Knowing the benefit and power of reading, Douglass began teaching the other slaves at Mr. Covey’s; he “succeeded in creating in them a strong desire to learn how to read” (2075). He kept a Sabbath school which attracted slaves from the neighboring farms. The slaves were improved by this instruction. Instead of “wrestling, boxing,

Throughout the history of slavery in the United States, it was common practice not only for slaveholders to neglect to teach their slaves to read or write, but also for them to outright forbid literacy among slaves. This was done in order to limit the slaves knowledge and modes of communication, making it more difficult for them to learn about the abolitionist movement or for for them to share their situation with the world outside of slavery. Like many other slaves, Frederick Douglass was not allowed to learn to read or write. In his autobiography; “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, Douglass retells how he managed to become literate in a time where most African Americans were forbidden from literacy, and how this knowledge allowed him to eventually escape slavery.

In "Learning to Read and Write" written by Frederick Douglass, he talks about his experience of teaching himself how to read and write as a slave boy living in Master Hugh's house where his mistress educated him. However, she was dictated by her husband and the instructions given to the slaves on how to read had to stop; in order for Douglass to teach himself, he obtained a book about slavery, The Columbian Orator and read the book every free second he had. Encouraged by the book, Douglass runs away to the north from his master for freedom. Douglass' main ideas include depravity, chattel, and an emancipation, which represents a moral corruption, the slave properties, and an act of freeing someone from slavery, respectively.

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.

Although reading was beneficial for both men, they found themselves having to hide their readings from the people around them that they could not trust. From the start, both Douglass and Wright found it difficult to lay their hands on literature. Frederick Douglass’s kindhearted mistress taught him how to read; however, she eventually allowed slavery to influence her. Her intentions were no longer the same, which put Douglass in a difficult situation, as he was no longer allowed to read. Douglass was so addicted to reading that he took all opportunities he could get to lay his hands back on a book. In an attempt to show how Douglass had to go behind his mistress’s back, he admits: “When I was sent on errands, I always took my book with me, and by going one part of my errand quickly, I found time to get a lesson before my return” (Douglass 147). What made Douglass different was that he did not let any situation affect his learning. Unfortunately, he quickly realized that in

Fredrick Douglas was born a slave. In his narrative, Mr. Douglass explains how his mistress took an interest in him. Mrs. Auld would teach Mr. Douglass how to read, but was forbidden to continue by her husband, Mr. Auld. Mr. Auld explained to his wife, teaching a slave to read and write would make him unmanageable and unfit to be a slave. It was at this very moment Frederick Douglas learned whites held slaves back by depriving them of an education and literacy.

1. Douglass received his first lessons to read from his mistress who was a tender hearted woman. She helped Douglass to learn the alphabet and then ceased further lessons. From this moment Douglass used any possibility to advance his literacy that he could have. Thus, all white men he could talk to on the street Douglass used as teachers gaining new knowledge. With the help of these small lessons Douglass finally succeeded in learning to read.

In the reading by Frederick Douglass, Learning to Read, he talks about how he learned how to read. He grew up in Maryland and he talks about how his mistress, his slave owners’ wife, taught him the alphabet and how to read. Eventually she stopped, due to him being a slave he wasn’t suppose to know how to read, and Douglass had to continue to learn how to read by himself.

Further, this was also the moment when Frederick understood the pathway from slavery to freedom (Douglass 36). He finds out that he was restricted from education in order to keep the structure and understands that he must become literate to gain power. Moreover, he appreciates the realization about the value of education as a grand achievement: “Whilst I was saddened by the thought of losing the aid of my kind mistress, I was gladdened by the invaluable instruction which, by the merest accident, I had gained from my master” (Douglass 36-37). Nevertheless, Frederick did continue learning how to read and write as stated in his biography: “Thus, after a long, tedious effort for years, I finally succeeded in learning how to write” (Douglass 46). This was a life changing achievement for Douglass, since he realised that knowledge brings power, helps to develop your own character and to gain wisdom.

Frederic Douglass begins his essay, which is excerpted from his autobiography, by telling the reader how he first began to read. His mistress taught him the alphabet before she was set against teaching him to read. He then traded bread to poor children for reading lessons. After learning to read, he started to view it as a curse. He states that reading gave him a view of his condition but not a way out. Later he decides to escape, which gave him hope. He chose to learn to write before escaping to the north.

For some education is a foregone conclusion, particularly those who are wealthy and have means to attend an institution of higher learning. Education is not the sole purview of the wealthy while having means provides a lower bar for entry, lack of means does not prevent one from enlightening the self. Such is the case for both Frederick Douglas and Malcolm X, two men who enlightened themselves without access to the wealth that tethers education to those of the upper class. Hard work and determination can win the day and bestow a freedom that only an advanced education offers. These two men are shining examples of what can be accomplished when someone refuses to be denied an education. This story tells about, Malcolm X and Fredrick Douglas, and how they found themselves trapped, uninformed, and rose above their demographics.