Summary Of Fredrick Douglass

While on one end slave-owners did their best to deprive slaves of education, on the other side, Douglass constantly stresses the importance of slaves acquiring knowledge and education in any way possible. While in Baltimore, Douglass comes to the realization of just how important education is. His master, Mr. Auld, becomes angry with his wife when he discovers she is trying to teach Douglass how to write. This is a life changing moment for Douglass and from then on, he understood that education was linked with freedom. He would go to extremes to educated himself. Douglass would walk the streets of Baltimore with a book, and a piece of bread. He describes how he would meet up with young white boys and trade his loaf of bread for tips on how to read (Douglass

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.

During Douglass’s child hood, it was with great intent that slaves should not have any education. When his master found out his wife was teaching him the alphabet be became furious and said, “if you teach that nigger how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave” (Douglass 1762). This was only motivation for Douglass. The things his master said to him gave him did not tear him down but give him more motivation. His master told his wife, “If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell” (Douglass 1762). Later in the narrative he explains how he would sneak and read books to help him read. Once when he was caught by his mistress he said, “Mistress, in teaching me the alphabet, had given me the inch, and no precaution could prevent me from taking the ell” (Douglass 1764). He was not going to stop now until he learned to read.

Pathos: emotion/value, a way of convincing an audience of an argument by an emotional response

The purpose behind Fredrick Douglass’s Narrative was to appeal to the other abolitionists who he wanted to convince that slave owners were wrong for their treatment of other human beings. His goal was to appeal to the middle-class people of that time and persuade them to get on board with the abolitionist movement. Douglass had a great writing style that was descriptive as well as convincing. He stayed away from the horrific details of the time, which helped him grasp the attention of the women who in turn would convince their husbands to help by donating money and eventually ending slavery. He used his words effectively in convincing the readers that the slave owners were inhuman and showed how they had no feelings for other human

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.”

Even with the strong endeavors to stop the education of Douglass, he still managed to learn to read by getting his hands on any book he could find, and with the "inch" of knowledge the woman had provided him, the alphabet. There was only one problem, Douglass still did not know how to write, and writing was a crucial part of Douglass' career. Douglass was very clever in approaching this large ordeal, for he knew that he couldn't ask the racially influenced adults of his area. So Douglass would have to learn to write from the most innocent of humans, children. These children had not been able to be fully influenced in the art of oppression, and with ambition and trickery, Douglass would learn to write through the "guidance" of the

Douglass’ narrative demonstrates how his literary education is both a blessing and a curse. He believed that permitting slaves to read was a contradiction, a paradox if you will, unable to render freedom, or provide them a legitimate education. Douglass reasoned that the education was a ploy to let African Americans believe they were treated fairly. Douglass expresses, “As I read and contemplated the subject, behold! that very discontentment which Master Hugh had predicted would follow my learning to read had already come, to torment and sting my soul to unutterable anguish” (Douglass 1200). Douglass displays the injustice and frustration of this situation; he is fully aware that he is being treated unfairly.

In the memoir, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, a slave named Frederick Douglass wrote an autobiography to show the way slavery degraded slaves and slave masters. He was born in Tuckahoe, about twelve miles from Easton, Maryland. He was born into slavery and had no knowledge of his age. Douglass was separated from his mother after birth, never saw her, except when she would occasionally visit him at night. Douglass was transferred and sold repeatedly in the slave markets of the South. The physical abuse and physical neglect of the slaves resulted in mental fluctuation. As a result, the psychological consequences that were within these elements were more detrimental to the mental development and to the identity of the slaves.

The social food chain ; slaves are the prey and slave owners are the predators. Frederick Douglass integrates animal imagery within his narrative in order to accentuate the subhuman and inferior treatment of African American slaves within society. Comparably to farm animals, slaves were bought, sold, transported, and forced to adapt to their inconsistent habitats and the commands of their masters. Slave owners intentionally stripped slaves of their human identities so that they can retain predominance.

“ Agitate! Agitate! Agitate!” ( Huggins,180). These are the words of Fredrick Douglass that could represent the way he lived his life. Not willing to accept his life as a slave, he rose to become a great and honorable man that held a voice of influence over the reform movement’s throughout the 19th century. He is one of the American leaders who provided a powerful voice for human rights and racial injustice during this period of American history.

Throughout the novel there are stories that affect the reader mainly because they feel the pain and sorrow Frederick experiences through his words rather than another author. An example of an anecdote like this is when Frederick’s Aunt Hester was whipped, which was the first act of cruelty he saw on the plantation. His words conveyed the suffering that was displayed to him, and made him “hide himself in a closet, and dared not venture out till long after the bloody transaction was over” (Douglass 5). Since it is written in first person, the readers get a glimpse of how petrified Frederick is rather than hearing the facts of the story. Another anecdote is when he describes plantation life where

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.

Life is always compared to be like a roller coaster ride, having its ups and downs. The book Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is an autobiography written by Fredrick Douglass. The book is written from his perspective of being a slave who hoped to be free someday. This autobiography occurs in the years 1835 to 1845 in Boston, Massachusetts. This book shows the roller coaster ride of going from slavery to freedom. In the beginning of this book, there is a preface which is told by a white person named William Lloyd Garrison. The reason for this is because it is stating that everything in the book is true. In this autobiography Frederick Douglass’ main goal is to teach people about the evils of slavery. Two main themes shown in

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