Frederick Douglass: An Example Of True Heroism

Courage and selflessness are words that describe heroes. Mundane people can be heroes when they have enough perseverance to do extraordinary tasks. They sacrifice their needs for others. Frederick Douglass was a brave, honorable and bold abolitionist, his heroism was impactful and it changed the mindset of many people.

Fredrick Douglass, born a slave, escaped at the age of 20 and went on to become an important historical figure. He became a prominent abolitionist, orator, and an author of eye-opening autobiographies. During his lifetime, Fredrick showed bravery through his actions and speeches. Fredrick Douglass was admired for defying the expectations of an American slave and overcoming undermining people.

Fredrick Douglass was born Fredrick Augustus Washington Bailey, as a slave in Talbot County, Maryland in 1818 and later became a prolific abolitionist in the human rights movement. According to civilwar.org, Douglass was sent as slave to Baltimore, Maryland to serve the families of Hugh and Ms. Lucretia Auld. While under Ms. Auld’s care, Ms. Auld taught Douglass the alphabet, and how to read plus write. In 1838, after escaping slavery at the age of 20, Douglass traveled to New Bedford, Massachusetts where he met Mr. William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips, two well-known slavery abolitionists. Garrison and Phillips encouraged Douglass to write and publish Douglass’s story about his life. Douglass then published his narrative titled “The

The Heroic Slave a novella written by Frederick Douglass is loosely based on The Creole Revolt of the only documented successful African – American Slaves eighteen who revolt gain their freedom including one hundred ten other slaves, who were set free in Nassau, Bahamas in 1841. (Eschner) Whereas, in The Heroic Slave, Frederick Douglass alters the actual account to introduce ideas to illicit whites to assist in abolition for slavery. (Douglas) In his novel based his story on Madison Washington one of the four slaves who is noted as prominent leader in the revolt.

Frederick Douglass believed that all people were born equal, but he also believed that humans were not just automatically born free. He deduced that man has the innate instinctive ability to mold themselves into whoever they wanted to become. So, naturally self-improvement and education were two crucial aspects of Frederick’s life. To Douglass the most horrific thing about slavery was the fact that slaves were totally and completely precluded from and form of education, which prevented them from improving themselves. Douglass worked exceedingly hard to obtain an education in order to ultimately become a free man. Although he still had to physically escape slavery his education played a vital role in his journey to freedom.

Towards the end of chapter ten in The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglas describes how slave owners would make slaves’ holidays miserable. Slave owners did this to manipulate the slaves into believing that they are better off in slavery. They would entice slaves to get drunk by placing bets on who could drink the most. When a slave had had enough to drink, he would then ask for something else, but unknowingly receive more alcohol. As a result, slaves would prefer to work in the fields instead of having holidays. This passage illustrates how African Americans remained content in their shackles of slavery for 245 years in America.

“You are a product of your environment.”- W. Clement. The way you were raised, the people who raised you and the community that you are raised in all play a role in who you are as an individual. Constantly throughout time the way an individual defines themselves is based on their roots, the actions or reactions that have built a foundation of who they’re today. Through the lens of a slave later turned into one of the largest faces of abolitionist acts, Frederick Douglass creates “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” in which he accounts the community he was raised in and the constant fear instilled within his community as well as his later assimilation into new communities and possibly being responsible for creation of a

Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, more commonly known as Frederick Douglass, was born around 1818 in Talbot County, Maryland (Hagler). Douglass was one of the most influential human rights leaders and one of the most renowned abolitionists. By learning to read and write around the age of 10, Douglass was able to develop a greater understanding of the world that didn’t revolve around slavery, along with the desire to become a free man and civil rights activist (Hagler). Douglass is now well known for his famous autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, in which he recalls his many experiences in slavery and the ways he dealt with the daily suffering. In his autobiographical narrative, The Narrative of the Life

The “Narratives of the Life of Frederick Douglass” is the story of Frederick Douglass’ life from the time he was born into slavery, to the time he escaped to freedom in the north. When Douglass wrote this book, slavery was still legal in a large portion of the United States. After Douglass’ escape to freedom and his continuation of his education, he became an abolitionist through his works of literature and speeches. In “The Blessings of Slavery”, by George Fitzhugh he states that southern slaves for the most part are the freest and happiest people in the world. He also goes on to say a number of other things that basically establish that slaves live an easy and good life compared to others. Frederick Douglass’ pure story telling in the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” directly goes against any argument for slavery from Fitzhugh, by revealing the harshness of the institution of slavery and the individuals behind it. In each piece of literature both authors also unknowingly touch on topics of early American history such as free labor ideology and paternalism therefore deepening our knowledge of popular understandings during this time period. Douglass refutes Fitzhugh’s pro-slavery argument of the average slave living an ideal life, by disproving early ideas of the free labor system and paternalism through real life encounters of the physical oppression slaves faced on the day to day basis in the forms of inhumane treatment and violence, as well as the true harsh

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

Being a slave in the United States was not uncommon in the 19th century. There were many brutalities of being a slave including physical and spiritual abuse. Slaves were considered property and not as human beings. They were mistreated and kept illiterate. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave is a autobiography written by Frederick Douglass himself that told of his experiences of being a slave in the United States. He expresses the brutality the slave owners and how he struggled with running away to become a free human being. The themes of his story include: the ignorance of slaves, the treatment of slaves as property, religion used as justification, and the victimization of female slaves.

He was “beaten to his knees, exiled, visioning a world where none is lonely, none hunted,” . Douglass’s moral character is what makes him fight for what is right. He was lead to conquer his hardships and change the country for the better. Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass both encountered many tough challenges and did whatever they could to help the country; which makes them heroic. Different from Lincoln and Douglass, the antagonist from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets gives several examples of what a hero should never do on any account.

Frederick Douglass, a young slave whose mother was dead and father was absent, experienced many hardships a young person should not experience. When he was around seven or eight, an event had changed his life for the better: his move to Baltimore. Douglass heard many things about Baltimore from his Cousin Tom who described it very exquisitely. In the close reading of the passage from the autobiography, The Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass, during his years as a slave he believed he had a spirit that never left him and once this event occurred, that changed his life, he knew this spirit was from God.

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass perfectly depicts the dreadful experience of living in slavery. From being unsure of the day he was born, to his first beating from a master, to the brutal and exhausting work, and to the joyous day he was freed. Besides describing his experience as a slave, he describes the toll slavery had on the masters and families of slaves. Frederick Douglass also includes his view of education in relation to freedom. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is a good excerpt from The Classic Slave Narratives that can be considered a good historical resource due to the historical content it provides about slavery.

of living a slave life and he feared he would walk that path for the remainder of his life. Despite