The Life Of Frederick Douglass, Web Dubois, And Booker T Washington

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,

During the 1800’s, the institution of slavery was still ongoing in the few slave states left in America. Slavery was still proving to be unjust and unfair, not allowing for African Americans to be considered equals. However, some slaves were able to overcome the many restrictions and boundaries that slavery forced upon them. In Frederick Douglass’ essay “Learning to Read and Write,” Douglass portrays himself as an intelligent and dignified slave who’s able to overcome the racial boundaries placed upon him. Frederick Douglass saw that his only pathway to freedom was through literacy, so his goal was to learn how to read and write no matter the circumstances. Douglass realized

Douglass had the unusual privilege of receiving the beginnings of an education from the wife of one of his masters, Mrs. Auld. Her lessons were cut short when she was discovered by her husband who, "forbade her. . . telling her it was unsafe to teach a slave to read . . . because he would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master". From this experience, Douglass learned that education was his "pathway from slavery to freedom". In essence, the act of keeping the black man ignorant was "the white man's power to enslave the black man"(Douglass 1776).

The power of education was also a key argument in “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, but it was not an argument with a consistent meaning. Although Frederick Douglass believes that the only way to freedom for him and his fellow slaves, is through learning how to build on. At the same time Douglass is disgusted with education because it lets him know and fully understand the extent and horrors of slavery. Later, he finds out that while the conditions are slightly better there is still a great deal of injustice. He then begins to think getting his education could be his way to liberty and freedom and though he endeavors to learn much as he can, he starts to doubt whether he is correct or not. He then state “I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing. It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy. It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out” (47). In the end, these elements of freedom-becoming educated-led to his last act of rebellion, which he thought would bring him freedom. H e engages in a fight with his master. He can no longer stand his new sense of education and knowledge. He states “This battle with Mr.

Many of his audience would expect Douglass to be a brave, courageous man; however, they have to understand that Douglass was a person like any other, and that the pain and suffering he had gone through to get his education. He also used to describe his mistress a “tender-hearted woman,” as a sympathy to show that there are people out there that are caring enough to educate him(1). However, the dark turn of event happened when his mistress became more crucial and punished her slaves, just like her husband. Douglass also explained that he does not feel any sympathy towards her anyways because he was a slave and he knew she would eventually mistreat him. After his mistress’ cruel transformation, he grew weary because when he is caught reading a newspaper, his mistress would be aggressive and snatch the newspaper away from Douglass so he could not read anymore (1). The most difficult time was when his master found out he was learning to read, he would punish him (2-3). Douglass wrote, “learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing,” knowing at the time that getting an education was far more difficult than he anticipated (3). Douglass would think learning to read was not worth the pain he was getting. He thought that getting an education would help him escape slavery, but after his beating, he realized that receiving one would mean he has to endure the hardship in

Frederick Douglass appears to be rather smart and well minded compared to the other slaves. He was briefly taught how to read and write by Sophia Auld. Once Sophia’s husband, Douglass’ master, found out she was teaching him how to read and write, he immediately ordered her to stop teaching. Douglass stated, “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”. “What he most dreaded, that I most desired. What he most loved, that I most hated. That which to him was a great evil, to be carefully shunned, was to me a great good, to be diligently sought; and the argument which he so warmly urged, against my learning to read, only served to inspire me with a desire and determination to learn” (Douglass). That quote by Frederick Douglass is very powerful, and goes to show how strong his motivation was to better his life. Soon after that, Douglass was able to teach himself a bit more on how to read and write.

Frederick Douglass, a born slave and a leader of the abolitionist movement, in the excerpt, “Learning to Read and Write,” describes the power of literacy and how it enabled him to break free of his condition. The start of the chapter describes Douglass as an eight year old slave, who learned how to read surreptitiously, while surviving in the harsh oppression of slavery. There is a shift to Douglass at age twelve, where his focus is on learning how to write. Douglass’ purpose is to illuminate how literacy opened up the world for him. Douglass adopts a reflective and passionate tone in order to appeal to both freed slaves and abolitionists.

Slavery was a time where blacks were treated unequally to the "white man". Slavery was that individuals were owned by one who work. In the Douglass Novel, Douglass narrates the story about his life during the 1840's. Life was unpleasant being a slave. No one would want to have life of a slave.

Frederick Douglass’s education was similar to slaves who had self-educated their self. At first, Frederick was taught by his master’s wife Sophia Auld. However after some time and multiple orders from her husband, she ended it. Frederick’s education was now into his own hands. His master’s views on a slave receiving

As a young boy, Douglass learns how to read without a proper teacher to help him. Because of this, he was “was compelled to resort to various stratagems,” to learn how to read, such as utilizing the young white boys with an education who lived near him (50). Even though his master and his master’s wife were against him, he found the means of teaching himself anyways, which shows his cleverness, and his ability to learn without a proper teacher shows his intelligence. Later on in his life, he also manages to teach other slaves. If the slaves were caught going to Douglass’s Sabbath school, they would be harshly punished, but they go anyways, which shows their dedication to learning, as well as Douglass’s.

Frederick Douglass was a slave with a plan. He set out to become better, stopping at nothing. When he decided he wanted to learn to read, he come to terms that he could not get traditional teachers to help him. That encouraged him to seek out help for neighborhood boys who were also learning. Although, some of his actions were not what a typical slave does, Douglass used his resources to bring bread to hungry white boys in town in exchange for them to show him how to read. He practiced using the time he had after doing chores in town until he had a great understanding of what he read. After obtaining and reading the book The Columbian Orator, Douglass was determined to let his own thoughts be heard.

Why is education so important to Douglass? What does he mean by education will set him free?

Douglass valued education above all else. He firmly believed that if one could be educated, he could be free! He advocated for fellow slaves to free themselves from the bondage of ignorance. Mr. Frederick Douglass wrote, “I held my Sabbath school at the house of a free colored man…I had at one time over forty scholars, and those of the right sort ardently desiring to learn” (Douglass 959). Douglass viewed freedom as something that one must achieve. He knew that obtaining knowledge would provide a drastic change to his dismal existence. There was a point in his life that he reached the end of his rope and lost all hope. While forced to stay with a harsh slave trainer, known for unbearably abusing the men and women sent to him, Frederick’s proud and strong spirit was broken. As Douglass wrote, “Mr. Covey succeeded in breaking me. I was broken in body, soul, and spirit” (Douglass 951). Mr. Covey was known as the “nigger breaker” by his comrades and all the slaves that were excessively deviating from their orders. Douglass proceeds to say, “My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed me into a brute!” (Douglass 951). The horrific conditions Douglass was forced to endure broke him for a time, but his resilient spirit eventually overcame every

In the 1800’s, one could not find many slaves who knew how to read or write. This was because many educated white men owned slaves and would not allow them to learn. By doing this, the slave owners felt like they were taking away their human rights, and in this period, slaves were not thought of as humans. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, there is a common theme throughout the book on the importance of education. Douglass was a slave for a good portion of his life, but he learned to read and write. He makes it obvious that his path to freedom is by learning these two skills, and if he wanted to help free other slaves, they needed to learn these skills as well. While showing that education is very important, Douglass also shows some disgust towards education because he begins to read about slavery. There is a paradox in this narrative, and that is that even though we know education makes Douglass more miserable in the short term, his desire to learn makes him happy in the long term. A paradox has two definitions but the one that fits this situation the most is defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “a statement that is seemingly contradictory or opposed to common sense and yet is perhaps true.” I believe that throughout this narrative, Frederick Douglass shows that education is his driving force to freedom.

Frederick Douglass was born into slavery as a son of a slave woman in Maryland 1818. As a kid Frederick did not see his mother a lot, she died when he was around the age of seven or eight. A few years later, Frederick was placed into the hands of Thomas Auld. Thomas Aulds sister in law, Sophia began to teach Frederick how to read, her husband Hugh insisted that she stop. He stated that if a slave were to read, he would learn enough to want to be free. Frederick later on described this as a ‘Decidedly antislavery lecture”. But as a kid that did not stop him; Frederick kept learning to read from the white children in his neighborhood, he began to read anything he could. One of those things was a lesson book designed for education and public