Frederick Douglass was born into slavery, and as a slave, he was limited to a life of manual labor. When he was in his early twenties, approximately 23 years old, he was invited to speak at an anti-slavery convention in Massachusetts. He described how this experience ". . . was a severe cross," meaning a heavy burden, such as the cross that Jesus carried. He elaborated, though, by noting that after giving the speech he "felt a degree of freedom" and learned what he wanted to do with his life: he wanted to speak out about the evils of slavery. He wanted to make the world a better place, where all humans are treated with dignity and respect. This was only the beginning of Douglass's speaking career; he spoke, as an abolitionist, for over fifty years.
However, Douglass was not only a speaker. He was also a writer; Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is only one of three autobiographies that he wrote. Additionally, he wrote a novella called The Heroic Slave and other articles. He wasn't merely concerned with his own well-being and communicating his story to the world; he found a way to escape slavery. In fact, when he gave his first speech in Massachusetts (1941), he was a fugitive slave, meaning that he'd escaped out of slavery to the north. Many northerners sought to help fugitive slaves as they gained independence. In 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was passed, which required all northerners, by law, to return fugitive slaves to the southern slave-owning states. This shows how even escaping to the north wasn't a secure path to freedom. Douglass desired that the United States would one day be a free land, where slavery no longer existed. He bravely stood up in front of hundreds of men and women of various races, arguing that slavery needed to be abolished for good. He showed through his personal life experiences how wicked slavery was and urged society to join him in fighting this great evil.
In this autobiography, Douglass tells the story of his life. (Well, tells one of three versions of his life story.) One of the most important lessons that Douglass learned in his life was the power of education. He explains in his narrative how he was prevented from an education by his masters. In fact, one of his mistresses, Mrs. Auld, was kind to him and began to educate him about the alphabet. But when Mr. Auld found out, he reprimanded his wife, telling her it was "unlawful as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read." Rather than being frustrated by Mr. Auld's intervention, Douglass saw this moment as a "special revelation":
"I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty-- to wit, the white man's power to enslave the black man. It was a grand achievement, and I prized it highly. From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom. It was just what I wanted, and I got it at a time when I the least expected it. 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. . . . It gave me the utmost confidence in the results which, he said, would flow from teaching me to read. . . . 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 adamantly believed in the power of education to change the world. He believed that learning was a way to increase one's social standing, to open career opportunities, and to create a happier future world. He believed that education was the primary means to end slavery, and he was one of the most instrumental voices in promoting education for African slaves. He thought that, even if slaves were immediately freed, without an education, they would still be limited. His words largely influenced the beliefs and practices of future African American leaders, such as Booker T. Washington, who started Tuskegee Institute, an African American school. Was Douglass a hero who positively impacted the world? Yes, indeed.
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