Frederick Douglass Paper

Submitted By itsjustdon
Words: 1434
Pages: 6
Open Document
The Narrative of Frederick Douglass, Liberty and Freedom Explained
Frederick Douglass was a former slave who was a key figure in the abolition movement. Through his speeches and discussions, many people learned of the evils that surrounded slavery. Although he was a great speaker, his most influential tool in the fight for abolition would be his narrative he wrote. Through explanation of the horrors he experienced while shackled in slavery, many people came to join the fight against the abhorred practice. Douglass not only recounts his experiences and misfortunes, but also gives us insight into his thoughts on freedom and liberty, and how they evolved as he grew up in forced servitude. To properly share his thoughts on freedom and liberty, one must look at three different key points in his life. The first is when he was a child, raised on a plantation in Maryland and a home in Baltimore. The second is when he is capable of reading and writing, which covers a large time frame from when he first learns to when he is an adult teaching other slaves how to. The third is when he has escaped and learns how to live as a free man, this also entails when he is established as a proponent for abolition, attending many conventions to speak on the evils of slavery. With the telling of Douglass’ life at these key points, one can come to discover his view of freedom and liberty, and how it evolved as he did.
To start off this explanation, one must first look at Douglass’ origins. He was born into slavery from a slaved mother and white father, most likely a master. At the time, it was quite common for masters to rape female slaves, in turn producing more slaves to work the plantation. At his birth, Douglass was separated from his mother in order to avoid any maternal ties between the boy and the woman. Douglass grew up on the main slave farm out of three, which was seen as the best place to be. As a child he witnessed many horrors, be it the whipping of his Aunt who the master had sexual feelings for, or the death of his own mother at the age of seven. When his mother passed, Douglass felt the same emotion towards the death as he would towards a stranger. It is here where Douglass began to realize how and why his liberties were being rejected. In order to make the slaves function as pure workers, without ties, many slavers separated the families, taking away their basic liberty of maternal care. Douglass noticed this violation of personal freedom, but saw it as normal for slaves. While being raised, he was taught that blacks were an inferior race, born to be slaves. To him, this was just as natural as breathing. Douglass was soon sent to a house in Baltimore to be a personal slave. During his time there, he began to learn to read. The mistress of the estate had not had slaves before, so Douglass was new for her. As a result, he was initially greeted with kindness and taught the alphabet. When the master of the estate discovered this, he was outraged. He immediately put a stop to the lessons. At this point, another one of Douglass’ basic liberties was impeached. Unable to learn on his own, he saw how slaves were kept ignorant to teachings in the world that contradicted those that benefitted slavery as a practice. Masters wanted to stop the spread of any ideas against the practice of slavery. When revolts occurred, many times they were kept silent for fear of spreading confidence to other slaves, which could cause them to attempt to revolt as well, mentioned in American Negro Slave Revolts. As time progressed at the house, the mistress grew colder and crueler, showing how slavery will turn the nicest person into an emotionless monster. At this point in his life, Douglass saw freedom and liberty as something only the whites could obtain, something he was born without. It wasn’t until he could read that he began to question his beliefs.
When Douglass began to learn to read, his views of liberty and freedom changed along with his ideas of
Show More

Related Documents: Frederick Douglass Paper

Frederick Douglass Research Paper

reretete 9/20/13erteerterttrettreetrterteretrterertertert Frederick Douglas Paper In modern society, there are three stages in life. In the first stage, one has to inevitably attend grade school to begin receiving an education. Once completed, the second stage is when the individual has to decide whether or not he will be graduating from a college. And last is the period of their life when they have to find a job. Usually college graduates will find a better paying job…

Words 1280 - Pages 6

Frederick Douglass Research Paper

simple tools that can facilitate heartfelt and enduring personal and social change. As both pieces reveal, there is a key connection with the concept of freedom and the all together process of reading, writing, and growing to be wholly educated. Frederick Douglas speaks of overcoming the obstacle to read, he states that “slavery and education were incompatible with each other” (second paragraph.) This quote displays the hardship in acquiring…

Words 535 - Pages 3

Frederick Douglass And Socrates Research Paper

courage and temperance. Two other historical figures discussed this semester were Frederick Douglass, who was a slave; and Adolf Eichmann, a train organizer for the Holocaust. This paper will compare and contrast Douglass and Eichmann to Socrates and determine (1) what values are shared; (2) differences between the characters and; (3) whether or not the figure would be perceived as virtuous. Frederick Douglass was an American slave during the 1800s who is well-known for his speech, “What…

Words 1022 - Pages 5

Frederick Douglass Narrative Paper

Professor H. Forstyle Religious Arguments Against Equal Rights for All Frederick Douglass wrote his biography titled Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, with the intent to expose the hypocrisy of slaveholders and the immorality of slavery in the face of religion. He uses personal examples just as much as others’ experiences to exemplify these points to readers. Douglass depicts himself differently from other slaves’ experiences in that the more educated he became…

Words 2021 - Pages 9

Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass Research Paper

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass English 3 AP Language/Rhetoric & Comp Doodle Art/Graffiti Journal Project Mr. Caleb D. Camacho Doodle Art/Graffiti Journal Project (12 SHEETS) 1. Use ONE 8.5 x 11 page per chapter (except for Chapter 10, where you will use two pages). On each page, write your Name, Date, Pd on the lower right corner. 2. Write the chapter number at the top of the page. 3. Create a title for each chapter (each page). Place it on top. 4. Fill your page with graffiti! – drawings…

Words 290 - Pages 2

Douglass Prompt 2012 Essay

Essay Prompt History 10603 Spring 2012 The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass By Frederick Douglass Date due: Wednesday, April 25, at 2:00 p.m. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass details the experiences of one escaped slave. Your task is to create a carefully written essay of 750-1,500 words (three to five pages) according to the following prompt. You must do both halves of this prompt. Reader Reaction Part 1. Based on our study of the condition of the United States…

Words 434 - Pages 2

The Narrative Of Frederick Douglas's Life

Frederick Douglass, born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, was born into slavery in Maryland in February 1817. Since he was a slave, his exact birthdate is not known. His mother was not married, so it is assumed that Douglass’ father was his white master. He was separated from his mother at a young age, and was forced to work on the property of the Captain Aaron Anthony. In 1825, Anthony loaned Douglass to live with Hugh Auld and his family in Baltimore, Maryland. Frederick’s life improved while…

Words 599 - Pages 3

Essay Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass By Isabelle Smith Frederick Douglas, a former slave, who overcame his past to become one of the worlds most influential black figures. An abolitionist, during the late 18th century, Douglas' personal history became not only his motivation but also his own nemesis in his crusade to abolish slavery. Frederick Douglas was born on February 1818, at Holmes Hill farm, Maryland. Born into slavery, Douglas was fathered by a white man, presumably the "master" of the plantation…

Words 1071 - Pages 5

Frederick Douglass: The Father Of The Civil Rights Movement

Frederick Douglass was born in 1818 in Tuckahoe, Maryland. Douglass was born as a slave and lived a difficult early life, he was always cold, hungry and sometimes whipped. Several attempts were made to get free from slavery. Once he was free, Douglass shared his personal story about his life as a slave. Frederick went on to give lectures about the wrongs of slavery. He was later known as the father of the Civil Rights Movement. Frederick Douglass had a difficult early life as a slave. While…

Words 990 - Pages 4

How Did Frederick Douglass End Slavery?

Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) “was the most important black American leader of the nineteenth century” (Blight). In the beginning of the nineteenth century, some people started to go against slavery, but there was still a lot of it in the southern states. This led to slavery ending with the Civil War in the 1860’s. The Civil War was on whether there should be slavery or not with the southern states supporting it and the northerns states against it. The northern states won the war ending slavery…

Words 934 - Pages 4