Free Essays on Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass In the early 1840’s, Frederick Douglass wrote an autobiography of his life as a slave. His abhorrence of slavery stemmed from two fronts. The first was the reprehensible treatment and dehumanization of the African-American slave. The second was the corrupting influence the power of slavery had upon the slaveholder. â€Å"But, alas! this kind heart [of his mistress] had but a short time to remain such. The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced it’s infernal work† (2). In chapters 6-8, Douglass makes one particular point, among many, quite clear: unjust laws corrupt honorable souls and make criminals of law-abiding people. Douglass relates his experience of learning the alphabet from his mistress and the subsequent cessation of this study by his master. Due to his master’s explanation of why his mistress shouldn’t teach him, a slave, to read, Douglass realizes exactly where white society gets its power to enslave black society. That is â€Å"†¦education and slavery were incompatible†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (3 & 6). Upon the heels of this revelation is a second: the pathway from slavery to freedom lies in learning to read (3). The basic injustice of keeping an entire race in mental ignorance for the soul purpose of exploiting them as a work force is one of Douglass’ main criticisms. Douglass conveys to his readers the drastic change that took place in his mistress due to the heady power of having absolute control over another person’s life. She changed from a kind, warm, hard-working soul to a tyrant under slavery’s tutelage (5). Douglass shows his readers just how she went from having â€Å"heavenly qualities† (6) to having the disposition of a tyrant by relating several years of his experiences. His mistress went from teaching him letters to furiously snatching a newspaper out of Douglass’ hand (6), from heavenly smiles to demonic fury (1 & 6), and from t... Free Essays on Frederick Douglass Free Essays on Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass Born 1818 (?) in Tuckahoe, Maryland Died 1895 in Washington D.C. Frederick Douglass was the leading spokesman of African Americans in the 1800’s. Never knowing his mother or even the identity of his father, he was born a slave and escaped to the north when he was twenty years old. He learned how to read and write in secret, and it became his passion. The abolition of slavery and the fight for equal rights was the subject of all of his speeches, debates and interviews. He founded an antislavery newspaper, wrote several autobiographical books, and helped recruit African Americans for the Union army during the Civil War. His final home was a station along the underground railroad system. Frederick Douglass is one of the most important people in American History. The exact birth-date of Frederick Douglass is unknown, even to him. â€Å"Slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant. I do not remember to have ever met a slave who could tell his birthday† (Douglass 13). Keeping knowledge from their slaves was the masters’ key to dominance. Evidence of a restless spirit within a slave was deemed improper and impertinent, and treated with a trip to the whipping-post. Never the less, Douglass’ careful ear heard his master say, sometime during 1835, that he was about seventeen years old. Sometime during 1818, Harriet Bailey gave birth to Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey in Tuckahoe, Maryland, near Easton. She was the daughter of Isaac and Betsy Bailey, both colored, and quite dark. Frederick’s father, however, was white. Color was the only fact he knew about his father. Whispered opinions claimed that his master was his father, but the truth (or lack thereof) of these rumors was never known. â€Å"†¦true or false, it is of but little consequence to my purpose whilst the fact remains, in all i... Free Essays on Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass In the early 1840’s, Frederick Douglass wrote an autobiography of his life as a slave. His abhorrence of slavery stemmed from two fronts. The first was the reprehensible treatment and dehumanization of the African-American slave. The second was the corrupting influence the power of slavery had upon the slaveholder. â€Å"But, alas! this kind heart [of his mistress] had but a short time to remain such. The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced it’s infernal work† (2). In chapters 6-8, Douglass makes one particular point, among many, quite clear: unjust laws corrupt honorable souls and make criminals of law-abiding people. Douglass relates his experience of learning the alphabet from his mistress and the subsequent cessation of this study by his master. Due to his master’s explanation of why his mistress shouldn’t teach him, a slave, to read, Douglass realizes exactly where white society gets its power to enslave black society. That is â€Å"†¦education and slavery were incompatible†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (3 & 6). Upon the heels of this revelation is a second: the pathway from slavery to freedom lies in learning to read (3). The basic injustice of keeping an entire race in mental ignorance for the soul purpose of exploiting them as a work force is one of Douglass’ main criticisms. Douglass conveys to his readers the drastic change that took place in his mistress due to the heady power of having absolute control over another person’s life. She changed from a kind, warm, hard-working soul to a tyrant under slavery’s tutelage (5). Douglass shows his readers just how she went from having â€Å"heavenly qualities† (6) to having the disposition of a tyrant by relating several years of his experiences. His mistress went from teaching him letters to furiously snatching a newspaper out of Douglass’ hand (6), from heavenly smiles to demonic fury (1 & 6), and from t... Free Essays on Frederick Douglass Re-Creating One’s Self Frederick Douglass has been an immense role model to all types of people who want to make their lives better. In his biography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, he describes his life as a slave, and how he got out of it by â€Å"re-making† himself. Douglass educates himself and re-creates who he is throughout his life; so much so that in the end when he gives his speeches, people cannot believe he was ever a slave. This idea that we can â€Å"re-create† ourselves no matter where we have come from is one that started with Douglass, but is relevant to all humankind. In his opening lines, Douglass addresses how the institution of slavery narrows slaves' opportunities for self-knowledge. Slave owners withhold information about slaves' birth dates in order to keep them from developing a unique sense of self. They do not want their slaves to differentiate themselves from their land or farm animals, as Douglass implies when he says that most slaves know how old they are no more than horses do. Likewise, their masters do not acknowledge family ties among slaves. Family relationships would allow slaves to develop a unique sense of self and would encourage alliances among slaves, a serious threat to the slave owner's hold on power. It was illegal to educate slaves. The enforced institution of illiteracy did the double service of robbing the victim of his voice and of his access to alternative ideas regarding his condition. The slave owner did not want his slaves to know that many Americans saw their bondage as a moral outrage. Nor did he want his slaves to provide first-hand evidence against his prettified picture of slavery, which would give the abolitionists more rhetorical ammunition against him. He wanted to be the center and origin of the "truth" about slavery, both for slaves and for non-slave-owning whites. Despite this unfortunate truth of the times, Douglass found ways to augment his education. So... Free Essays on Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass was born in Talbot County, Maryland. He does not know the year, as most slaves were not allowed to know their ages. He remembers being unhappy and confused that white children knew their ages, but he was not allowed even to ask his own. He estimates that he was born in or around 1818. â€Å"Frederick Douglass’s mother was Harriet Bailey, the daughter of Isaac and Betsey Bailey. He was separated from his mother immediately after birth, which was a common practice among slave owners.† (biography.com/search/article.jsp?aid=9278324) He assumed that this custom was intended to break the natural bond of affection between mother and child. He also recalled that he only saw his mother on the rare occasions when she could walk twelve miles after dark to lie next to him at night. Harriet died when Frederick was about seven years old. He was told about it afterward and was hardly affected by the news. Bibliography Term Papers, Essays, Book Reports DataBase Câ€Å"Frederick Douglass knew only that his father was a white man, though many people said that his master was his father.† (Frederick Douglass: An American Slave) He explained that slaveholders often impregnated their female slaves. In that era, a law insured that mixed?race children became slaves like their mothers. Slaveholders actually profited from this practice of rape, as it increased the number of slaves they owned. Frederick explained that such mixed?race slaves have a worse lot than other slaves, as the slaveholder’s wife, insulted by their existence, insured that they either suffered constantly or were sold off. He considered that the existence of such a large population of mixed-race slaves contradicted arguments that justified American slavery through the supposed inferiority of the African race. Frederick Douglass’s first master was Captain Anthony. The Captain’s overseer, Mr. Plummer, was a drunk and a cruel man who carrie...