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Frederick Douglass As A Child Of Enlightenment Essay

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Frederick Douglass as a Child of Enlightenment The age of Enlightenment is considered one of the most significant eras in human history. Underlined by agitation for liberty, reason, progress, tolerance, ending of abuses, and vivid discussions on the role of the church to the state, the age of Enlightenment shaped humanity in ways that had never been seen before. Furthermore, Israel argues, “while we live in a postmodern world, the concepts of Enlightenment are still the basic philosophical underpinning of human thinking today” (Israel 15). Traditionally thought to originate from France, the age of Enlightenment spread quickly across the globe permeating and influencing cultures that were previously dominated by brutality and human suffering. One of the widely respected Enlightenment agitates in Afro-American history was Frederick Douglass. He was a slave, an abolitionist orator, social reformer, newspaper editor, and later a Republican Party advocate, and his life, as documented by his works, represents the greatest exemplification of Enlightenment thought in Afro-American history. The principal supposition that unifies Douglass’ thought on existence was …show more content…

His adherent belief in humanism and the innate and annullable rights bestowed to humanity simply by the virtue of their existence represented the core of enlightenment. According to Puchner et al. (216), Douglass’ importance as a contributor to Enlightenment in Afro-American history derives in part from his insights into and embodiment of both the intrinsic interrelationship between the Afro-American and Euro-American minds. Equally important in Douglass’ thought was the pervasive impact that race has on American life and culture. Like many philosophers of the Enlightenment movement, the central push of Douglass’ thoughts were the need to resolve the tension between himself as a human being and his identities as a

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