ipl-logo

Fredrick Douglass A Homemade Education

630 Words3 Pages

Stumbling Isn’t Falling
Our lives and how we grew up has a lot to do with our identity. Where you came from, and your experiences have molded you into who you are today. Today you see many writers use their personal experiences to show portray the concept to the audience. In this essay we will explore personal experiences of both Malcom X in “A Homemade Education” and, “Learning to read and write” by Fredrick Douglas. In a Homemade Education Malcom talks about his time in prison, in which he learned how to read. “I have often reflected upon the new vistas that reading opened to me. I knew right there in prison that reading had changed forever the course of my life. As I see it today, the ability to read awoke in me some long dormant craving …show more content…

It had given me a view of my wretched condition without the remedy.” Douglas felt that learning to read opened his eyes up to freedom and made him realize that he was a “slave for life.” Growing up there were many times I looked in the mirror and didn’t like the person I saw. I many times felt like a mistake, that I was worthless. I relate to Douglass’s sense of finally seeing his own identity and what he didn’t like about it. He goes on to say “In moments of agony, I envied my fellow slaves for their stupidity. I often found myself regretting my own existence and wishing myself dead; and but for the hope of being free, I have no doubt but that I should have killed myself, or done something for which I should have been killed.” Later Douglass learns the term abolition and gets the idea of running away to be free. But before running away, he wants to learn to write. At the end of the essay Douglass talks about finally learning to write and being “free.” In some ways, I don’t think he means literally free, I think he means his soul is free. He has bettered himself, and as a whole feel better as a person. I went through a really dark time in my life, where I too wanted to kill myself. But with lots of personal work, and therapy I’ve learned to accept myself and I am now VERY proud of the individual I

Show More
Related

Frederick Douglass: The Importance Of Education

613 Words | 3 Pages

Besides the similarities in understanding the importance of freedom, Frederick Douglass and Nat Turner has a lot of differences in using education to escape from slavery and gain freedom. In fact, Frederick Douglass used education as a mental resistance. To him, freedom means freedom in his mind. Resisting the ignorance of his master Hugh Auld is a great illustrated for this point. Unlike other slaves in the Hugh’s plantation, Douglass enjoyed a limit freedom in the Hugh’s house.

Read More

Frederick Douglass Impact

606 Words | 3 Pages

Frederick Douglass’s letter to his recipient was informing on the subject of how it was living with Jim Crow laws. With Douglas being born into slavery and having the chance to live through it, he saw the differences between what it meant to be “free” and black compared to being enslaved and

Read More

Frederick Douglass Learning To Read Essay

498 Words | 2 Pages

According to Mistress Hugh, “education and slavery were incompatible with each other” (Douglass, 33). Although Mistress Hugh had stopped teaching Douglass how to read, the seed of knowledge had already been planted. In the years that followed, his hunger for knowledge did not dissipate. Douglass devised various methods to learn to read and write in very clever ways.

Read More

Rhetoric In Fredrick Douglass 'As With Rivers So With Nation'

257 Words | 2 Pages

With this, Douglass is addressing the topic of slavery and whether to abolish it or not. And goes about telling the hardships he went through.

Read More

The Power Of Education In A Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass

1673 Words | 7 Pages

However, literacy turns out to be not only bliss, but also painful. Indeed, while learning to read Frederick becomes more and more aware of the injustices of slavery, and this leads him to regret this knowledge “Learning how to read had become a curse rather than a blessing” ( Douglass ) . Douglass believes in the importance of education. He thinks that education is a key part to our life; it is the only way to get freedom. Literacy is very powerful because it can set anyone free to pursue dreams.

Read More

Frederick Douglass: Overcoming Obstacles

392 Words | 2 Pages

The legendary abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass was one of the most important social reformers of the nineteenth century. Being born into slavery on a Maryland Eastern Shore plantation to his mother, Harriet Bailey, and a white man, most likely Douglass’s first master was the starting point of his rise against the enslavement of African-Americans. Nearly 200 years after Douglass’s birth and 122 years after his death, The social activist’s name and accomplishments continue to inspire the progression of African-American youth in modern society. Through his ability to overcome obstacles, his strive for a better life through education, and his success despite humble beginnings, Frederick Douglass’s aspirations stretched his influence through

Read More

Analysis Of Malcolm X A Homemade Education

811 Words | 4 Pages

It all began when he was sentenced to a term at Charlestown Prison. He met a man named Bimbi who was fader more educated than young Malcolm had ever been, which eventually led him to his determination in his prison studies and gain knowledge. He began first by looking at available books, reading only the words he could and skipping the ones he couldn’t because his lack of reading skills which he soon found to be complete a waste of time. It wasn’t until he got to the Norfolk Prison Colony that he finally realized what he really needed was to use a

Read More

Turning Point In Frederick Douglass

633 Words | 3 Pages

In particular, when Douglass learned to read he began reading documents that contained argument against slavery and in doing so, he became conscious of the true horror of slavery. He writes, “I often found myself regretting my own existence and wishing myself dead…” (ch. VII). However, he continues, saying “...and but for the hope of being free, I have no doubt but that I should have killed myself…”(ch.

Read More

Growing Opposition To Slavery Dbq Analysis

1432 Words | 6 Pages

His “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave”, (Document G) makes emotional reading (lurid descriptions like "bitterest dregs of slavery" or "broken in body, mind, and soul" elicited reactions of disgust and dejection, which is the what abolitionists were hoping for) and showed that ultimately a slave, long thought to be a possession and less than human, was very much a person with reason and intellect. It provides unsurmountable proof that like any man, a slave deserved a life of dignity and liberty. His work shed light on the constant hard-working and abusive lifestyle that slaves

Read More

Frederick Douglass Logic Based Argument Analysis

484 Words | 2 Pages

Douglass writing skills are further conveyed as magnificent through his logic-based argument. His logic-based argument comes through proving himself valid and credible, and developing uniform lines of reasoning. First and foremost, his validity is established early on, when he describes his background in vast amount of detail and even truthfully exclaims how he was separated from his parents, but that had an effect of which he did “not know” of and thus very miniscule. The reader carries many details about Douglass’ childhood, and Douglass illustrates the truth on how the separation did not affect him that much gains more credibility for him. The reason being is any slave who just starts off the narrative by complaining about his separation

Read More

Frederick Douglass Importance Of Education

836 Words | 4 Pages

Furthermore, Education opened Douglass’s eyes to the reality of his injustice as a slave; thus, compelling him to action as he recalls, “In moments of agony, I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity. ”(Douglass, 2014, p.133) Education caused Douglass heartache. While attaining his education benefited Douglass, he could not relate to his fellow slaves. The fellow slaves had the ability to remain content with their current state of being since it was all they had ever known. Douglass knew otherwise and longed for the forbidden life as a free man, as it changed from an unattainable idea into an achievable

Read More

Frederick Douglass Influence On Education

572 Words | 3 Pages

Frederick Douglass was born a slave in rural Talbot County and he served a family in Baltimore. After escaping to the North in 1838, he settled in Bedford, Massachusetts, where he became active in the abolitionist movement. His mistress was kind she taught him the letters of Alphabet and she always instruct him and one day she changed and suddenly stopped teaching him because of the inequality of the people. A form of EOF student stated “For Douglass, gaining knowledge was more of a curse than a blessing because, as a slave, education made him aware that he had absolutely no alternatives to his condition.” I disagree because education is important, he could help other slaves, and he could break off from the black stereotype.

Read More

Analysis Of Learning To Read And Write Frederick Douglass

560 Words | 3 Pages

Douglass states: “The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers. I could regard them in no other light than a band of successful robbers, who had left their homes, and gone to Africa, and stolen us from our homes, and in a strange land reduced us to slavery” (Douglass 51). Reading and writing opened Frederick Douglass’s eyes to the cause of the abolitionist. He became knowledgeable about a topic that white slave owners tried to keep hidden from their slaves. Literacy would eventually impact his life in more ways than what he could see while he was a young slave under Master Hugh’s

Read More

Education In The Narrative Of Frederick Douglass

1067 Words | 5 Pages

An education often opens new doors for people, but how does a lack of an education affect other people? What causes such a stark difference between people with knowledge and people no knowledge at all? In the Narrative of Frederick Douglass an American Slave we can see that Douglass is more intelligent than the other slaves on the plantation he is living on due to his hidden ability to read. With his level of education, he is able to see the brutal mistreatment of slaves and is unable to look at things the same way when he was an uneducated slave. The slaves on the plantation do not know how to read and therefore do not view being a slave the way Douglass views it.

Read More

Frederick Douglass Path To Freedom Essay

684 Words | 3 Pages

N-e-w B-e-t-f-o-r-d, this what was Fredrick Douglass read when he stepped off the boat to the north. Just reading those words was an accomplishment. In his book The Narrative and Life of Fredrick Douglass, an American Slave he details his experiences where knowledge is very key. Douglass shows how knowledge gained him the ultimate reward of freedom. Knowledge is the path to freedom.

Read More

More about Fredrick Douglass A Homemade Education

Related Topics

Open Document