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How Did Frederick Douglass Have A Resistance To Slavery

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Frederick Douglass was one of the only few slaves to be able to read and write and used this ability to free himself. To gain support against slavery, many abolitionists in the 19th century would detail the brutality of slavery as an institution, and explain the helplessness and dejected condition of black slaves under this cruelty. However, I don’t believe Douglass would agree with their statement that black slaves were helpless and dejected. Slaves were physically strong, capable of hope and ambition, and Douglass showed that there are other ways to learn than through a proper education since they did not have one. Under the cruelty of slavery in U.S. history, most slaves were not helpless or dejected and were fully capable of a resistance to slavery. Slaves had the ability to resist slave owners through physical resistance. Douglass proves this by telling how he overcame the infamous slave breaker Mr. Covey when he was supposed to be …show more content…

Douglass had always retained an ambitious flame within himself and honed his drive into freedom from the brutalization of slavery. When Douglass moved to work under Mr. Freeland’s hand, he met and became good friends with a few other slaves. Douglass filled them with dreams of freedom and unveiled their ambition for abolition. They gathered up canoes and attempted to paddle their way to freedom (Douglass, p. 95). While they failed, it shows how simple it is for slaves to desperately want to try; ambition. Slaves were not savages, they didn’t want to be illiterate - any chance they got, they would try to learn. Douglass ran a program that was to teach fellow illiterates how to read and for anyone who wished to attend could receive a whipping, but they came because they wished to learn (Douglass, p. 93). Denying a slave’s ability to learn how to read and write is an overlooked brutality of slavery; it turned their image to that of

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Also, the narrative showed up the resistance of Douglass which was demonstrated in his meeting with Edward Covey. The nonviolent resistance was decisive for him in acquiring manhood. Frederick Douglass had many qualities such as the patience, the courage and the endurance. Even when things and situations became very diificult for him and his fellow slaves, he had a noteworthy ability to hide and point his anger to the right side and the good way of resistance distinguished by maturity and wisdom.

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