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How Did Frederick Douglass Impact On Modern Education

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Frederick Douglass was an escaped slave from Maryland, who later became a famous writer and activist. In his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, he wrote about his experiences as a slave and, eventually, an escaped slave. In this book, it is talked about how important education is, and without it, Frederick Douglass would not have been able to escape. As a, now, very well-known man, he has made an impact on modern education.
Back then, slave owners wouldn’t educate slaves and allow them any kind of knowledge. They couldn’t learn to read and write, and they couldn’t know basic information about themselves, like their birth dates. When Douglass’ slave owner’s wife tried to teach Douglass, his slave owner stopped her, and said that a slave “should know nothing but to obey his master - to do as he is told to do.” His slave owner also mentioned how the ability to read would make him uncontrollable. Due to slaves being uneducated, they can’t really articulate and just think that all there is to life is to follow their master. Most of the time, they won’t think …show more content…

In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass talks about how he had to educate himself. Before, he thought that his life as a slave was permanent. He didn’t think of himself as a human, and he wasn’t able to develop as a person. It was after his education that he started to think of his life as a slave and of a plan to escape. He saw himself more as a human being and hated his master for treating him the way he did. He was able to mature and grow as a person as well. Thanks to his knowledge, he was able to think of a plan to escape slavery and successfully escape. And he was able to survive in the North not only because of help from others, but also because of the knowledge he had. If he didn’t know how to read or write, and still had the mentality of a slave, he probably would have had a harder time fitting

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