Truth is this article is an eye opener that slavery is still alive today and its conditions live through the jails and other laws that were set in place to whole blacks back in the 20th century such ass voting rights and working rights for African American women as well as white women. Jim crow laws are one of the examples he gave in the article that still enslave us. Slave conditions as if they were still present in the twentieth century. Proven facts that the civil rights movement wasn’t one hundred percent successful. While 71% of whites believe that blacks are responsible for their own misfortune, and 53% of blacks believe it also.
The white man’s happiness cannot be purchased by the black man’s misery.” Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, or better known as Frederick Douglass, was an African-American who supported the abolition of slavery in the nineteenth century. Slave-born of an unknown father, Frederick Douglass taught himself how to write and read- even though it was a crime for black people to learn- and became one of the most eloquent orator, and writer during the nineteenth century. With his great passion of wanting to demolish slavery, he gained thousands and thousands of black people, and even white people, who supported him in the abolition of slavery. His antislavery not only reached the United States, but even Great Britain. Abandoned first by his mother and then by his grandmother, then passing through very breath-taking moments, Frederick Douglass learned to be independent, proud, and a man of no emotions in order to survive.
Though they were not physically in chains any longer they were still in the figurative chains of discrimination. He preached to the crowd that they were all gathered because they had a check that needed to be cashed (I Have a Dream, 1963). He was referring to blacks being owed liberation. This meant that they had been enslaved and mistreated for so long that they deserved to be free at last, it was their constitutional right and that they need to demand this equality. Though he encouraged them to take control, he stressed that it must be done in a way that was peaceful.
He had great persuasive power, especially whilst being the editor of a black newspaper. When giving thousands of speeches, he spoke of his own great ideals for America without slavery and racism. Douglass supported the Women’s Rights movement and considered the Civil War as a moral crusade against racism and slavery. The Reconstruction was a tough time for African-Americans but despite the problems blacks faced, Frederick continued his work, traveled around the country, gave numerous lectures on the issue of racial inequality, rights of women, as well as national politics. Not only did he have the capacity to see himself free, he also had the courage to speak for the slaves.
In Frederick Douglass’s “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave,” Douglass explores his past as being a slave, telling how he overcame being enslaved and escaped to the north. Douglass was suspected to be born into slavery in 1818. He escaped to the north in 1838, prior to the breakout of the Civil War. When Douglass was free, he became a large role in the Abolition movement, and publicly spoke out against slavery. In his second autobiography, “My Bondage and My Freedom,” Douglass again discusses his life as a slave, but also his fight against slavery.
An example of this is, “we hanged our harps upon the willow in the midst thereof” (Douglass 286). This piece of text is Douglass saying that once you’ve been a slave there is no way to forget everything that he experienced because of how horrifying it was. With this quote it helps to prove his credibility because he can relate to what slaves are going through and can use his personal experiences to convince people that slavery needs to end. While Frederick Douglass experienced many atrocities during his time as a former slave many Americans were aware of what slaves experienced, so he had to use other means as well to persuade his audience to support abolitionism which would help end slavery once and for all in
Two sides were drawn between whether the “new free man” should continue to work for the white man or should pursue education. Two great men named, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B Dubois, took leadership and stated their stance on the current issues concerning the “new free man”. In the poem, “Booker T. and W.E.B” by Dudley Randall, this new era of segregation is clearly being discussed, were blacks and whites had to figure out a way to live as “equals”. Many African Americans who were previous slaves continued working for the white man while others sought education and political refugee. This new age of intertwining and viewing the previous slaves as men left the nation in a rumble drawing a clear line between what a “free man” should and should not do.
A similarity both of them have are the resistances against their slave masters by attempting to run away. One difference between the autobiography and film were the childhoods of the two main characters. While Roots and the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass have numerous similarities, the differences of their childhood of the two characters, and the outcome of their lives and how it unfolds is more important. One similarity of the book and movie is attempting to escape. Both Kunta and Douglass failed miserably during their first attempt.
As for childhood, they both grew up on different paths, but then kept creeping closer to similarity’s as they aged. While other slaves had the daily routine torture, Kunta Kinte and Frederick Douglass used their strength in similaries and differences, to help them survive. I believe a more accurate portaryal of slavery would be Roots. I belive this because in my opinion, it shows a more realistic and serious example of what slavery was really like. One reason why I believe this was because of the fight between Frederick and his master.
Douglass empathizes with other slaves, and their morbid conditions and lack of affection has made the community family, because of this Douglass is determined to devote his life to promote the abolitionist movement. When expressing gratitude towards being translated to the plantations in Baltimore, Douglas projects he is very true to himself when he recites, “I prefer to be true to myself, even at incurring the ridicule of others than to be false and incur my own abhorrence.” Pg.45 This justifies Douglas’ determination and desire to remove slavery which consumed him. It became an obsession, something he was going to put everything in his power to achieve. Through the use of diction and language he is expressing that he will never forgive himself if he doesn 't achieve his goal of promoting the abolitionist movement and setting all slaves free.By doing so Douglas emphasizes that freedom was a sacred thing for slaves. When speaking about his daily routine at Mr. Coveys, Douglass accepts, “At times I would rise up, a flash of energetic freedom would dart through my soul, accompanied with a faint beam of hope, that flickered for a moment, and then vanished.” Pg.73 Douglas uses language to emphasize what he felt towards freedom and how he felt about his life condition, which he questions on a daily basis with anger and remorse.