Why Did Frederick Douglass Gain His Freedom

He uses his words to fight for the freedom and rights of African American, which make him affected writer with credibility that he has live in the period of the Old South and the New South. I think this give him the ability to be affected writer to discuss this issue and make a huge change in the society. Frederick Douglass used his writing skills to show his desire to free African American Slaves. Even after he escape to the North and was a free man, he completes his desire and write about the injustice situation that he expert to let all the people know about it and end the slavery. Another good author to mention is Flannery O’Connor in Everything That Rises Must Converge.

Frederick Douglass was one of the most important and famous African Americans in America. He had an great impact on society, politics, and the life of blacks. Frederick Douglass was a prominent abolitionist, writer, reformer and orator. He was born into slavery, but escaped and against great odds became the voice for many people. He was an advocate for human rights and the anti-slavery movement.

In their fight against the inhumanity of slavery, the most significant device the abolitionists used were Anti- slavery writings. Through the use of newspapers, pamphlets, poetry, and published sermons, they were able to spread their messages of freedom for all. Examples of famous abolitionist text include, David Walker's Appeal, Frederick Douglass' The North Star and The Liberator, by William Lloyd Garrison. Then you have the slave narratives, which were deemed as personal accounts of what it was like to live in slavery. These slave narratives gave the most powerful accounts that contradicted the flattery statements and claims given by slave owners in concern to slavery.

Frederick Douglass’ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself and Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl discusses how slavery dehumanizes and breaks down an individual to no worth. Douglass’ and Jacobs’ accounts are similar because they lecture against slavery with the work and obstacles they went through. Jacobs says, “For years, my master had done his utmost to pollute my mind with foul images, and to destroy the pure principles inculcated by my grandmother, and the good mistress of my childhood. The influences of slavery had the same effect on me that they had on other young girls; they had made me prematurely knowing, concerning the evil ways of the world.” (827) Jacobs explains that slavery has attempted to take a toll on her life with its physical, emotional, and mental abuse.

Defenders of slavery argued that slavery was not bad for slaves, but Douglass argues that it is terrible. One way it is terrible for a slave is that they're taken from their parents. Douglass is not sure who his father is but he guesses it is the master. he is separated from his mother and he only saw her at night. Douglass says that his master tries to “blunt and destroy the natural affection of the mother for the child” (1.3).

If a person does not know a brighter happier place exists they will not want to go there. Likewise, if a slave only knows the life his master affords him, he does not know there are place

It wasn 't that the slaves just didn’t want to tell them because they 'll ask for more, if they told them then they would learn. If a slave knew about the world and their differences, then it would make them think critically of everything. They would start to realize how they could make changes or they could plan out an escaped to get out of slavery and into freedom. If a master found out a slave knew how to learn or write, the slave would be severely punished. As mentioned in the book, it says how Mrs. Auld was teaching him when a master walked in and said no.

She goes to him and pleads that she is not black, even comparing her hand color to his. Her attempts to persuade Armand are useless, and he continues to believe she is black and that his heritage is permanently damaged. Chopin writes that “Moreover he no longer loved her, because of the unconscious injury she had brought upon his home and his name (Chopin 3).” He swiftly dismisses Désirée and his son from the plantation due to the “damage” she has brought upon him. Soon afterwards, in an ironic turn of events, Chopin writes that Armand discovers a letter from his mother to his father while burning Désirée’s possessions.

Dred Scott’s emancipation could have been a step in the North’s favor, however, his freedom was hatefully denied by Southern scheme of

This would allow the slave(s) to escape prior to the punishment. Josiah Henson considered running away as “stealing himself” because he felt as if he belonged to his master and was his property so when he ran away, he felt as if he was taking away his master’s property which would be his enslavement. The lyrics, “Got one mind for the boss to see; Got another mind for what I know is me”, displays the slaves’ ability to be dual.

Often times, the individuals who would be helping the slaves would often hear about the horrors of slavery, but they could not feel or visualize the suffering of slaves. The Underground Railroad was that tool that spread a change of perceptions because even the most stubborn of individuals, when they witnessed the conditions of the slaves, and they heard the stories the slaves told when slaves became free, that challenged the dominant ideologies of slavery being good. When thousands of slaves permeated the borders of the northern states, naturally even those who wanted to reject African Americans had to confront and live with the fact that African Americans are not slaves. This generated support for abolition because African Americans were quite competent when they did not have to the basic servile duties for their slave masters. Talented black men like Benjamin Banneker and Phillis Wheatley, a mathematician and a famous poet, proved that free black men could contribute to society (Divine et al 138).

The autobiography became widely read due to it being realistic in terms that Douglass was once a slave and was now free. He wrote about his overall experience as a slave whom was taken away from his mother at an early age, only to be taken to work at a plantation. His written experiences essentially created awareness among the people who had read his autobiography. “In his preface, William Lloyd Garrison pledges that Douglass’s Narrative is ‘essentially true in all its statements; that nothing has been set down in malice, nothing exaggerated’” (Horn).

Robert Smalls is one of those African Americans who tried everything they can just to get freedom during the Civil War. He, however, is still unknown to this day. Smalls was born in 1839 in Beaufort, South Carolina. His mother, Lydia, was a slave while his father, John McKee, was a slave owner. Because of this advantage, Smalls was different from other slaves.

On the other hand, the main point was that slaves planting and picking cotton would heavily boost the economy. There were plenty of other reasons justifying why slavery should be legal, but these were some main points. African-American people during pre-civil war times had a harsh life. Many black people during this time just mainly worked all of their lives non-stop. Thinking back, if slavery still existed now with all of this technology it would be even more wrong than it was before.

In the ‘Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, Frederick Douglass was a slave that was determined to become free from slavery. And eventually he did accomplish that goal, while ultimately becoming an abolitionist archivist and set off to abolish slavery at the end. Douglass wanted nothing more to be free, but something else was equally important was: literacy. As a slave this fundamental tool was against the rules, unlawful and unsafe.