... his life story in a spirit of sincerity. However, the prefaces also implicitly place black narratives under the control of white editors. For this reason, in all of his subsequent autobiographies, Douglass replaced Garrison and Phillips' endorsements with introductions by prominent black scholars. So you have the title, the signature, the photograph and the preface which all function as a confirmation of the ... tradition. Though, the narrative tells such a story it tells it an unusual way for instance the majority of autobiographies start with a birth date and a description of the author...

• Word Count: 2277
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... "seldom had much to say. . . what I wanted to say was said so much better by others." (p.151). After being encouraged to speak, Douglass began reluctantly, but soon felt at ease speaking to the gathering. From that time forward, he became a leading speaker at anti-slavery meetings and wrote ... Narrative, his biography, in 1845 for use as an abolitionist tool. Douglass" stated his driving force for this work as: "Sincerely and earnestly hoping that this little book may do something toward throwing the light on ... work of fiction. It would have been common, amongst the majority of white ...

• Word Count: 2890
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: High School

... primary reason for writing his story is targeted at the slaveholders and powerful people of New England, where the abolitionist movement was strongest. Also, Douglass soon became the leading black abolitionist and one of the most famous orators of the time. His eloquent words about his treatment as a slave ... His Narrative was one of the most effective accounts written by a fugitive slave, and it became a major source of information about slavery. When Douglass published the details of his life as a slave, he was in danger of recapture under the provisions of the Fugitive Slave Laws, wh...

• Word Count: 1650
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... slaves were typically sold to another owner so they would not have to worry about the consequence that accompanies having your own child as a slave. Douglass then begins to describe the inhumane life a slave has on a rural plantation. His master, Captain Anthony, and his overseer, Mr. Plummer, were ... then recalled some horrifying memories of his personal experiences with people being beaten. There were close to four hundred slaves kept on the plantation Douglass was at. The was a large central plantation and several smaller farms which was under the control of the large plantation and i...

• Word Count: 1899
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... new gained knowledge and rebellious nature led him to resist his slave master and even attempt escape. His first escape attempt was a failure and led to a jail sentence. In 1838 Douglass tried again and successfully escaped to New York City posing as a black sailor, he explained, "A new world had opened upon me"1. Fredrick could then continue to fight for black freedom ... the passage of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendment, these amendments would ban slavery, make every person born in the United States a citizen and would forbid racial prejudice in voting. Douglass also felt that woman di...

• Word Count: 1350
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Slaves had no general knowledge of education. They were not allowed to read and write because therefore, the slave might become smarter then the masters. Douglass was given the opportunity to learn how to read and write from the wife of his previous master. Unfortunately his master found out about this and ... forbid his wife to ever do such a thing. He told her that teaching him to write and read would ruin him forever as a slave. (Douglass 47) Douglass was then determined to keep teaching himself to read and write, for it was the closest thing to freedom that he could find. Beating an...

• Word Count: 1066
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... and white was widening, and something had to be done about it. The difference between the north and south had been found according to Frederick Douglass. " "It was the superiority of educated mind over mere brute force" " (McKissack and McKissack 74). He was unhappy with the way ... given to it, and a stunning blow at the same time inflicted on northern prejudice against a colored complexion. (Mackey, Jr. 11). Frederick Douglass had constantly thought that slavery was dishonest and evil (McKissack and McKissack 74). Through his great oratory and writings, he triggered the Abolitionist Mov...

• Word Count: 1125
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... by struggling to survive, fighting for his freedom and equal rights and opportunity. Many of these issues established the American Constitution. Douglass endured many struggles. For Douglass, living was a struggle. The painful declarations of ignorance of his birth date, and even the identity of his father was ... pounds sterling" (Black Codes of Georgia, Making Connections, p73) A mistress helped him once, but after she was revealed she had to stop. Douglass gave bread to white children for lessons. He learned from the mistress's husband that the knowledge of a black man was a white man...

• Word Count: 1886
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... (or simply their "people") intimately, and thus have for them a deep affection which the ignorant Northerners simply could not begin to comprehend. Douglass explains that the impoverished lifestyle, mistreatment, and conditions of bondage were all intended as intentional mistreatment to slaves by their slave owners. The intention ... on the best plantation and would never openly portray any dissension, even if they were whipped to a bloody mess on a regular basis. Douglass also points to another unfair argument that no master with sense would expose his valuable human property to damage....

• Word Count: 1662
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... the age of sixteen when he is sent to Mr. Covey, a renowned "Negro breaker" in January of 1833. Covey is unlike any other master Douglass has had in the past. He often works in the fields with the slaves, and sneaks up on them to make sure they do not put ... to them, "You are loosed from your moorings, and are free; I am fast in my chains, and am a slave!"(38). After the encounter with the ships Douglass" mind set has once changed again, this time back to wanting to reach freedom and the realization that the ocean is his pathway there. In August of 1833, ... master,"I will give Mr. Free...

• Word Count: 705
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... difficult for a slave to express themselves in ways that helps to maintain a person's identity. In A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass works hard to regain his sense of identity as well as break the chains of slavery that have hold of his spirit and become a free man ... . The treatment he receives at the Auld's house differs greatly from that of which he received on Colonel Lloyd's plantation. Unlike Douglass" previous master, the Aulds treat Douglass very well. Douglass even goes so far as to say that without his movement to Baltimore, it is very probable that he wo...

• Word Count: 724
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... help other people who were stuck in slavery. He also used his story to reach out to the Northern people in hope of help. Both Stowe and Douglass became Anti-Slavery abolitionists. In Uncle Tom's Cabin, Stowe depicted the life of an African American man named Tom. Stowe told how the slaves were treated. ... this quote Stowe showed how she was feeling through her work. She felt that everyone she hear about this abomination. In Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, he told his story through his own perspective. He gave his entire life run down till he was free. In his story he told u...

• Word Count: 1590
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... cruelty of having no self-identity paints a clear image of just one of the ways slavery is evil. Throughout the rest of the novel Douglass illustrates his opposition to slavery by offering detailed accounts through visual descriptions of the violence that was forced upon the slaves by their masters. "The ... where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest and not until overcome by fatigue, would he cease ... (pg. 42). In his early years, Douglass followed the notion that a slave was to do what they were told or otherwise suffer the consequences. "It is better that a dozen slaves s...

• Word Count: 933
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... that incorporated individual, societal, political, economic, and religious principles. This taboo of a topic found itself well-versed throughout the country in many publications. Its authorship included Frederick Douglass and Harriet Beacher Stowe who dually challenged the legitimacy of slavery in their literature. Both have earned their place as an essential and effective component to the abolition movement though ... differing in mannerism, aim, strategy, and audience. Frederick Douglass offers a calm, concise, yet compelling account of his experience as a slave. Perhaps this is becau...

• Word Count: 2701
• Approx Pages: 11

... them from developing a unique sense of self. They do not want their slaves to differentiate themselves from their land or farm animals, as Douglass implies when he says that most slaves know how old they are no more than horses do. Likewise, their masters do not acknowledge ... started speaking at anti-slave conventions, got involved in an abolitionist newspaper, and became one of the most well known abolitionists of all time. Douglass wanted to impress the evils of slavery strongly upon the American consciousness. Therefore, he did not use the florid style popular in his day. Instead ....

• Word Count: 1047
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... belief, tutoring ended abruptly. Mates Hugh's wife carried out her husband's precepts, but she also tried to prevent Douglass from becoming educated by anyone else either. However, Douglass was able to obtain newspapers and or various books to further his education. The mistress and her husband demonstrated with ... money he had earned doing errands, he bought a copy of The Columbian Orator (The common text for schools in New England at the time). Douglass was particularly interested in a dialogue in The Columbian Orator, one pertaining to a slave being emancipated after trying to esca...

• Word Count: 921
• Approx Pages: 4

... established more in the interest of filling in the gaps in his otherwise empty family life, rather than talking about actual blood relations. Discussions of Douglass" lineage and family also bring up another interesting argument: "The opinion was also whispered that my master was my father" (pg. 48). It ... cent to bury one." (pg. 69) This powerful effect of slavery in dehumanizing both the slave and master is most apparent in Chapter VI, wherein Douglass describes his change of masters, from Colonel Lloyd to the Auld family in Baltimore. He describes how Mrs. Auld had had no previous co...

• Word Count: 1751
• Approx Pages: 7

... to Mr. Stewart who was twelve miles away and never had a chance to meet with him, so he was taken care for by his grandmother, Betsey Baily.1 Douglass's master was not exactly the symbol of kindness, "The slave children of Aaron Anthony's were fed cornmeal mush that was placed in a trough, to which they were ... utensils, no beds and nearly any clothing at all, the slaves at that plantation were also whipped if they performed their tasks too slow.2 When Douglass was around eight years old, he went to live with Hugh Auld, who was the son in law of Aaron Anthony. This was a nice change of...

• Word Count: 724
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... and the south. Abolitionists in the north used religion as a basis for condemning slavery. In the south, however, religion was used as a tool to sanction slavery. In the narrative, Frederick Douglass evinces how religion was used as a sanction to beat slaves and, in the "Appendix," describes his feelings of true Christianity while labeling the slaveholding religion as fraud. Throughout the narrative ... religion would restrain his master's cruelty and maybe enlighten him to the point of emancipation. Contrarily, religion intensified the malicious acts of slaveholders. When Master Auld at...

• Word Count: 811
• Approx Pages: 3

... knowledge of a captive's true age. A birthday is something with which people can identify, as they are a celebrated part of our culture, especially to youth. Douglass here identifies himself as a human being lacking what we may consider a normal childhood simply through the use of dates. We identify ourselves by the dates, which ... infant and thereafter only met a total of four or five times. The consequences of not knowing who you really are may not have fazed Douglass much during his childhood. However as he grew older and began to understand how the politics of slavery work, there i...

• Word Count: 884
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... preventing the knowledge of a captive's real age. A birthday is something with which to identify you, especially in youth. By lacking the knowledge of dates and time, Douglass seems to lack a sense of being. Eventually, he is provided a window of opportunity to not only learn dates and a sense of time, but also gain ... enslave the black man. It was a grand achievement and I prized it highly. From that moment I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom."" (Douglass 364). Douglass was learning and he didn't want to give it up. It is easy to see how much he valued knowledge by his ir...

• Word Count: 713
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... He never knew of his real father, but he states that people "whispered that my [his] master was my [his] father" (1). While enslaved, Douglass also was an audience to many brutal beatings on his masters" plantations. His "first master's name was Anthony", under him being an overseer named Mr. Plummer ... worked. She soon learned of, however, this loose affiliation and discontinued her kind treatment. One of the most important events in the life of Frederick Douglass happened upon the Auld plantation. Before Sophia Auld learned to disconnect from her slave, she first began to teach him ho...

• Word Count: 872
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... write. In the 1800's it was very unlikely you would find a slave who was able to tell you his birthday let alone read and write. Douglass took advantage of this opportunity which was a very great decision. All slave masters felt like it was best that their slaves didn't know much of anything ... today's time many teens especially African American teens don't understand how fortunate they are to be able to receive an education let alone a higher education. Fredrick Douglass used education as a stepping stone to achieve what he wanted most out of life and I feel as if that is how teens toda...

• Word Count: 1011
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... ability to understand the harshness of the world on a whole new level. Having gotten his hands on a book called, "The Columbian Orator, " Douglass was able to read denunciations of slavery and learn about human rights. He was also able to learn much more about slavery and his slave masters ... . Douglass said, "The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers"" (51). Douglass viewed them as band of robbers, who had gone off to Africa and stolen him and his fellow ... their homes. He came to understand that his slaveholders were more wicked than he could have ever imag...

• Word Count: 654
• Approx Pages: 3

... narrative. To hear of the horrible ties that comes with slavery. The most important issue, I feel, is not knowing details about ones own life. Douglass explained in his narrative that he was withheld many details of his life. Throughout his entire write up, he could never tell exactly how old he was ... the less trouble. It's bad enough to have certain personal privileges taken away, but to also treat a human being like an animal is barbaric. Douglass wrote of certain details about this. First of all, most of the time he was hungry. The slaves barely had anything to eat. Starvation star...

• Word Count: 1610
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School