...Frederick Douglass was a slave in America until the age of 20. He wrote three of the most highly regarded autobiographies of the 19th century, while he only began learning to read and write when he turned 12 years old. After an early life of hardship and pain, Douglass escaped to the North to write three autobiographies, which spaced along decades. He wrote about his life as a slave and a freeman. The institution of slavery scarred him so intensely that he decided to devote his powers of speech and prose to fighting it. Douglass wrote three biographies about his life as a politician, slave, and abolitionist. However, the historical value of these works does not remain as important as the quality of the works themselves. Frederick Douglass’ writing deserves recognition in the canon of great American authors, because his work meets the chosen criteria for inclusion in a collection of important literature. Douglass influenced many famous abolitionists with his literary works, and this impact, coupled with his desire to write an expose about oppression in America, makes him a winning candidate. Although his published works, mostly autobiographies, received much acclaim from abolitionists, this paper explores the quality of Douglass’s work from a literary standpoint. To fully appreciate the impact of Douglass’s autobiographies, we must examine violent period in which he lived. Douglass, born in 1818, grew up as a slave on Colonel Lloyd’s plantation in eastern Maryland. At the time...
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...Jared Page Mrs. Justeson English 3A 28 January, 2017 Slavery Literature Reflects Slave Life Slavery literature reflects the life of freed or escaped slaves. Slavery literature shows what it was like to be a slave. Some slaves when they were freed or when they escaped wrote about their life and what their life was like as a slave. Two great writers that wrote about their life as a slave after they escaped slavery were Harriet Ann Jacobs and Frederick Douglass (biography.com, 2014). Harriet Ann Jacobs wrote an autobiographical novel called,“Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” (biography.com, 2014). Frederick Douglass wrote an autobiography called,“Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” (biography.com, 2016). Harriet...
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...Fredrick Douglass final essay Subpoint 4: The Christianity of the slaveholders is hypocritical and used to justify their actions. There are two forms of Christianity represented in The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and each are described and function differently throughout the text. Based on Douglass’ personal recollections and thoughts in The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, there are both real and false versions of religion and generally, the real or “true” form of Christianity is practiced by himself as well as some whites who are opposed to slavery. The false form of religion, or what the author explained in one of the important quotes in The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, “the hypocritical Christianity of this land” (95) is practiced by whites, most notably Mr. Covey, and is a complete bastardization of the true ideals behind genuine Christian thought. Through his discussions of religion that are interspersed throughout The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the reader gets the sense that slavery and true Christianity are opposing forces and one cannot be present while the other exists. Not only is the simultaneous existence of the true version Christianity with slavery impossible, it appears that even if real Christianity does exist in a pure form, the introduction of slavery corrupts it inevitably and...
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...Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in 1818 of February in Talbot, Maryland. He was named Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey but changed it when he became a free man. He started to call himself Douglass to throw off slave hunters. He tried to escape slavery twice before he actually got away. On his successful escape he had help from a women name Anna Murray she would later become his wife. Douglass escaped slavery at the age of twenty. He is one of the most productive abolitionist speakers and he strongly affected American social policies by writing biographies of his life as a slave also by helping women’s rights, and convincing colored people to become soldiers in the Union Army. Frederick learned how to read and write at a high level...
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...Although Frederick Douglass wrote several autobiographies during his lifetime, none continues to have the lasting literary impact of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. From its publication in 1845 to its present status in the American literary canon, the Narrative has become one of the most highly acclaimed American autobiographies ever written. Published seven years after Douglass' escape from his life as a slave in Maryland, the Narrative put into print circulation a critique of slavery that Douglass had been lecturing on around the country for many years. Yet while the Narrative describes in vivid detail his experiences of being a slave, it also reveals his psychological insights into the slave/master relationship. What Douglass realizes that day is that literacy is equated with not only individual consciousness but also freedom. From that day, Douglass makes it his goal to learn as much as he can, eventually learning how to write, a skill that would provide him with his passport to freedom. What gives the book its complexity is Douglass' ability to incorporate a number of sophisticated literary devices...
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...Douglass was born in 1818 in Holmes Hill Farm in Maryland. His mother, Harriet Bailey, was a slave and his father, Aaron Anthony, was a white man who eventually became his master. He started living with his grandmother at a young age after being separated from his mother. Soon after, he was separated from his grandmother to work in a plantation. At the Wye House plantation, Douglass attended task under Aaron Anthony. Soon after, Douglass was relocated to Baltimore to work under Hugh Auld. During this time, Sophia Auld, Hugh's wife, began teaching Douglass how to read. Even though Hugh Auld put an end to Douglass's lessons, Douglass continued learning by himself, cultivated interest in human rights and religion. Finally, in 1838, after years...
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...Twelve score years and two years ago, America was founded upon the idea that “all men are created equal.” Throughout history, some people have been denied their equal rights. Lincoln’s famous speech,”Gettysburg Address” and Frederick Douglass’ autobiography, The Life of Frederick Douglass both show insight on the civil war. Douglass wrote his book before the Civil War began and Lincoln wrote his speech during the Civil War. Douglass showed what it was like to live as a child kept in slavery. Lincoln gave his speech about the struggle over ending slavery and having equality. The Civil War changed Americans’ ideas about freedom because it ended slavery and changed the way people thought about equality. Life before the Civil War seemed to have...
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...the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is one of them. This book is important because its publication made people realize slavery was bad for everyone, not just the slaves. To add on, in each important piece of literature, the author has reasons to write the book. Frederick Douglass has three reasons to write this narrative and these are the reasons made his book a great book. The first reason is to bring to life a slave’s experiences as a slave. In his narrative, he says, “A want of information concerning my own was a source of unhappiness to me even during childhood. The white children could tell their ages. I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same privilege” (1). Frederick didn’t even know his own age which is a basic right everyone has now. Slaves were deprived of their basic rights because of slavery. Douglass’s experience...
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...Use Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave to examine identity. From its first page, The ‘Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas’ is set up as an exploration of Identity; The main purpose of the novel being to establish the truth of Frederick Douglass’s public identity and ‘set [himself] right before the public in the United States’ (Blassingame, 1979, p. 251). In fact, the text was described by Albert Stone as the “first native American autobiography to create a black identity in a style and form adequate to the pressures of historical black experience” (Stone, 1973, p. 213). As Kimberly Drake explains, “Slaves' (or more accurately, ex-slaves') autobiographies record the process in which the ex-slave writes his or her self into an existence recognized by dominant American society. The author portrays the way he or she overcomes the slaveholding society's continuing attempts to eradicate his or her identity; simultaneously, s/he rewrites that identity to fit the dominant culture's norms, despite the fact that these norms tend to conflict with his/her own experiences during and after slavery. These autobiographies thus provide dramatic models of the textual construction and development of "American" identity”. (Drake, 1997) In essence, Drake argues that Douglass has used his ‘Narrative’ to chronicle the death and consequent rebirth of his identity. The novel uses language, pacing and symbolism to establish Douglass’s sense of...
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...Billy Graham once stated, “The greatest legacy one can pass on to one's children and grandchildren is not money or other material things accumulated in one's life, but rather a legacy of character and faith.” Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington are very good examples of this principle. They both lived to further their race’s plight. These two black pioneers lived through drastically different situations. Douglas, who was an ex-slave, lived when slavery was legal and very prominent. Washington, who was emancipated at the age of 7, lived his life in the age after the abolition of slavery. Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington both lived in the 1800’s and both of these men were renowned writers and teachers. Yet, they both were...
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...A Quest for Being: Analysing the obstacles Frederick Douglass had to overcome to establish an autonomously emancipated and intelligible African American identity in his autobiographical writing Table of Contents 1. Douglass' Conflict - "Double Consciousness" 2. Factual Inconsistencies in the Crafting Process of African American Identity 2.1. Douglass' Silences on the World beyond the US 2.2. Contradictions in Douglass' Autobiographies 3. The Challenge of Establishing Douglass' Intended African American Identity 3.1. The Contented Slave 3.2. Slave Laws and Types of Mankind 3.3. Heteronomous Submission vs. Autonomous Emancipation 4. An Intelligible Paragon of African American Identity Written Outline Frederick Douglass, though encountering various obstacles, "went from being not even considered fully human according to US law to representing the US government" (Nwankwo 146) in Haiti as consul. His autobiographical writing is considered to be a paramount example of the southern slave's "quest for being" (Baker 34), however, in regard to W.E.B. Du Bois' conception of "double consciousness", Douglass, in his autobiographies, is virtually silent on the Black world beyond the United States to be able to emancipate African Americans, which he characterized as "a nation, in the midst of a nation which disowns them" (Dixon 251), on US soil. To gain a better understanding of Douglass arguments about Black identity in the United States, these silences on the...
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...Essay 1 Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs are two authors with very similar backgrounds. Both Douglass and Jacobs illustrate the tension involving being African American in a time where slaves did not have any rights, and when they were treated like property instead of a humans. Each of the slaves had different experiences with slavery, but one thing in common: share their accounts through autobiography on how slavery greatly changed their lives. The experiences, memories and treatment in any situation are viewed upon differently between a man and a woman. Obvious in the case of slavery, the two sexes were treated differently and so therefore their recollections of such events were-different Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs and the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass, were both written during the same time period. Both authors go into many aspects regarding the cruelty of slavery, but they still had their differences. During each of the author’s childhood they explain how it was for them. When Harriet was growing up in her, she was shielded from slavery. Her Father was accomplished carpenter, whose wish was to someday buy his children. “I was so fondly shielded that I never dreamed I was a piece of merchandise…” On the other hand Fredrick childhood was the opposite. Fredrick was born to a slave mother and an undisclosed white man. He did not know his age growing up he had to make educational guesses. ”I have no...
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...free will? The autobiographies of both Frederick Douglass and Benjamin Franklin provide us with great testimonies for the idea of the American Dream. The essence of the American Dream is one in which an individual can achieve prosperity through hard work and determination. Uncommon circa 18th century America, Franklin acted as the pioneer for the American Dream, one in which you take control of your own destiny. On the other hand, the testimony of Frederick Douglass provided us with a different approach. As a slave, Douglass was able to achieve freedom, a feat that seemed impossible to a slave circa 19th century America. Douglass was one of the very few that was eventually able to escape the vast horrors and cruelties of the south, others were not as fortunate. This leads us to believe that destiny played a great role in the adversity that Douglass was able...
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...write from posters on cellar doors, white boys and men would help him. He would then preach and speak and soon become well known. He became United States Elector, United States Marshall, United States Recorder, United States Diplomat and accumulated some wealth. He wore broadcloth and didn't have to divide crumbs with the dogs under the table. That boy was Frederick Douglass." (Taken from a speach by Frederick Douglass promoting his autobiography.) Unlike most of us, Frederick Douglass, who was born in rural Tuckahoe, sometime in February of 1818, did not have a wonderful childhood. Douglass' mother was a slave and his father was thought to have been his mother's owner. After a few weeks with his mother in the cabin pictured above, Frederick was sent to live with his grandmother whom he affectionately called Grandmother Bailey. Grandmother Bailey raised children until they were old enough to work on Captain Aaron Anthony's plantation. At the age of six, Frederick was deemed old enough to work on the plantation. He was not strong enough to carry a hoe or do any picking yet, so the "Old Master" as the slaves called him, made Frederick sweep the walkways, clean the barnyard, drive the cows home and keep the chickens out of the...
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...Sherae Bonner History 231 Honor Sachs November 1, 2015 Fredrick Douglass The Narrative of Fredrick Douglass focuses on the harsh reality of slavery in the southern United States and the push for the abolishment of slavery as whole. Fredrick Douglass discredits the slave owners’ account on slavery by going into great detail about his life as slave and the cruel realities that many slaves, including himself, faced on the plantations. Fredrick takes us through each of his slave masters and tells about each one in great detail and described them as good or bad. This book has a significant amount of historical importance because Fredrick Douglass gives his firsthand account on his life as a slave and his push for freedom. Secondly, his autobiography...
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