Slavery Is The Key For Achieving Freedom - 1672 Words

In today’s society, we take many things for granted because they come easy to us. Education, in many of our lives, is something that is dreaded, something that we do only because we have to. But 200 years ago, things were much different. Slavery unfortunately existed in our society, and slaves weren’t granted the gift of education. By not having an education, they were not able to completely understand their situation, and therefore unable to get out of it. Slaves had a limited option in achieving freedom, and in order to do so, they had to become educated, enough to be able to understand slavery, and they had to be religious to be able to see through the hypocrisy of the religious slaveholders. For slaves, education is the key to achieving freedom. It develops one’s sense of curiosity, and allows the mind to question things, and to develop it’s own ideas and opinions. For slaves, the gift of education was rare, but if one was lucky enough to have it, they began to see the true nature of slavery, and it made them more likely to try and become free. When Frederick Douglass was a young boy, he befriended a few white children who gave him a glimpse of what having an education is like. When remembering this important time in his life, he says, â€Å"With their kindly aid, at different times and different places, I finally succeeded in learning to read† (66-67). The young boys gave Douglass a book, called the Columbian Orator, the first book he had ever laid hands on. ThisShow MoreRelatedFrederick Douglass Vs. Harriet Jacobs987 Words   |  4 Pagesrock--that rock landed on us (â€Å"Malcolm X†).† Slavery began when Americans brought Africans t o Virginia in 1619 to complete any field work that plantation owners did not want to do themselves (History.com Staff). Slavery lasted in America for 246 years and even after, African Americans were still treated with disrespect from the white community. One of the many darkest and depressing events in the history of the United States was the practice of slavery. Two of the most famous slave narrative writersRead MoreBenjamin Franklin And Frederick Douglass1133 Words   |  5 Pagesloving, however he was the fifteenth child out of seventeen children. Because of this Franklin had to rely heavily on himself while growing up, which made for tough times, yet he had the more favorable life due to the fact that Douglass was sold into slavery as a child. Douglass was a slave of many masters. Some of his masters allowed Douglass to be freer, sadly the others provided horrible whippings and beatings. These two background are so different, yet both of these men are equally honored. TheirRead MoreWhat Was The Civil War?1490 Words   |  6 PagesWar was between the Union and the Confederacy. The Union represented the North, anti-slavery, and the Confederates stood for the South, pro-slavery. Conflict of slavery became a huge issue when an increased number of concerns and worries arose from the colonists. Jennifer Weber describes it best â€Å"...the ensuing outbreak of armed hostilities were the culmination of decades of growing sectional friction over slavery.† At the time of the Civil War Abraham Lincoln was serving as our president. One famousRead MoreFrederick Douglass s Writing And Writing992 Words   |  4 PagesWrite†. He illustrates how he successfully overcomes tremendous difficulties to become literate in the essay. He believes that education is the key to freedom for slaves. Similarly, non-English speaking immigrants regard education as the essential to get rid of struggles in English in the United States. First, Douglass explains that education and freedom are inseparable. When he is a young slave, his Mistress Hugh treats him like e another person and teaches him alphabet. However, Master Hugh perceivesRead More The Powerful Ideal of Freedom Essay1484 Words   |  6 PagesThe Powerful Ideal of Freedom Developed in Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Blood-Burning Moon, by Jean Toomer, and W.E.B DuBois’ The Souls of Black Folk Slavery played an overwhelming role throughout the history of the United States. The riches created by the unpaid labor of African Americans helped to guarantee the country’s industrial revolution and succeeding economic strength. Yet, that wealth created incredible political power for slaveholders and their representativesRead MoreSlavery And The Making Of America1412 Words   |  6 PagesThe film â€Å"Slavery and The Making Of America† covered the beginning of American slavery in the British colonies until the end of slavery in the southern states and post-civil war reconstruction. This film shows viewers remarkable stories of individual slaves, providing new perspectives on how unjust the slaves experiences were, and besides all the trouble they were facing still having to survive and shape their own lives. The British colonies in North America had an abundance of land and a scarcityRead MoreFrederick Douglass And Why Was Important African American History974 Word s   |  4 Pagesit could have been possible of his mother’s master of being his father. Fredrick Douglass was born into slavery and didn’t have much of a childhood and was forced to work hard and to be treated cruel. Then he moved into the Auld home a northern family where slaves weren’t treated as badly. It was then he learned the basic reading writing abilities which turned out to be his gateway to freedom. Douglass was then relocated but eventually after all the beatings at the age twenty he used the knowledgeRead MoreAnother Leader, James Birney, Was A Powerful Abolitionists1550 Words   |  7 Pages Another leader, James Birney, was a powerful abolitionists leader and â€Å"he believed that political action and the power of religion were the keys to ending slavery,† and his proposal, â€Å"proposed measures that would allow the legislature to emancipate slaves and prohibit selling slaves brought into the state,† allowed for him to be known as, â€Å"one of the nation’s most prominent abolitionists† (American Experience†). James Birney was also the Liberty Party’s presidential candidate during the 1840 toRead MoreCitizen Tom Paine And Freedom Road Essay1599 Words   |  7 PagesAbstract: This article concerns itself to the protagonists of the novels Citizen Tom Paine (1943) and Freedom Road (1944). Citizen Tom Paine by Howard Fast depicts the conditions during The American Revolutionary War and its after math (1765-83). Freedom Road depicts the conditions of the former African slaves after The Civil War (1861-65) Thomas Paine is a political philosopher and thinker who has strived for the liberation of the Americans and African slaves since the time of American RevolutionaryRead MoreAnalysis Of Frankenstein s Monster, And Fredrick Douglass1206 Words   |  5 PagesKnowledge can be the key to freedom or to one’s demise, depending on how one choses to act, but no matter what, gaining knowledge is rarely an easy task. Even for students who have information readily available to them, like Victor Frankenstein at the University of Ingolstadt, are constantly under the arduous task of learning. When learning has to be done by any means necessary or in secret, like Frankenstein’s monster or Fredrick Douglass, the acquisition of knowledge becomes even more daunting