Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass: A Comparative Analysis

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Recommended: Slavery in the United States as a political catalyst

Since the founding of America to the year 1865 when slavery was abolished, slaves lived and died at the hands of the ignorant. Though our nation has grown, today, history sings the same song through the cries of illegal immigrants longing for a safer and equal life the unaccepting public refuses to give them. Through the comparison of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and the stories of illegal immigrants paired with articles, connections between the situations of illegal immigrants and slaves becomes apparent. Both peoples abscond appalling situations only to be faced with discrimination in the workplace and the constant fear of having to go back to original homes. There are an estimated 11 million people living undocumented in the United States majority fleeing much as slaves were 200 years ago. According to the New York Times (a newspaper founded in 1851 with 122 Pulitzer Prizes) article Killers on a Shoestring (pgh 8) “They [gangs] maintain a menacing presence in 247 of 262 municipalities. They extort about 70 percent of businesses. They dislodge entire communities from their homes.” In addition, in reference to escape Douglass stated ‘“With us it was a doubtful liberty at most, and …show more content…

In a published letter from Wendell Phillips he states ‘“In all the broadlands which the Constitution of the United States overshadows, there is no single spot, -however narrow or desolate, -where a fugitive slave can plant himself an say, “I am safe.”’ Escaped slaves feared their masters and undocumented immigrants fear ICE coming to deport them. Luckily, there are those willing to help in situations such as the Underground Railroad and sanctuary cities. Sanctuary cities are areas that have passed Resolution 3-17, which according to the Maplewood Patch “expresses the municipality's "commitment to equal, respectful and dignified treatment of all people, regardless of their immigration

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