Response of Fredrick Douglass to Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

955 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay on frederick douglass life

Fredrick Douglass' Response to Uncle Tom's Cabin Frederick Douglass was arguably the most prominent African American abolitionist during the mid-19th century. He established his notoriety through his narrative entitled Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave published in 1845. Frederick Douglass also produced an African American newspaper, Frederick Douglass' Paper, which highlighted the reception and critiques of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. Frederick Douglass praised Uncle Tom's Cabin through not only his writing but in the critiques and letters contained in his newspaper. It is important to look at these reviews to understand Douglass' intentions. However, C.V.S. from the Provincial Freeman critiques Douglass' hypocrisy in his critique of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Douglass provided a forum in his newspaper for critical reception of book. The first critique of Uncle Tom's Cabin that appeared in Frederick Douglass' Paper was by William G. Allen in the form of a letter. Overall his letter praised the novel; however, he did respond negatively to the colonization and racialism in the text. Another regular contributor to Douglass' newspaper named William J. Wilson, signed Ethiop, wrote a review praising the novel's reception in New York City. Ethiop writes, "This species of abolitionism finds its way into quarters here, hitherto so faced over with the adamant of... ... middle of paper ... ...e Harris." Provincial Freeman. 22 Jul. 1854, unpaged. Douglass, Frederick. "Letter to Mrs. Stowe." 8 Mar. 1853. Frederick Douglass' Paper. 2 Dec. 1853, unpaged. Ethiop. "Review of Uncle Tom's Cabin." Frederick Douglass' Paper. 17 June 1852, unpaged. Harriet Beecher Stowe Center. 24 Mar. 2002 http://www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org/. Levine, Robert S. "Uncle Tom's Cabin in Frederick Douglass' Paper: An Analysis of Reception." Uncle Tom's Cabin: A Norton Critical Edition. Ed. Elizabeth Ammons. New York: Norton, 1994. 523-542. Railton, Stephen. Uncle Tom's Cabin and American Culture: A Multi-Media Archive. 24 Mar. 2002 < http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/utc/. >

Show More
Related

  • Frederick Douglass Cuts Through the Lincoln Myth to Consider the Man

    1034 Words  | 3 Pages

    DeLombard, Jeannie. “Eye-Witness to the Cruelty.” Southern Violence and Northern Testimony in Frederick Douglass’s 1845. Scholarly Journal. eLibrary. Web. 27 February 2014.

    Read More

  • Frederick Douglass' Words Caught the Attention of Many - Including Slave Owners

    867 Words  | 2 Pages

    Different types of literature have been part of America since the 1630’s and the varieties of literature still exist to this day. Frederick Douglass’s work and speeches during his lifetime caught the attention of many people in the United States, including slave owners themselves. Douglass has not only changed American literature, he has also inspired many other writers and speakers to seek freedom of expression for themselves. Even though he had a rough childhood because he was a slave, Douglass found ways to make the most of it. Fortunately it was because he had a nice and caring owner who taught him to read and write. Furthermore, because he had a warmhearted owner, he was able to express himself through his work to many different people of his time. Douglass’s works and speeches remain of great impact, and continue to influence and inspire many people in literature to this day. He influenced many people during his travels to Northern free states and overseas to England and Ireland where he explained and changed their mindset of the cruelty of slavery, which ultimately lead to the adjustment by the people to understand the reality of slavery.

    Read More

  • Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave

    1297 Words  | 3 Pages

    Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. An American Slave Written by Himself. (New Haven, Ct: Yale University Press, 2001)

    Read More

  • Frederick Douglass

    992 Words  | 2 Pages

    *Frederick Douglass, "Narrative of the Life Of Frederick Douglass," in The Classic Slave Narratives, ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (New York: Penguin Books, 1987)

    Read More

  • Ivan Denisovich and Humanity

    1278 Words  | 3 Pages

    Who could possibly be able to imagine the utter hopelessness and misery that a soviet prisoner experienced during Stalinism. Thousands of innocent men were taken from their families, homes, and lives, stripped of their dignity and banished to the harsh labor camps where they were to spend the rest of the days scraping out an existence and living day to day. This is exactly what Alexander Solzhenitsyn tries to express in his masterpiece work One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Solzhenitsyn gives the reader a glimpse into the life of every man who ever experienced this hardship and shares the small acts of thriving humanity that are sparingly, but unendingly passed through their dreary lives and offer a bit of comfort to help them get through a single hour, a day, or even just a meal time. Solzhenitsyn uses One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich to portray the endurance of humanity through out terrible hardships and shows the strength of the human spirit.

    Read More

  • The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: The Formation of Identity

    2136 Words  | 5 Pages

    The reader is first introduced to the idea of Douglass’s formation of identity outside the constraints of slavery before he or she even begins reading the narrative. By viewing the title page and reading the words “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, written by himself” the reader sees the advancement Douglass made from a dependent slave to an independent author (Stone 134). As a slave, he was forbidden a voice with which he might speak out against slavery. Furthermore, the traditional roles of slavery would have had him uneducated—unable to read and incapable of writing. However, by examining the full meaning of the title page, the reader is introduced to Douglass’s refusal to adhere to the slave role of uneducated and voiceless. Thus, even before reading the work, the reader knows that Douglass will show “how a slave was made a man” through “speaking out—the symbolic act of self-definition” (Stone 135).

    Read More

  • Deborah E. McDowell “In the First Place: Making Frederick Douglass and the Afro-American Narrative Tradition”

    556 Words  | 2 Pages

    As both the narrator and author of “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, Written by Himself” Frederick Douglass writes about his transition from a slave to a well educated and empowered colored young man. As a skilled and spirited man, he served as both an orator and writer for the abolitionist movement, which was a movement to the abolishment of slavery. At the time of his narrative’s publication, Douglass’s sole goal of his writings was to essentially prove to those in disbelief that an articulate and intelligent man, such as himself, could have,in fact, been enslaved at one point in time. While, Douglass’ narrative was and arguably still is very influential, there are some controversial aspects of of this piece, of which Deborah McDowell mentions in her criticism.

    Read More

  • The Role of Media Bias in American Society

    2455 Words  | 5 Pages

    One of the major problems in the American media today is non-objective reporting which is also known as bias. This has been a trend since the early 1980?s and is very alarming for American citizens who watch the news for truth and honest reporting. Not only has bias been a problem in the broadcast media of ABC, NBC, and CBS, but it has also been a problem in mainstream newspapers such as The New York Times, The Sun, and The Boston Globe. For years, these media outlets have built their reputations on truth and now the trend is to lean left and not tell the whole story. Evidence of this has become very prominent in war coverage and election bias. Bias in the media is a big issue and causes lots of problems throughout the public such as losing trust in a once great source for news, people going elsewhere for information, being ill-informed, and leading to a low voter turnout.

    Read More

  • The Significance Of Setting In The Novel 'One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich'

    973 Words  | 2 Pages

    The novel focuses on one man, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, as he tries to survive another day in the Soviet Union with dignity and compassion. The action takes place at a prison camp in Russia in the northeastern region called Ekibastuz. The location is pounded by snow, ice and winds of appalling and shocking force during winter and lasted for many weeks. The camp is very isolated as it consists double rows of barbed wire fencing around the entire area, making sure it is fully concealed and private, so that no prisoners can escape. The conditions of the camp are very harsh. It is a union where camp prisoners have to earn their food by working hard in their inadequate clothing during the extremely cold weather. Living conditions are almost unbearable; heavy mattresses do not include sheets, as an alternative it is stuffed with sawdust, prisoners only eat two hundred grams of bread per meal and guards would force prisoners to remove their clothing for body searches at temperatures of forty below zero. The building walls are covered in dull and monotonous white paint and it was untidy and unpleasant. “It’s constant chaos, constant crowds and constant confusion” shows that ceilings are most likely coated with frost and men at the tables are packed as tight and it was always crowded. Rats would diddle around the food store, because of the incredibly unhygienic and filthy environment the camp is and it was so insanitary that some men would die from horrible diseases. “Men trying to barge their way through with full trays” suggests that the living conditions are very harsh indeed and mealtimes would be chaotic, as every famished men would be rushing to receive food. However, not only did the place cause the prisoners to suffer and lose their...

    Read More

  • Frederick Douglass

    560 Words  | 2 Pages

    This excellent biography fluently tells the life story of Douglass; one of the 19th centuries's most famous writers and speakers on abolitionist and human rights causes. It traces his life from his birth as a slave in Maryland, through his self-education, escape to freedom, and subsequent lionization as a renowned orator in England and the United States. Fascinating, too, are accounts of the era's politics, such as the racist views held by some abolitionist leaders and the ways in which many policies made in post-Civil War times have worked to the detriment of today's civil rights movement. The chapter on Frederick Douglass and John Brown is, in itself, interesting enough to commend this powerful biography. The seldom-seen photographs, the careful chapter notes, documentation, and acknowledgements will encourage anybody to keep on learning about Frederick Douglass.

    Read More

  • Distress and Individualism: Comparing Douglass and de la Cruz

    1642 Words  | 4 Pages

    middle of paper ... ... Douglass, Frederick. A. A. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Atlanta: Kessinger Publishing, 2008. 8.

    Read More

  • Frederick Douglass: The Psychological Approaches Used to Maintain the Institution of Slavery

    1326 Words  | 3 Pages

    Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave. Professor David Hennessy, 1845.

    Read More

  • Anthropological theory of "rites of passage"

    1202 Words  | 3 Pages

    As species we are all born human, yet the journey we take on the passage of life defines us as individuals. Our lives are an array of moments of secular and spiritual change. Regardless of their importance, in both contexts, these occurrences represent a transition from one stage of life to another. People formalized these important moments of physical or social change by ritualization, or also known as ‘rite of passage’. The rites of passage play an important role in society. They are an efficient tool in restoring and maintaining balance within the social environment. At the same time, through rituals, they lead the initiate to social transformation. Rites of passage characteristically give assurance of mastery of the new roles and often include instruction in the new roles.

    Read More

  • Media Bias In Elections

    792 Words  | 2 Pages

    Media bias can affect people enough that it can steer elections in the news organizations favor. Media bias can do this because people rely on media for all their information, they can’t differentiate between real and fake news, and they limit themselves to only one source. The American population has started to see this bias in media as we saw in the 2016 election. For a year news stations such as CNN, MSNBC, and The Nightly News reported the presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, was beating candidate Donald Trump in the polls and that the vast majority of Americans would not support him as a president. Although this is not what we saw in the election results in November. The candidate that the majority of major news outlets reported the American people would not support somehow won the election and made themselves look stupid. The “facts” that they presented were suddenly proved wrong. However many other elections aside from the presidential race were steered in the media's direction. Media bias can influence elections.

    Read More

  • 100 Make Up Makeup

    735 Words  | 2 Pages

    When you buy your makeup kit, make sure to choose something that is known for

    Read More

More about Response of Fredrick Douglass to Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Open Document