When I mention the names Sarah Grimke and Frederick Douglass what comes to mind? Abolitionists? Equal rights activists? Of course, these two individuals are making great strives to fight for what they believe in. The sad thing about it is that we don’t have enough people with the likes of these two. England abolished slavery in 1834 so how long will we go on with this inhumane cruelty toward people. Our country is in a state of denial and if we don’t wake up soon, we will all pay the price. I’m going to discuss a little bit about these two abolitionist speakers, than compare and contrast their roles of rhetoric, morality, ideas, and backgrounds.
They are Sarah Grimke and Frederick Douglass. Sarah was born in 1792 and Frederick was born in 1818. These two individuals are very devoted to abolishing slavery and finding true equal rights but ironically, other than their gender and race difference, they both come from unique backgrounds. Sarah was white and born into a large wealthy family. Her father owned a plantation with slaves and Sarah grew to hate the abuse that the slaves had to endure. She was deeply religious and felt that slavery was against her moral beliefs. She speaks a lot from the bible and believes that men and women were created equal. After the death of her father she moved out of South Carolina and moved up North to pursue a role as an abolitionist and women’s rights activist.
Now on the other had Frederick was born into slavery. He was living in Maryland, born to a white man unknown to him and his mother was also a slave. Frederick pursued how to read and write while being a slave but found that it was an uphill battle, because no slaves were permitted to be educated. Frederick persevered and learned to read and write but prior to his escape up North his moral was very low because being educated as a slave he states, “It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy. It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out”(Narrative of the Life of F.D. Pg 1073 col.2). Can you imagine this; a slave that can now read and write all of a sudden wishes the opposite? It’s tough to stomach the grief that he must have felt during that time.
Literacy plays an important part in helping Douglass achieve his freedom. Learning to read and write enlightened his mind to the injustice of slavery; it kindled in his heart longings for liberty. Douglass’s skills proved instrumental in his attempts to escape and afterwards in his mission as a spokesman against slavery. Douglass was motivated to learn how to read by hearing his master condemn the education of slaves. Mr. Auld declared that education would “spoil” him and “forever unfit him to be a slave” (2054).
Sarah Grimke and Angelina Grimke, more commonly known as the Grimke Sisters, were among the first women to become active public speakers in the abolitionist movement in the United States in the 1800s. Having lived in a time when women were inferior, and discouraged from getting involved in political affairs, it was not difficult for them to become noticed by speaking out to the public, and writing on their beliefs that supported the movement to abolish slavery. In turn, this also began a new movement for women's rights to establish the right to effectively voice their opinions to the public. The two sisters shared the same views on these issues, and lived and worked together for much of their lives (Whipps).
Overall, Angelina and Sarah Grimké’s contribution to the Abolition and women’s rights movements were pivotal to our country’s toleration today. Although coming from a family where they would never have to encounter any issues due to their social status ; Angelina and Sarah devoted their lives to people that were less fortunate than they were. They also, paved the way for women to be equal to men, to have a voice, and to be heard. The sisters risked their lives and reputations through their dedication and courage to promote what they believed what right and to ensure a future where all people were treated fairly.
Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, and Olaudah Equiano all have extremely interesting slave narratives. During their lives, they faced plenty of racist discrimination and troubling moments. They were all forced into slavery at an awfully young age and they all had to fight for their freedom. In 1797, Truth was born into slavery in New York with the name of Isabella Van Wagener. She was a slave for most of her life and eventually got emancipated. Truth was an immense women’s suffrage activist. She went on to preach about her religious life, become apart of the abolitionist movement, and give public speeches. Truth wrote a well-known personal experience called An Account of an Experience with Discrimination, and she gave a few famous speech called Ain’t I a Woman? and Speech at New York City Convention. In 1818, Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born into slavery in Tuckahoe, Maryland. When he was older, he made an escape plan by disguising himself as a sailor and going on a train to New York. When he became a free man, he changed his name to Frederick Douglass and married Anna Murray. He went on to give many speeches and he became apart of the Anti-Slavery Society. Douglass wrote his story From My Bondage and My Freedom and became a publisher for a newspaper. In 1745, Olaudah Equiano was born in Essaka, Nigeria. Equiano and his sister were both kidnapped and put on the middle passage from Africa to Barbados and then finally to Virginia. He eventually saved enough money to buy his freedom and got married to Susanna Cullen. Equiano wrote his story down and named it From the Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. He spent the rest of his life promoting the abolition movement. Throughout the personal slave narra...
James Oakes’ The Radical and the Republican narrated the relationship between two of America’s greatest leaders: Frederick Douglass, the “radical” abolitionist, and Abraham Lincoln, the “Republican” politician. He did an astonishing job of demonstrating the commonalities between the views of Douglass and Lincoln, but also their differences on their stance of anti-slavery politics and abolitionism. Despite being on the same side of the argument of slavery, Douglass and Lincoln went about their opinions separately. Lincoln held a more patient and orthodox stance on anti-slavery, while Douglass was proven to be obstinate and direct with
Women's rights have always been a thing for my generation. I wonder what it was like before that happened. The same goes for racism and slavery. in this essay I will describe two very important people in history. They helped the world come into realization that women and african americans are people and should be treated like one.
After reading Frederick Douglass’s narrative of slavery, I couldn’t help but stop and try to gather my thoughts in any way possible. It was not the first time I had read the narrative, but this time around Douglass’s words hit me much harder. Perhaps, it was that I read the narrative in a more critical lens, or possibly it was just that I am older and more mature now from the last time I read it, but whatever the reason, I can confidently say reading the narrative has changed my heart and opened my eyes in many ways. I have always been aware of the injustices that slavery encompassed and of course like many other people, I have been taught about slavery in a historical narrative my entire life. But, Frederick Douglass’s narrative does more than just provide a historical perspective in seeing the injustices in slavery. His narrative asks the reader to look directly into the eyes of actual slaves and realize their very heart beat and existence as humans. Douglass humanizes the people of whom the terrible acts we acted upon that we learn about as early as elementary school. It is because of this that I decided to write this poem. Reading the narrative made me really think about Douglass’s journey and the story he tells on his road to freedom. I felt as if he was really speaking to me and, and in turn I wanted to give Douglass a voice in my own writing.
The debate raging in the years 1836-1837 over women's proper duties and roles in regards to abolitionism was publicly shaped primarily by two opposing forces: on the one hand, sisters Angelina and Sarah Grimke, abolitionists and champions of women's rights; and on the other, Catharine Beecher, who opposed suffrage and women's involvement in abolitionism and argued in favor of woman's place in the home. After the printing of Angelina Grimké's pamphlet Appeal to the Christian Women of the Southern States (1836), Grimké and Catharine Beecher engaged in a written debate over woman's public role in regards to the slavery issue. Beecher responded to Grimké's assertions that Southern women should actively protest the system of slavery in her Essay on Slavery and Abolitionism (1837), in which she claimed that women, true to their naturally subordinate natures, were not fit to interfere in such matters. In light of these facts, it is surprising to note that Harriet Beecher Stowe was Catherine Beecher's sister. How could the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin be related to the same woman who wrote Essay on Slavery and Abolitionism-- an anti-abolitionist document which pleaded with women to keep their thoughts on slavery to themselves? In Uncle Tom's Cabin, Stowe not only frames both sides of the debate, but also actively incorporates it into her female characters and into her narrative voice, fictitiously dramatizing the issues with which Grimké and Beecher were concerned fifteen years earlier.
The Abolitionist Movement transformed the role of women in American History. Prior to the abolitionist movement, women were viewed as invisible icons in society. A typical woman would only be responsible for motherhood duties, cleaning, and preparing food. While many women agreed with this, others did not. The desire to be heard and treated equally was something numerous women shared. Astonishing women like, Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Grimke sisters became prominent leaders in the abolitionist movement and made a pathway in history by initiating speeches, participating in female politics and supporting their personal opinions of women’s rights through religious doctrines.
In order for Douglass to reach his goal of becoming a free man he thought the only way out was education. He needed to learn how to read, write, and think for himself about what slavery was. Since literacy and education were so powerful to Frederick he persevered to get himself the education he wanted. …. Douglass knew it wouldn’t be easy, but that didn’t stop him. Douglass realized the “ conscious of the difficulty of learning without a teacher, I set out with a high hope, and
Despite each individual having different circumstances in which they experienced regarding the institution of slavery, both were inspired to take part in the abolitionist movement due to the injustices they witnessed. The result is two very compelling and diverse works that attack the institution of slavery and argue against the reasons the pro-slavery individuals use to justify the slavery
Angelina Grimke and Sojourner Truth were both prominent American civil rights activists of the 19th century who focused on the abolition of slavery and women’s rights issues, respectively. While both of these women challenged the societal beliefs of the United States at the time regarding these civil rights issues, the rhetorical strategies used by each of these women to not only illustrate their respective arguments but also to raise social awareness of these issues was approached in very different fashions. Angelina Grimke promoted the use of white middle-class women’s positions in the household to try to influence the decision makers, or men, around them. On the other hand, Sojourner Truth, a former slave turned women’s rights activist,
In the essay “Learning to Read and Write,” Frederick Douglass illustrates how he successfully overcome the tremendous difficulties to become literate. He also explains the injustice between slavers and slaveholders. Douglass believes that education is the key to freedom for slavers. Similarly, many of us regard education as the path to achieve a career from a job.
As a relatively young man, Frederick Douglass discovers, in his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, that learning to read and write can be his path to freedom. Upon discovering that...
The 19th century was a time of great social change in the United States as reflected by the abolitionist movement and the women’s suffrage movement. Two very influential women leaders were Angelina Grimke and Sojourner Truth. Grimke was born a Southern, upper class white woman. She moved to the North as a young woman, grew involved in abolitionism and women’s rights, and became known for her writing, particularly “Letters to Catherine Beecher”. Sojourner Truth was born into slavery as Isabella Baumfree; she escaped to freedom, changed her name, and became an active speaker on behalf of both the abolition and women’s rights movements. Truth’s most famous speech is “Ain’t I a Woman?”. While both Grimke and Truth use a personal, conversational tone to communicate their ideas, Grimke relies primarily on logical arguments and Truth makes a more emotional appeal through the use of literary strategies and speech.