All in all he was the best black speaker and writer ever. Douglass was born a slave in 1817, in Maryland. He educated himself and became determined to escape the horror of slavery. He attempted to escape slavery once, but failed. He later made a successful escape in 1838.
Many of the northerners also discovered it hard to believe that such a great speaker had been a slave. Douglas wrote numerous autobiographies, powerfully telling his experiences in slavery in his 1845 autobiography, narrative of the life of Fredrick Douglass, an American Slave, which turns out to be significant in its support for abolition. Douglass wrote two more autobiographies, his last autobiographies, life and times of Frederick Douglass, which was published in 1881 covers the events through and after the Civil War. After Civil War, Douglass stayed active in the United States’ fight to reach its potential as a “land of the free”. Douglass also actively reinforced women’s suffrage.
Two slave narratives that are noticed today are “ The Narrative Of Frederick Douglass” written by Douglass himself, and “ The Incidents in the life of a Slave Girl” written by Harriet Jacobs. Both of these works contain the authors own personal accounts of slavery and how they were successfully able to escape. Although their stories end with both Douglass and Jacobs being freed, they share a similar narrative of the horrifying experience of a slave. Frederick Douglass’s narrative unveils a large number of ways in which African Americans suffered under the oppression of slavery. For instance, many slaves including Douglass himself, did not know their own birthdays or much of their own family history.
The American Renaissance, distinguished as an intellectual and artistic period, now includes, among others, Douglass and Jacobs brutal historical accounts. Douglass and Jacobs' narrative presence represents the voice slaves who desire freedom from bondage. In Trudy Mercer's "Representative Woman: Harriet Jacobs and the Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl," she suggests both narratives work as propaganda: The slave narratives of pre-Civil War America may exemplify the earliest and most dramatic uses of the "personal as political," and the sharing of experiences ... ... middle of paper ... ... the Autobiographies of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs." Melus. 22.4 (Winter 1997): 91-108.
It is the most accurate and detailed document available on the revolt. Frederick Douglass, on the other hand, after gaining his freedom, published literary works that include his own narrative of his life and some short stories. One of his short stories is a fictional account of a slave revolt called The Heroic Slave. Although it is based on a real life slave revolt, Douglass' work is mostly literary creativity glorifying a strong black leader. By examining the non-fiction document on Turner's revolt and the fiction story written by Douglass, along with various aspects of the authors backgrounds, conditions under slavery, and education, this page compares and contrasts the fiction versus non-fiction characteristics of slave revolts.
People were starting to question whether he was a slave or not, which motivated him to publish his first autobiography. His narrative was one of the most effective accounts written by a fugitive slave, and it became a major source of information about slavery and a classic of American literature.
Biographies of William Ellison, the first African American slave owner, will be scrutinized to see the social implications of a slave master owning slaves of the same ethnicity. Personal Journals written about the Thomas Jefferson and Sally Heming's case will be analyzed to see the government scandal placed on Jefferson’s slave relations. These social issues helped play out the course of slavery in the United States of America. B. Summary of Evidence (530 Words) The east side of the United States contained the highest percentage of slaves in the country.
Along with Richard Wright’s Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youth (1945), his autobiography is one of the most moving in American literature. Works Cited David W. Blight, Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass : An American Slave, Written by Himself (The Bedford Series in History and Culture) Bedford/St. Martin's; 2nd edition 2002
Living in the Southern United States during eighteenth century was a difficult time for African-Americans. Majority of them were slaves who received manipulation, sexual abuse and brutally whips to the spin. They were treated this way in order to stop them from gaining hope, knowledge and understanding of the world. Some African Americans managed to obtain these qualities from books and use them to escape from slavery. Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist who wrote an autobiography, from which the excerpt "Learning to Read and Write" explains how he developed literacy.
Published by the Anti Slavery Committee, it was definitely biased against the slave holder but Douglass seemed to write fairly of his experiences especially since he was able to relate both good and bad experiences with his slave owners. Douglass’ words sum it up the best, "You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man." (107) Work Cited Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2003.