Two men, born nearly a hundred years apart, each seeking revolutionary changes in the United States in ways suited to their society and circumstances. Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X were monumental and influential figures in American history. In the books Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and The Autobiography of Malcolm X, both Douglass and Malcolm used their extraordinary oratorical skills and charisma to object to the systematic oppression and subjugation that was imposed on African-Americans. The philosophy of Douglass and Malcolm is characterized by their views on education, Christianity, and slavery. Although Malcolm X cut his formal education short during the eighth grade, he became acquainted with learning and books again …show more content…
While reading in the prison library about the enslavement of African people, Malcolm X censured white people’s actions during the slave-trade and asserted, “Human history’s greatest crime was the traffic in black flesh when the devil white man went into Africa and murdered and kidnapped to bring to the West in chains, in slave ships, millions of black men, women, and children, who were worked and beaten and tortured as slaves. The devil white man cut these black people off from all knowledge of their own kind, and cut them off from any knowledge of their own language, religion, and past culture, until the black man in America was the earth’s only race of people who had absolutely no knowledge of his true identity” (Haley 165). Frederick Douglass, who was was alive when slavery was legal and was a slave, rebuked the greediness that white people had for committing the atrocity of subjugating black people. When Douglass and a couple of other slaves were contemplating their escape, Douglass deduced, “On the one hand, there stood slavery, a stern reality, glaring frightfully upon us,---its robes already crimsoned with the blood of millions, and even now feasting itself greedily upon our own flesh” (Douglass 107-108). Both men eventually used their knowledge to teach others about the horrible barbarity black people faced, and this brought awareness to their audiences and led them to want to change the reality that black people were suffering under white people’s oppression. However, Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass approached this problem with different solutions. Malcolm X talked about slavery in order to bring to light the way white people systematically degraded the quality of life for black people, and he told his audiences that they can only alleviate their brokenness by converting to Islam. On the contrary, Frederick Douglass’s approach was to educate abolitionists about the horrible treatment
Born into slavery and oppression in the early 1800’s, famed statesman and abolitionist Fredrick Douglass dedicated his life’s work to freeing the oppressed while fighting for “freedom and justice for all.” Born into an age when teaching slaves to learn to read and write was against the law, Douglass displayed inconceivable courage and incredible literary prowess by penning and publishing his memoir in 1845, The Narrative of the life of Fredrick Douglass: an American Slave. If Douglass purpose was to expose the cruel atrocities of slavery from the slave’s point of view, then he was successful. Through the narrative Douglass makes several important points over and over. He made major points on the hypocritical use of Christianity and how
Both 20th century examples of repugnant racism in the United States, the provocative stories of Richard Wright and Malcolm “Malcolm X” Little portray the same blatant disregard for African-Americans as less than human: Richard Wright as an African-American who grew up in the extremely racially tense Southern United States, and Malcolm X an Afro-American who grew up in the Northeastern section of the U.S., faced segregation and discrimination, and resorted to a life of crime for money and other pleasures. Both of their situations, direct effects of the prejudice-injected Jim Crow Era, changed each of them to become leaders in their own respects. Both of these men’s experiences and input on
After suffering the overwhelming ferociousness and inhumanity of being a slave for over two decades , a black man by the name of Fredrick Douglass fled from enslavement and began to make a concerted effort to advance himself as a human being. Combating many obstacles and resisting numerous temptations, Douglass worked assiduously to develop into a knowledgeable gentleman rather than the involuntary alternative of being an unenlightened slave. In doing so, Douglass successfully immerged as one of the Civil War era’s most prominent antislavery orators. From his first major public speech at the age of 23, Douglass became widely renowned as a premier spokesperson for Black slaves and the movement for the abolition of slavery. In one of Douglass’ most distinguished speeches, “The Meaning of July 4th for the Negro,” he uses the intermittent occasion of speaking on behalf of African Americans to a multitude of White Americans to outline arguments against slavery. In that very speech, Douglass made it clear that, like countless African Americans during this time period,
Fredrick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs were both were born into slavery, and as children, they didn’t know that there was life outside slavery. Harriet writes; “I was born a slave; but I never knew it till six years of happy childhood had passed away” (Jacobs 921). They both saw suffering and death. They were both traded multiple times to different masters due to unforeseen events and deaths. They both confronted their masters. Fredrick Douglass fights back and grabs his master Edward Convey by the throat. Harriet Jacobs yells at Dr. Flint and defends herself when he spoke to her in a harsh tone yelling at her to obey his orders.
In a preface of Douglass' autobiography, William Lloyd Garrison writes, "I am confident that it is essentially true in all its statements; that nothing has been set down in malice, nothing exaggerated, nothing drawn from the imagination; that it comes short of the reality, rather than overstates a single fact in regard to SLAVERY AS IT IS."(Garrison, 34). The significance of this statement validates and promises that Douglass' words are nothing but the truth. This made the narrative more marketable to the white audience and people were listening. Douglass realized that he did not need assurance from white people to be respected. That's why he addressed his master for all the wrong things done to him. Slaves are looked as not human. Douglass completes his journey from slave to man when he creates his own identity. He speaks out, fighting as an abolitionist and finally becoming an author. Douglass tells his story not simply as a search for fr...
Both Fredrick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs write narratives about their time being slaves. The narratives show dehumanization through physical and emotional abuse, along with sexual abuse supported with textual evidence. However, Jacobs states "slavery is bad for men, but is for more terrible for women", which I concur with.
From before the country’s conception to the war that divided it and the fallout that abolished it, slavery has been heavily engrained in the American society. From poor white yeoman farmers, to Northern abolitionist, to Southern gentry, and apathetic northerners slavery transformed the way people viewed both their life and liberty. To truly understand the impact that slavery has had on American society one has to look no further than those who have experienced them firsthand. Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave and advocate for the abolitionist, is on such person. Douglass was a living contradiction to American society during his time. He was an African-American man, self-taught, knowledgeable, well-spoken, and a robust writer. Douglass displayed a level of skill that few of his people at the time could acquire. With his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave Written by Himself, Douglass captivated the people of his time with his firsthand accounts into the horror and brutality that is the institution of slavery.
“Sincerely and earnestly hoping that this little book may do something toward throwing light on the American slave system, and hastening the glad day of deliverance to the millions of my brethren in bonds … relying upon the power of truth, love, and justice, for success in my … efforts and solemnly pledging myself anew to the sacred cause, I subscribe myself” (Douglass 76). With these words, Frederick Douglass (c. 1817-1895), an emancipated slave with no formal education, ends one of the greatest pieces of propaganda of the 19th century America: that slavery is good for the slave. He writes his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, as an abolitionist tool to shape his northern audience’s view of southern slaveholders. Through personal anecdotes, Douglass draws an accurate picture of slave life. Simultaneously, he chooses these events for how they will affect the northern audience’s opinion of southern slaveholders (Quarles ii). By using the written word, Douglass targets educated northern whites because they were the only group capable of changing the status quo. Illiterate northern whites and free northern blacks could not vote, while white Southerners would not vote because they did not want change. For that reason, Douglass used his life story as an instrument to promote abolition among literate northern whites (vi).
Being thrown in jail is a prime example of racial identity and Malcolm was revealed what is known to be “the true knowledge” the structure in this chapter describes the philosophy and mentality in which Malcolm transfers and as stated on page 162 he began to believe that “the devil is also a man” and he transforms his beliefs immensely. On page 165 the author uses vocabulary I 'm such a strong way for example a quote is started that “the devil white man cut these black people off from all knowledge of thief own kind, and cut them off from any knowledge of their own language, religion, and past culture, the black man in America was the earths only race of people who had absolutely no knowledge of his true identity” this expresses his beliefs in such a powerful way that the author feels his emotion and understand his new development. The main point that comes across is how blinded the people have become including
...ica. Anna Hartwell states, “Christianity occupies a central place in Malcolm’s account of white supremacy, in both its global and domestic incarnations” (Hartwell). She also states, “Against this Christian tainted legacy, Malcolm X counterpoises Islam as “the true religion of the black man”. Islamic universalism proffered for him an alternative to U.S. citizenship, which had constantly failed to live up to its promises for African Americans” (Hartwell). Malcolm X had an understandable dislike of the system of white supremacy because it is a system that thrives from people being on the bottom who have higher percentages of taxes taken out paychecks even though they make far less than everyone else. The thing about white supremacy is that it affects in a negative way poor people of all colors, but black people suffer the most for obvious reasons. This was the message
Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglas are both ideally similar but at the same time, vastly different. While their paths to freedom are not in line, they share the same views on the value of education. Likewise goals and methods are a point on which they do not agree. Neither of them lived a soft and easy life, but if you were to ask one of them, he would tell you that he lived life to the fullest and it was good.
“Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe”( Douglass). This famous quote epitomizes the philosophies of Frederick Douglass, in which he wanted everyone to be treated with dignity; if everyone was not treated with equality, no one person or property would be safe harm. His experience as a house slave, field slave and ship builder gave him the knowledge to develop into a persuasive speaker and abolitionist. In his narrative, he makes key arguments to white abolitionist and Christians on why slavery should be abolished. The key arguments that Frederick Douglass
Malcolm X and James Baldwin were two men that played a large role in defining a people and a cause during the 1950s and 1960s. Both of these men were dynamic African-Americans who lived primarily to help their people, who were terribly persecuted in the United States for many years. The interesting thing about these two men is that they strove towards the same goal—to unify African-Americans and give them strength and confidence—but they accomplished this goal in very different ways. Malcolm X, a leader in the Nation of Islam movement, believed that African-Americans needed to acquire strength and confidence so that they could separate from the White man and live together in peace, harmony, and production. On the other hand, James Baldwin, renowned writer, believed it necessary for African-Americans to have strength and confidence so that they might coexist on the same level as whites and accomplish what whites were accomplishing. The methodology and teachings of James Baldwin and Malcolm X differed greatly, but their general belief, that African-Americans were just as good as everybody else prevailed over all else, and made these men two of the very important faces of a generation.
In the tale of Malcolm X it states, “It really began back in the Charlestown Prison, when Bimbi first made me feel envy of his stock of knowledge.” While he was in prison he began to realize that as his friend Bimbi began to talk he and take control of conversations that he wasn’t as educated as he believed himself to be. Also he’d begun to realize that being dumb and uneducated isn’t as cool as it seems when you begin to have a conversations with those who’re more educated than you are. In his tory he also states, “...nearly all of the words that might as well have been in Chinese...I saw that the best thing I could do was get hold of s dictionary-to study, to learn some words.” He felt the need to acquire the knowledge due to the fact that he wanted to understand his friend and have the knowledge to hold a conversation with Bimbi. Malcolm X wanted to expand his knowledge and his vocabulary.“Under Bembry's influence, Little developed a voracious appetite for reading.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_X) His original goal for obtaining education as for the purpose of understanding hi friend Bimbi and due to that need to acquire more knowledge it lead to him discovering more about the complexities and ‘greyness’ along with the deafness and blindness that was affecting the people of America more specifically the black community in
The autobiography of Malcolm X captures the personal growth and the journey of Malcolm Little, also known as Malcolm X. Throughout his life, Malcolm’s experiences shaped him into the human rights activist that we are all familiar with today. In his early age Malcolm believed every white person was malicious, he was a criminal, and he believed that Christianity prevented the progression of African Americans- later on in life, Malcolm became a controversial human rights activist, believed that white people were “well-meaning” people, and was a devout Muslim (pg. 383).