Literacy In Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass’ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, recounts the details of his experiences born into slavery and his eventual escape to freedom. While the novel is well renowned as one of the most famous narratives of a slave, it's consistent theme of literacy as a mechanism for both mental and physical freedom now solidifies its placement as one of the most influential catalyst of the early 19th century abolitionist movement in the United States. As an adolescent, Douglas longed for both mental and physical liberation derived from the understanding that the state of his people, specifically their present day enslavement, was illegitimate, a belief that extended throughout his enslaved community1. In her novel …show more content…
Whether it was the utilization of a traditional copy-book or Webster’s Spelling Book, Douglass would spend any free time he had committed to his own education. He even began using the child of his master – “I used to spend the time in writing in the spaces left in Master Thomas’s copy-book, copying what he had written. I continued to do this until I could write a hand very similar to that of Master Thomas” (38). The rise of literacy for enslaved people revolutionized the way those who were enslaved looked at their own agency in their existence both on and off the plantation. For Douglas, literacy served as not only a mode for liberation outside of the plantation but also survival within. It was during this time that the African American community developed a close connection with the God, as a method of survival. Literate enslaved people provided themselves and others on the plantations with access to literature, whether spiritual or not, that revealed a world beyond bondage, a world where they could be free to have agency over their own existence, and ultimately a world where they could be happy. Even for just those few moments when they were reading, the enslaved people were given the hope to survive1. Additionally …show more content…
As stated by Carter G. Woodson, “If you can control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his action.” He is saying that by controlling the educational information that a people possess, one has the ability to control every aspect of their current and their future being. Education serves as social capital in which it stimulates social networks of resources, trust, and reciprocity amongst people. By trying to prevent the creation of these social networks amongst African Americans, whites attempted to prevent an economic wealth and cultural identity that threatened the endurance of enslavement as an institution, as well as the emergence of a strong black community that could threaten their own freedom. Woodson’s words, along with the analysis of literacy during the period of slavery both lead to the comprehension of the importance of education as a mode of attaining social capital and subsequent liberation, both historically and