Importance Of Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass had many turning points and life changing events happen to him early on in his life. He learned how to read and write by a master’s wife, where he eventually taught himself. He also finally gave his cruel slaveholder, Mr. Covey, a taste of his own medicine. Although fighting Mr. Covey had finally given him the courage to stick up for himself to be treated as a human and not as anything less than, I believe that learning how to read and write was the most essential in changing the track of his life because it is what start him off on his new journey to freedom.
Frederick Douglass believed that his life as a slave was going to be how it was for the rest of his life. He struggled through years of work, pain, loss, and other …show more content…
Freeland. Mr. Freeland owned only two slaves, whose names were Henry Harris and John Harris. In time, Douglass inspired them to learn how to read and write, and that inspiration spread throughout other farms where he eventually had over 40 students. All of the slaves had the immense desire to learn and it surpassed the consequences that could come if any of their masters found out. Not only did he accomplish an amazing feat of educating many slaves on how to read and write, he taught them the very skills necessary to be free from their prisons. He taught them how to trust each other. On page 86, Douglass writes “It is sometimes said that we slaves do not love and confide in each other. In answer to this assertion, I can say, I never loved any or confided in any people more than my fellow-slaves, and especially those with whom I lived at Mr. Freelands.” Something that slaves had not been able to learn how to do because of their lives was trust other people. This love that he gave his students changed all of that and gave them the courage to trust and love each other. Douglass also states “that one, at least, is now free through my agency” (85). Douglass had not only freed himself from his chains by learning how to read and write, but he also freed other slaves through their education and brought them to safety and better …show more content…
It’s important that we have these personal books and autobiographies because without them we would have no idea what it was like for an actual human to live in the past. All we would have would be history textbooks stating biased facts, whereas with Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and other personal writings, we have something we can connect with. Even though all humans can have very different personalities and can react to everything differently, we can still connect with other people through our emotions because we have all felt a good amount of them before, whether it’s happiness sadness, loss, empathy or any others. Truly, we still do not know what it was like during slavery because we physically have not been in those situations, but because we are human, we can think deeper, empathize, and put ourselves in the other person’s position. It’s important that Douglass learned how to read and write because without his determination, perseverance, and overall intelligence, he would never have learned and we wouldn’t have this book to read and empathize with and try to understand. There are other personal slavery books out there that are just as important but every story is unique, just like every slaveholder was. Mr. Covery treated his slaves much differently than Mr. Freeland did and all of those slaves have different stories