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Slavery the struggle for freedom
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Frederick Douglass' Dream for Equality
Abolition stopped Frederick Douglass dead in his tracks and forced him to reinvent himself. He learned the hard central truth about abolition. Once he learned what that truth was, he was compelled to tell it in his speeches and writings even if it meant giving away the most secret truth about himself. From then on, he accepted abolition for what it was and rode the fates.
The truth he learned about abolition was that it was a white enterprise.
It was a fight between whites. Blacks joined abolition only on sufferance.
They also joined at their own risks. For a long time, Douglass, a man of pride and artfulness, denied this fact.
For years there had been disagreements among many abolitionists. Everyone had their own beliefs towards abolition. There was especially great bitterness between Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison, dating from the early 1850's when
Douglass had repudiated Garrisonian Disunionism. Garrisonians supported the idea of disunion. Disunion would have relieved the North of responsibility for the sin of slavery. It would have also ended the North's obligation to enforce the fugitive slave law, and encourage a greater exodus of fugitive slaves from the South. (161,162 Perry) Douglass did not support this idea because it would not result in the complete abolition of slavery. Blacks deserved just as much freedom as whites. He believed that the South had committed treason, and the
Union must rebel by force if necessary. Astonished by Garrison's thoughts,
Douglass realized that abolition was truly a war between whites. Garrison, and many others, had failed to see the slaves as human beings.
Were blacks then supposed to be irretrievably black in a white world ?
Where is the freedom and hope if all great things are privilege only to the whites? Douglass resolved never again to risk himself to betrayal. Troubled,
Douglass did not lose faith in his beliefs of abolishing slavery. However, he did reinvent his thinking.
Douglass eventually made his way with what amounted to the applied ideas of Alexis de Tocqueville and Fancis Grund, both of which were writing at the time when Douglass realized the truth about abolition. Grund and Tocqueville celebrated the “new man,” the “self-made” men who were breaking through old restraints. These restraints included monopolized privileges, restricted franchises, and the basic refusal of the main chance of equal opportunity. The blacks were confronted by the most vicious and deadly restraints any “new man” had been compelled to face in the United States. This was horrendous, but it was not insurmountable.
Douglass decided that the separation between whites was an advantage to his
...y afraid at first but finds out that there are many ex-slaves willing to take a stand and risk their lives to help their own. Douglass realizes that with the help from the ex-slaves he could also help his fellow slaves.
Kroll, Paul. “The Trial of Job”. Grace Communion: International. Grace Communion International, 2013. 26 February 2015.
Slave narratives were one of the first forms of African- American literature. The narratives were written with the intent to inform those who weren’t aware of the hardships of slavery about how badly slaves were being treated. The people who wrote these narratives experienced slavery first hand, and wanted to elicit the help of abolitionists to bring an end to it. Most slave narratives were not widely publicized and often got overlooked as the years went by; however, some were highly regarded and paved the way for many writers of African descent today.
Frederick Douglass's Narrative, first published in 1845, is an enlightening and incendiary text. Born into slavery, Douglass became the preeminent spokesman for his people during his life; his narrative is an unparalleled account of the inhumane effects of slavery and Douglass's own triumph over it. His use of vivid language depicts violence against slaves, his personal insights into the dynamics between slaves and slaveholders, and his naming of specific persons and places made his book an indictment against a society that continued to accept slavery as a social and economic institution. Like Douglass, Harriet Jacobs was born into slavery, and in 1853 she published Letter from a Fugitive Slave, now recognized as one of the most comprehensive antebellum slave narratives written by an African-American woman. Jacobs's account broke the silence on the exploitation of African American female slaves.
The American dream can be defined as the promise of living in America with opportunities for all, regardless of social class, and according to their ability and effort (Schnell, 2010). Proponents of the American dream believe that there is equal opportunity for all in the American society to achieve success. Success is not pegged on social status, race, or creed, but rather on an individual’s own efforts. The definition of the American dream has unique interpretations to different people. The most common meaning is that of a life of abundance and prosperity, characterized by economic rewards that enable one to live a middle class life of comfort. Here, success is measured by material possessions such as beautiful homes, cars, a high income, and the ability to spend on luxury items. America is considered a land of plenty, and as such, many who come to the United States in search of the American dream have this form of success in mind.
Frederick Douglass’ source, “The Desire for Freedom” was written in 1845. He was born into slavery in 1818 and became an important figure in the fight for abolition. Douglass was also involved in other reform movements such as the women’s rights movement. He “experienced slavery in all its variety, from work as a house servant and as a skilled craftsman in Baltimore shipyard to labor as a plantation field hand” (Pg.207¬). “The Desire for Freedom” was meant to document how his life was within slavery and how his education could someday help him escape it. Douglass meant to speak to American slaves and those who did not really understand slavery in order to help persuade everyone that life was meant to be lived freely. In order to obtain this future, Douglass wrote about his own personal experience and how he believed that enslavers were “in no other light than a band of successful robbers, who had left their homes, and gone to Africa, and stolen us from our homes, and in a strange land reduced us to slavery” (Pg. 208). This source brings on the idea that slaves were willing to fight back, wanted to be educated, and, most importantly, wanted the chance to live life freely.
“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 tries to vindicate are that slavery denies slaves of their identity, slavery is also detrimental for the slave owner, and slavery is ungodly.
Frederick Douglass once said, "there can be no freedom without education." I believe this statement is true. During slavery, slaves were kept illiterate so they would not rebel and become free. Many slaves were stripped from their families at an early age so they would have no sense of compassion towards family members. Some slaves escaped the brutal and harsh life of slavery, most who were uneducated. But can there be any real freedom without education?
In the year 1826 Fredrick Douglass realized that he would eventually escape slavery. He would recount this thought four times in his life when he has to become most rebellious in order to survive slaveholders attempting to establish control and dominance in different ways. Each time one comes along Douglass responds using a different form of retaliation or rebellion to show his masters that they don’t own as much control over him as they think they do. All of these attempts to resist his masters control, slavery, and what slavery stood for were detrimental to Fredrick’s escape but the most influential one, the resistive act that started, and kept, the ball rolling was Fredrick’s determination to become literate. Knowledge is power and without his ability to read and write Douglass would have never escaped slavery or written a Narrative of his life.
Job is the protagonist from the Book of Job. It has been said that, "Job is the greatest man in all the East." (Job 1:3) Job was a blessed pious man, whom was loved by God and man alike. In the Book of Job, God is argues with Satan and in an attempt to prove the piety of Job, God tests Job with many challenging obstacles to the point where Job is left with fundamentally nothing.
Since everyone will have the same rights and rules the administrative health care cost will be shortened. “Coverage would include all medically necessary services, including rehabilitative, long-term, and home care; mental healthcare, prescription drugs, and medical supplies; and preventive and public health measures.” The hospital will be less billed; instead the government will mail them their annual lump-sum payment. The government will be the administrator, no employees. This takes out the employers’ contributions to insurances, all individual premiums, co-pays, and deductibles and also relieves state and local government of all the medical coverage. Wallet biopsy will not be used anymore; wallet biopsy is fee for services for medical. Decisions about clinical would not be effected from insurances anymore. A global budget is what is going to be dealing with the expense. Hospitals would not get shut down because of unpaid bills, now that universal health care is active. “The General Accounting Office projects an administrative savings of 10 percent through the elimination of private insurance bills and administrative waste, or $150 billion in 2002. This savings would pay for providing medical care to those currently under served.” Doctors’ incomes would change. No one would need private insurance, which limits the billing to private insurances will be
Fredrick Douglass is a great American author. His book the Narrative of the life of Fredrick Douglass makes a compelling and complex argument for the abolition of slavery. One facet of his argument is disproving the idea that slavery is beneficial to the slave. In order to accomplish this Douglass uses a plethora of strategies to persuade his reader. The most poignant method is the vivid descriptions of the brutality of slavery, made all the more powerful by his judicious use of diction, imagery, and specific examples.
Frederick Douglass brilliantly intelligent and defiant once led a minor insurrection against his masters and escapes his venture alive. Douglass’s career as a militant, uncompromising leader of the American Negro.
unaware of his father's identity, he was left to bear the burden of slavery all on his own.
The Last Man was Mary Shelley's most ambitious and experimental work. Necessitating that a plague, which decimates mankind, is justified in its pursuit, Mary Shelley creates a world where utopian ideals can cause the destruction of mankind, if they are not checked by moral and ethical standards. Published in 1826, the novel was widely pilloried by a public who found it's gloomy tone and high Romanticism to be 'out of touch' with a more progressive society. Mary Shelley's concept of humanity decimated by a deadly plague affronted progressive politicians as godless and as a result, the novel was banned in Austria and became more of an in topic at dinner parties than a book to be seriously read. Since its publication, Mary Shelley scholars have ignored The Last Man and concentrated on Frankenstein because of the novel's reflection of the influential Romantic circle of Lord Byron and Percy Shelley. It wasn't until the feminist movement of the 1970's that the novel underwent a rebirth and became critically judged as a work far superior to Frankenstein. Written three years after the death of Percy Shelley, The Last Man is a reflection of the political influence of William Godwin and the Romantic ideals of Lord Byron and Percy Shelley. Despite her initial desire to dedicate the work to the ideology of these men, The Last Man serves as Mary Shelley's repudiation of the utopian ideal perpetuated by Godwin, Shelley and Lord Byron. The plague serves as a metaphor for the failure of the utopian ideal to support the traditional needs of the family. As a biographical and political novel, The Last Man is Mary Shelley's quest to understand her husband, father and Lord Byron's political ideals and their subsequent failure to support her and her children.