Frederick Douglass Knowledge Is Power

In modern society, we are often told that knowledge is power. If this is true, it makes sense, as the individuals who appear to hold all the power are often the smartest ones. This statement, however, was never as true as it was during the time of slavery in the United States of America. During these times, slaveholders kept their slaves ‘content’ with their state of slavery simply by keeping them ignorant. In Frederick Douglass’ autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, he frequently sees the idea of knowledge the main source of the slaveholder’s power over their slaves. It is because of this power-over relationship that the slaves seem to be unable to break free of this cycle. At the time of the novel’s writing, it was not

uncommon to see slavery as a natural state for the African-Americans within American society, particularly in the South. However, as the reader moves through the atrocities that Frederick Douglass and other slaves had to endure, we begin to understand that the true power lies in education, and that it is through education that Frederick Douglass was able to free himself and liberate his people. Without his education, Douglass argues that he would never have resisted slavery the way he did, and that he would have just grown as content as possible with the conditions those who had power over him gave him, thus keeping him ignorant of the life that they were restricting him from.
The novel notes that the slaveowners hold their power over the slaves from the day they are born.

Douglass notes that he has “no accurate knowledge of [his] age” (Douglass, 15), noting that “by far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant” (Douglass, 15). He notes that the masters wish to keep the slaves’ birthdays a secret for almost no reason other than the fact that they can. It is through this that the slaves begin to develop full dependency on their masters. He moves forward, noting that slaves are often kept in the dark about things such as their paternity, as the slaveholders did not find it important enough to divulge to the slaves, as though they did not want to know their paternity – as though it did not matter. Because these basic facts are robbed from the slaves at childbirth, it comes to no surprise to the reader that by taking away these basic facts from the slaves, their masters are effectively robbing their slaves of any form of individual identity through their family or birth date – these things only matter to real people, and the slaveowners make it clear that they do not see their slaves as

such.
To further the stripping of individual identity, Douglass noted that “the white children could tell their ages” (Douglass, 15). He continues to claim that he did not understand why he should be robbed of this knowledge if the white children could have it. These statements lead the reader to wonder why the slaves would no be allowed to know basic things such as their birthdate and their paternity. Is a slave any less a slave simply because he knew his birthdate and father’s name? Most would argue that this would not be the case, as it is traditionally the servitude and ownership of a person that brings about slavery. Douglass also notes that he “was not allowed to make any inquiries of [his] master concerning it. He deemed all such inquiries on the part of a slave improper and impertinent, and evident of a restless spirit” (Douglass, 15). By explaining the power his master had over him, the reader begins to understand that Douglass and other slaves had no form of power, and Douglass even goes on to note that these ideas would promote the idea of individualism, which the slaveowners wanted to diminish.
In the first chapter, Douglass notes that he had two masters, and comments on both of them. He notes that his first master, Capitan Anthony, was anything but a humane master. Douglass mentions that Anthony often “[seemed] to take great pleasure in whipping a slave” (18), noting that Anthony often woke his other slaves up by “the most heart-wrenching shrieks of an own aunt of [Douglass’], whom he used to tie up to a joist, and whip upon her naked back till she was literally covered in blood… The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped.” (18). It is evident in this passage where the power over relationship lies, and the masters often appear to have no qualms about the damage they are doing to their slaves. This is not a surprising fact to anybody who knows about the slave trade in America.
As the slaves begin to grow older, Douglass notes that the slaveowners begin to oppress their slaves by preventing them from bettering their selves. By this, Douglass means learning to read and write. This form of power-over relationship is important to note, because if the slaves were given the proper tools, there is a possibility that they would rebel against slavery and the slave trade, which made the masters very uncomfortable. As the slaveowners believed that literacy would give the slaves any form of capability or skills that could be used outside their homes, this form of empowerment was not allowed, as they often believed that literacy would allow the slaves to question the rights of white people to own slaves. Thus, by keeping their slaves illiterate, they were effectively keeping their control over their slaves, by not giving them the ability to tell their story.
Although Douglass was treated relatively well by his second master, he still notes the different ways in which his slaveowners exercised their power over their slaves. He notes that he was treated well and that “here, too, the slaves of all the other farms received their monthly allowance of food, and their yearly clothing” (21), yet he moves forward to note that even though they were treated relatively kindly, they were not given any form of luxury. He notes that “there were no beds given to the slaves, unless one coarse blanket be considered such, and none but the men and women had these” (21). Even here, he notes that “Mr. Severe” (22) was ready to whip anyone who held up the slaves from beginning their duties at the sound of the horn (22). He was soon allowed to go The Great House Farm (23) where the treatment was considerably more pleasant. However, the Great House Farm had its own problems – namely the fact that it was perfectly content worth keeping slaves, instead of freeing them and hiring them back as workers. Regardless of the treatment of these slaves, the Great House Farm still showed its power over its slaves by keeping them slaves.
Douglass’ story ends with a lesson, as most great stories of this time do.

Not surprisingly, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass tells a story of empowerment and hope. Douglass notes that it was his education that allowed him to have freedom. By educating himself, he was allowed to break free of the power over relationships of his masters and was able to genuinely make a change in his own life. It is because of this that the two main themes of this novel are ignorance and knowledge. More than anything, Douglass argues, the education of an individual, especially a slave, is the most liberating experience one could have. He argues that it’s knowledge that helps the slaves to begin to articulate the horrors of slavery and the injustices that they had experienced. Through this, it is argued that the only thing that kept slavery alive was the ignorant state that the masters kept their slaves

in.
When knowledge is stripped from a group of people, so is their power. Throughout Frederick Douglass’ autobiography, Narrative of the Live of Frederick Douglass, the reader is pushed to understand the powerless state that the slaveowners preferred to keep their slaves. Through this, it is argued that the best way for a slave to gain any form of power is to break free of the power over relationships that have been put in place by the masters within this time. As Douglass moves the reader through his novel, we are overwhelmed by the sheer horrors that occurred through their lives as slaves, and that it was here that the power over relationships came to their most oppressive. However, Douglass argues that it is his education that truly liberated him and allowed himself to become a free black man instead of a slave. This leads the reader to believe that the power over relationships held by the slaveowners can be broken, and that those who are committed to slavery can break free from these bonds and liberate themselves with education.