Fredrick Douglass’ Explaination on the Dangers of Educating Slaves

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In Fredrick Douglass’ narrative of his own life he makes known his difficulty in receiving an education, something we take for granted today. He goes on to restate a conversation between his master and mistress: “Learning would spoil the best negro in the world. Now, if you teach that negro…how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would become unmanageable, and of no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm.” (Douglass 41) One educated slave poses an immense threat upon the act of enslavement and those who enslave. Knowledge is dangerous in any form; it was feared to cause a slave to question authority and the entire slave institution. Intelligence enlightens slaves of the evils of slavery and that has a spiraling effect as such information would not be kept to one's self. Knowledge edifies enslaved men and women of their quality of life and to distinguish themselves as human beings rather than property. Slave owners would deprive their slaves of basic education in hopes of a decreased chance of rebellion and in contrast, a slave would need education to be liberated. Acquiring knowledge was far more powerful than any weapon. We see this idea throughout Douglass' narrative as Douglass was able to liberate himself through education.
Slaves are not inherently dangerous until they have come to understand and acknowledge the evils of slavery. It is only when they are educated and made aware of the situation that they were forced into, that they loathe the concept of being enslaved. Further, this enlightenment threatens the entire foundation of slavery as the enslaved have the mental capability to rebel against their master, although a majorit...

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... easy life is hardly ever celebrated; rather those who led difficult lives and succeeded are those we admire. Douglass is celebrated for overcoming his hardships and freeing himself from the shackles of slavery. His journey was rocky and his battle was difficult but,“…after a long, tedious effort for years, I finally succeeded in learning how to write.” (49) Knowledge set him free.
By Frederick Douglass simply learning the basic fundamentals of reading and writing, he imposed a threat to his superiors. His narrative is a direct product of his enslavement; his powerful narrative brought light to a situation. Douglass is exactly what slave-owners feared. Frederick Douglass was born into slavery; as a result of Frederick’s continued resistance against his unfortunate “birthright”, he continued on to be an educated adult, a famous abolitionist, and inspirational orator.

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