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Essay about frederick douglass biography
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In the excerpt from Fredrick Douglass, “What a Black man wants” We see a very motivated, Educated, Comedic, and humble black man speaking out against the discriminatory laws against all black men. While reading the excerpt, we find that a General Banks has instituted a new policy which brings Mr. Douglass to argue said policy. Does this make Douglass a radical for his time? Throughout his presentation, he speaks on many things such as the comparisons between The Nation and the Anglo Saxons, and the state of black citizens in time of war and peace. General banks had instituted a policy in Louisiana that was discriminatory of blacks, claiming that it was to help prepare them to better handle freedom. How could a policy discriminating blacks …show more content…
help them to better handle freedom? The freedom of someone is not something that need to be prepared. Wendell Phillips even stated, “ If there is anything patent in the whole history of our thirty years’ struggle, it is that the Negro no more needs to be prepared for liberty than the white man.” Freedom should be something that we are born with. The freedom to suffrage and to work and to land and to society. Fredrick Douglass, who usually enters these meetings as a listener rather than a speaker decided to speak out against this policy because the idea of discriminating against another to, “better ready them for freedom” is incomprehensible. Does this make Douglass a radical? On the contrary! It makes him a sane man, a man that is willing to stand for what is right. I can assure you that he was not the only one with thoughts of speaking on what is right and God given, but he was the only one who had the bravery to speak out. Some would argue that for his time he was a radical because slavery was of the norm and discrimination was nothing unheard of. But we can know that what Fredrick Douglass was asking for was not too selfish or too radical because Douglass even states that all mankind should have the right to freedom and to suffrage. Douglass states, “I hold that women, as well as men, have the right to vote, and my heart and voice go with the movement to extend suffrage to woman” In saying this, Douglass states that the problem doesn’t stop with the granting of suffrage to African Americans, but ends when everyone has the right to vote, including women. I don’t believe these ideas come from the mind of a radical man but from an educated man. One of the arguments that Douglass was arguing was that African Americans were inferior. But although he was arguing this statement he even went on to agree with it. Douglass said, “I know that we are inferior to you in some things” But despite agreeing with that he went on to share some history on how the Anglo-Saxons were once inferior to the haughty Normans. Americans have a heritage with Anglo Saxons and Douglass knew this. So, in saying what he was saying he meant, “Look, your ancestry used to be counted as an inferior race and you were pushed around and made fun of but eventually you rose up and became a proud race. One that could take care of themselves. All we ask is that we are given the same chance to not be looked down on but to rise up and prove ourselves as equals,” He was saying that they had potential and had no reason to be held back or to be called on only in times of need. One of the most drop-the-mic moments of Douglass’s speech was when he stated scripture and told the government to stop thinking of African Americans as citizens only in time of war and then to alienate them once the war was over.
Douglass states, “What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and loses his own soul? It may be said, also, What doth it profit a nation to gain the whole world, and lose its honor?” stating that America loses their honor when they call upon their citizens in time of war but once war has been won and America is in a time of peace they alienate those same citizens and make them slaves and discriminate against them again, which leads Douglass to ask this question, “Shall we be citizens in war, and aliens in peace? Would that be just?” Absolutely not! Douglass states that the negro has been a citizen three times and each time in a time of war. Never in a time of peace and that’s so true. In 1776 when America gained their independence The Constitution stated that all men were created equal and rightly so. In Americas time of need nobody discriminated on who they were fighting alongside but rather welcomed the brother to arms. Once the war was over the African Americans went back to the plantations and to slavery. What did American constitution have to say then? They acted as though the same man who gave his life for his country those three separate times was not worthy to be a citizen afterwards due to the color of their skin. Well the right to bear arms and fight for his country grants you the right to suffrage, which was Fredrick Douglass’s
point. Fredrick Douglass came not as a listener to the Massachusetts Antislavery society but as a speaker and spoke for all those who didn’t have the voice to stand. In a way we can thank General Banks for instituting his policy on discrimination because it sparked something in Douglass which led him to speak on the rights of all and the rights as citizens and true Americans. Douglass in a sense slapped everyone in the face reminding them who they are and what America stands for and what they came from. Maybe Douglass was made out to be a radical during his time but if he was a radical for believing in what was right and for speaking out on his beliefs then we as a society in today’s times should be counted as radicals when we speak out against wrong doings and stand up for what we believe in.
Douglass as both the author and narrator in his novel took readers through his escape from slavery. Specifically mentioned in chapter seven of the book, the author expressed his new skill of reading and how that inspired his freedom. Douglass utilized rhetorical devices in chapter seven, such as pathos and personification to illustrate to his audience how his education motivated him to achieve liberation. Douglass’ effective use of emotion throughout the chapter made his experiences appeal to readers. Also, the first and last sentences of chapter seven served as bookends to show how education influenced Douglass’ freedom because within those two phrases there was a portion of Douglass’ journey told on how he escaped salvation. Lastly, Douglass’
In the first paragraph, Douglass invokes the rhetorical question, “Are the great principles…... embodied by that Declaration of Independence, extended to us [blacks]?” This actively paints America as a paradox, a country built upon enlightenment values of equality yet supported by the scarred backs of millions of black slaves. Later, in the ninth paragraph, he again demands a rhetorical question, “Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man?” While this obviously serves to cement the irony he discusses, it also shows Douglass’ efforts to denounce the Abolitionists’ cause in order to revitalize the weakening movement.
The hopeful and then helpless tones in Douglass' passage reflect his inner turmoil throughout the process of his escape from the wretched south. At first, Frederick Douglass feels the utter feeling of happiness covering every inch of his body and soul. However, he soon finds out that the rosy path has thorns that dug into his skin as freedom was dangled in front of his face through a tunnel of complete darkness.
Frederick Douglass wrote in his 1845 autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, about the devastation associated with slavery and the destruction from which comes desperation. Douglass intends to summon upon the guilt and empathy of his white audience by giving an account from which the reader is able to coax up a new perspective on the dreadful oppression. Seen especially in the third paragraph where Douglass provides a series of rhetorical devices including: apostrophe, anaphora, personification, exemplum, and epithet in his sorrowful bellowing to passing ships.
In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, a slave narrative published in 1845, Frederick Douglass divulged his past as a slave and presented a multifaceted argument against slavery in the United States. Douglass built his argument with endless anecdotes and colorful figurative language. He attempted to familiarize the naïve Northerners with the hardships of slavery and negate any misconstrued ideas that would prolong slavery’s existence in American homes. Particularly in chapter seven, Douglass both narrated his personal experience of learning to write and identified the benefits and consequences of being an educated slave.
1.) Fredrick Douglass’s purpose in this speech was to explain the wrongfulness of slavery in America. Fredrick Douglass states in his speech “Are the great principles of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us?” and “The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence, bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me.” These prove that the freedom and independence Americans have aren’t shared with the Africans when it should be that Africans have those rights as well. Frederick Douglass then talked about how badly whites treat blacks and how wrong it is. “There are 72 crimes in Virginia which, if committed by a black man, subject him to a punishment of death, while
In The Narrative of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass, an African American male describes his day as a slave and what he has become from the experience. Douglass writes this story to make readers understand that slavery is brutalizing and dehumanizing, that a slave is able to become a man, and that he still has intellectual ability even though he is a slave. In the story, these messages are shown frequently through the diction of Frederick Douglass.
America in the mid to early nineteenth century saw the torture of many African Americans in slavery. Plantation owners did not care whether they were young or old, girl or boy, to them all slaves were there to work. One slave in particular, Frederick Douglass, documented his journey through slavery in his autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Through the use of various rhetorical devices and strategies, Douglass conveys the dehumanizing and corrupting effect of slavery, in order to show the overall need for American abolition. His use of devices such as parallelism, asyndeton, simile, antithesis, juxtaposition and use of irony, not only establish ethos but also show the negative effects of slavery on slaves, masters and
James Oakes’ The Radical and the Republican narrated the relationship between two of America’s greatest leaders: Frederick Douglass, the “radical” abolitionist, and Abraham Lincoln, the “Republican” politician. He did an astonishing job of demonstrating the commonalities between the views of Douglass and Lincoln, but also their differences on their stance of anti-slavery politics and abolitionism. Despite being on the same side of the argument of slavery, Douglass and Lincoln went about their opinions separately. Lincoln held a more patient and orthodox stance on anti-slavery, while Douglass was proven to be obstinate and direct with
His main argument in the speech is that it 's unjust and hypocritical for a country to celebrate its freedom while it still has slaves. Now that in itself is a morally viable argument, and it has never been more relevant than today in our racially hate fueled world where every situation is turned into a hate crime. However, back in those days majority of slaves were sold into slavery by their own people. Most slaves were sold by rival tribes as prisoners of war, or trouble makers of the tribe, thus giving us the “bottom of the barrel” of the groups. Another counter to Douglass was that even though slaves were people, they were still considered property. A hard working farmer could have used his last penny in order to purchase that slave because he was unable to tend his farm and provide for his family. One common misconception was that all slaves were beaten and treated lower than swine, while to the contrary some were treated well being given a bed and meals every day in exchange for their hard work. While Douglass may have had a bad time under the ownership of Auld, most northern states did not treat their slaves in this manner. This is one of the main reasons Douglass learned how to read, yet no credit is given to his former owner. Most slaves developed a relationship with their owners, in which their owners taught them useful skills such as reading, writing, simple math and farming skills. Another argument brought into Douglass’ speech was that most churches were segregated, and in turn perpetuated the racism that helped keep slavery alive in well. He proposed that a God that wouldn’t allow such evil and disservice in this world would contradict everything the bible proposes and teaches. He praises the writers of the constitution, considering them his equal and thanking the signers of the Declaration of Independence, calling
Slavery consisted of numerous inhumane horrors completed to make its victims feel desolated and helpless. Many inescapable of these horrors of slavery are conveyed in the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”. The entire prospect of the duration of the story is to plan an escape from the excruciating conditions awaiting Douglass as a slave. When his escape is finally executed, unpredictable emotions and thoughts overwhelm him. Within the conclusion of his narrative (shown in the given passage), Frederick Douglass uses figurative language, diction, and syntax to portray such states of mind he felt after escaping slavery: relief, loneliness, and paranoia.
In his speech he tries to make white people consider the behavior of black people. Specially their feelings towards a national occasion such as Independence Day. At the time of Douglass’s speech America were actually two different nations, white and black. Two separated nations one had great benefits
In his speech, Frederick Douglass made it clear that he believed that the continued toleration and support of slavery from both a religious and legal standpoint was utterly absurd when considering the ideals and principles advocated by America’s forefathers. He began by praising the American framers of the Constitution, an...
In this final research analysis, I will be doing a comparison between the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” and the “Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” to show how both Douglass and Rowlandson use a great deal of person strength and faith in God to endure their life and ultimately gain their freedom.
Douglass starts his discourse by tending to "Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens." Here, he is likely referring to the president of the Anti-Slavery Society — not the president of the United States. It is paramount that Douglass views himself as a native, an equivalent to the observers in participation. All through this discourse, and also his life, Douglass bolstered equivalent equity and rights, and additionally citizenship,