Two men, born nearly a hundred years apart, each seeking revolutionary changes in the United States in ways suited to their society and circumstances. Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X were monumental and influential figures in American history. In the books Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and The Autobiography of Malcolm X, both Douglass and Malcolm used their extraordinary oratorical skills and charisma to object to the systematic oppression and subjugation that was imposed on African-Americans. The philosophy of Douglass and Malcolm is characterized by their views on education, Christianity, and slavery.
Although Malcolm X cut his formal education short during the eighth grade, he became acquainted with learning and books again
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during his prison years. While reflecting on his passion for reading, Malcolm muses, “Anyone who has read a great deal can imagine the new world that opened. Let me tell you something: from then until I left that prison, in every free moment I had, if I was not reading in the library, I was reading on my bunk. You couldn’t have gotten me out of books with a wedge” (Haley 176). Frederick Douglass never had any formal schooling, but he did have a tremendous ardor for reading like Malcolm X. After Mr.Auld, Douglass’s master at the time, scolded his wife for teaching Douglass the ABC’s, Douglass realizes, “I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty---to wit, the white man’s power to enslave the black man. It was a grand achievement, and I prized it highly. From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom…Though conscious of the difficulty of learning without a teacher, I set out with high hope, and a fixed purpose, at whatever cost of trouble, to learn how to read” (Douglass 42-43). Though they differed in educational background, they both came to the same conclusion: education was a form of power. Power for each man was different. Douglass used his education to emancipate himself from bondange and eventually fight for others’ liberation from white domination. On the other hand, Malcolm X used his education to empower himself and teach others about the oppression that white people used against black people in the United States. Malcolm X disapproved of black people who followed Christianity because he thought it was a religion that accentuated white people’s love for themselves and was full of hypocrisy. When he was pondering religion in his cell at Charlestown Prison, he concluded, “This white man’s Christian religion further deceived and brainwashed this ‘Negro’ to always turn the other cheek, and grin, and scrape, and bow, and be humble, and to sing, and to pray, and to take whatever was dished out by the devilish white man; and to look for his pie in the sky, and for his heaven in the hereafter, while right here on earth the slavemaster white man enjoyed his heaven” (Haley 166). Frederick Douglass noted how slave-owners would use Christianity to rationalize the enslavement of black people. In his speech “What is Your Fourth of July to Me?”, Douglass chastised Americans and stated, “To him your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgiving, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy---a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages” (Douglass 161). The realization that Christianity was full of deception and was used to keep black people at the bottom of society was the underlying motivation in bringing these two men to voice their radical ideas. Malcolm X knew there was no hope in repairing Christianity, and the only solution for black people was to follow Islam. However, Douglass could recognize a distinction between the slaveholding religion of the South and Christianity proper, and he was passionate about teaching abolitionists about the corruption of religion in the South and how it was used to disenfranchise black people. One of Malcolm X’s favorite topics to write speeches about was slavery.
While reading in the prison library about the enslavement of African people, Malcolm X censured white people’s actions during the slave-trade and asserted, “Human history’s greatest crime was the traffic in black flesh when the devil white man went into Africa and murdered and kidnapped to bring to the West in chains, in slave ships, millions of black men, women, and children, who were worked and beaten and tortured as slaves. The devil white man cut these black people off from all knowledge of their own kind, and cut them off from any knowledge of their own language, religion, and past culture, until the black man in America was the earth’s only race of people who had absolutely no knowledge of his true identity” (Haley 165). Frederick Douglass, who was was alive when slavery was legal and was a slave, rebuked the greediness that white people had for committing the atrocity of subjugating black people. When Douglass and a couple of other slaves were contemplating their escape, Douglass deduced, “On the one hand, there stood slavery, a stern reality, glaring frightfully upon us,---its robes already crimsoned with the blood of millions, and even now feasting itself greedily upon our own flesh” (Douglass 107-108). Both men eventually used their knowledge to teach others about the horrible barbarity black people faced, and this brought awareness to their audiences and led them to want to change the reality that black people were suffering under white people’s oppression. However, Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass approached this problem with different solutions. Malcolm X talked about slavery in order to bring to light the way white people systematically degraded the quality of life for black people, and he told his audiences that they can only alleviate their brokenness by converting to Islam. On the contrary, Frederick Douglass’s approach was to educate abolitionists about the horrible treatment
slaves received, and he used his experience as a former slave in order to influence people’s opinion and eventually have some legislation abolish slavery. In conclusion, whether each man was right or wrong, intellectual or not, they both strongly believed in their ideology. Their quest to bring justice and peace to black people was their main objective. Each man did it their own way, in their own time, and in his own society in order to drive their point across and change the world for the better.
The only exception Locke provides to the desired goal of equality among all humans is if “God·, the lord and master of them all, were to declare clearly and explicitly his wish that some one person be raised above the others and given an undoubted right to dominion and sovereignty” (Locke 77). However, God certainly never said people who has ancestry from Africa were inferior to those in Europe, so all that remains is one of the view “rights” Locke says is both inarguable and easy to articulate: “the right that an injured party has to get reparation” (79). Black Americans undoubtedly qualify as an “injured party”, and as a result Locke and Malcolm X once more share reasoning for taking action. Even though Malcolm X was a devout Muslim, he did not see Islam as a necessary part of being a black nationalist. He implores listeners to keep their own religion “between you and your God. Because if it hasn’t done anything more for you than it has, you need to forget it anyway”, and instead to derive the need to resist from whatever theological source one ascribes to (X 75). By viewing existence as an implicit contract with a higher power to prosper whenever possible, Malcolm X forms an argument for rising up against oppression that structurally could
After suffering the overwhelming ferociousness and inhumanity of being a slave for over two decades , a black man by the name of Fredrick Douglass fled from enslavement and began to make a concerted effort to advance himself as a human being. Combating many obstacles and resisting numerous temptations, Douglass worked assiduously to develop into a knowledgeable gentleman rather than the involuntary alternative of being an unenlightened slave. In doing so, Douglass successfully immerged as one of the Civil War era’s most prominent antislavery orators. From his first major public speech at the age of 23, Douglass became widely renowned as a premier spokesperson for Black slaves and the movement for the abolition of slavery. In one of Douglass’ most distinguished speeches, “The Meaning of July 4th for the Negro,” he uses the intermittent occasion of speaking on behalf of African Americans to a multitude of White Americans to outline arguments against slavery. In that very speech, Douglass made it clear that, like countless African Americans during this time period,
From before the country’s conception to the war that divided it and the fallout that abolished it, slavery has been heavily engrained in the American society. From poor white yeoman farmers, to Northern abolitionist, to Southern gentry, and apathetic northerners slavery transformed the way people viewed both their life and liberty. To truly understand the impact that slavery has had on American society one has to look no further than those who have experienced them firsthand. Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave and advocate for the abolitionist, is on such person. Douglass was a living contradiction to American society during his time. He was an African-American man, self-taught, knowledgeable, well-spoken, and a robust writer. Douglass displayed a level of skill that few of his people at the time could acquire. With his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave Written by Himself, Douglass captivated the people of his time with his firsthand accounts into the horror and brutality that is the institution of slavery.
Fredrick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs were both were born into slavery, and as children, they didn’t know that there was life outside slavery. Harriet writes; “I was born a slave; but I never knew it till six years of happy childhood had passed away” (Jacobs 921). They both saw suffering and death. They were both traded multiple times to different masters due to unforeseen events and deaths. They both confronted their masters. Fredrick Douglass fights back and grabs his master Edward Convey by the throat. Harriet Jacobs yells at Dr. Flint and defends herself when he spoke to her in a harsh tone yelling at her to obey his orders.
Both 20th century examples of repugnant racism in the United States, the provocative stories of Richard Wright and Malcolm “Malcolm X” Little portray the same blatant disregard for African-Americans as less than human: Richard Wright as an African-American who grew up in the extremely racially tense Southern United States, and Malcolm X an Afro-American who grew up in the Northeastern section of the U.S., faced segregation and discrimination, and resorted to a life of crime for money and other pleasures. Both of their situations, direct effects of the prejudice-injected Jim Crow Era, changed each of them to become leaders in their own respects. Both of these men’s experiences and input on
Malcolm X and James Baldwin were two men that played a large role in defining a people and a cause during the 1950s and 1960s. Both of these men were dynamic African-Americans who lived primarily to help their people, who were terribly persecuted in the United States for many years. The interesting thing about these two men is that they strove towards the same goal—to unify African-Americans and give them strength and confidence—but they accomplished this goal in very different ways. Malcolm X, a leader in the Nation of Islam movement, believed that African-Americans needed to acquire strength and confidence so that they could separate from the White man and live together in peace, harmony, and production. On the other hand, James Baldwin, renowned writer, believed it necessary for African-Americans to have strength and confidence so that they might coexist on the same level as whites and accomplish what whites were accomplishing. The methodology and teachings of James Baldwin and Malcolm X differed greatly, but their general belief, that African-Americans were just as good as everybody else prevailed over all else, and made these men two of the very important faces of a generation.
He wanted to be able to properly write his thoughts and opinions out to be understood. He wanted to leave an impression on people to give them a thought of him exceeding his education far beyond the eighth grade. That impression was credited to his “prison studies” (Malcolm X 1). He had a voice that needed to be heard all over to bring a change to society. He self educated himself day and night with the dictionary, teachings ,and books. Malcolm X considered that “three or four hours of sleep a night” was enough (Malcolm X 3). Malcolm X became interested in the “glorious history of the black man” (Malcolm X 3). “Book after book” showed him the “white man had brought upon the world’s black, brown,red,and yellow peoples every variety of the suffering of exploitation” (Malcolm X 4). Like Douglass, Malcolm found the “Faustian machinations” of the “white man” against the “non-white victims” (Malcolm X). Douglass states, “I feared they might be treacherous.” Unlike Douglass being social and receiving help from others around , Malcolm was to himself and seeked information on his own through books. Malcolm X had more pride in his education and wasn 't afraid to share his knowledge, “Mr. Muhammed, to whom I was writing daily, had no idea of what a new world had opened up to me through my efforts to document his teachings in books” (Malcolm X 6). Malcolm X had some basic education knowledge
In the tale of Malcolm X it states, “It really began back in the Charlestown Prison, when Bimbi first made me feel envy of his stock of knowledge.” While he was in prison he began to realize that as his friend Bimbi began to talk he and take control of conversations that he wasn’t as educated as he believed himself to be. Also he’d begun to realize that being dumb and uneducated isn’t as cool as it seems when you begin to have a conversations with those who’re more educated than you are. In his tory he also states, “...nearly all of the words that might as well have been in Chinese...I saw that the best thing I could do was get hold of s dictionary-to study, to learn some words.” He felt the need to acquire the knowledge due to the fact that he wanted to understand his friend and have the knowledge to hold a conversation with Bimbi. Malcolm X wanted to expand his knowledge and his vocabulary.“Under Bembry's influence, Little developed a voracious appetite for reading.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_X) His original goal for obtaining education as for the purpose of understanding hi friend Bimbi and due to that need to acquire more knowledge it lead to him discovering more about the complexities and ‘greyness’ along with the deafness and blindness that was affecting the people of America more specifically the black community in
In a preface of Douglass' autobiography, William Lloyd Garrison writes, "I am confident that it is essentially true in all its statements; that nothing has been set down in malice, nothing exaggerated, nothing drawn from the imagination; that it comes short of the reality, rather than overstates a single fact in regard to SLAVERY AS IT IS."(Garrison, 34). The significance of this statement validates and promises that Douglass' words are nothing but the truth. This made the narrative more marketable to the white audience and people were listening. Douglass realized that he did not need assurance from white people to be respected. That's why he addressed his master for all the wrong things done to him. Slaves are looked as not human. Douglass completes his journey from slave to man when he creates his own identity. He speaks out, fighting as an abolitionist and finally becoming an author. Douglass tells his story not simply as a search for fr...
Both Fredrick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs write narratives about their time being slaves. The narratives show dehumanization through physical and emotional abuse, along with sexual abuse supported with textual evidence. However, Jacobs states "slavery is bad for men, but is for more terrible for women", which I concur with.
“Sincerely and earnestly hoping that this little book may do something toward throwing light on the American slave system, and hastening the glad day of deliverance to the millions of my brethren in bonds … relying upon the power of truth, love, and justice, for success in my … efforts and solemnly pledging myself anew to the sacred cause, I subscribe myself” (Douglass 76). With these words, Frederick Douglass (c. 1817-1895), an emancipated slave with no formal education, ends one of the greatest pieces of propaganda of the 19th century America: that slavery is good for the slave. He writes his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, as an abolitionist tool to shape his northern audience’s view of southern slaveholders. Through personal anecdotes, Douglass draws an accurate picture of slave life. Simultaneously, he chooses these events for how they will affect the northern audience’s opinion of southern slaveholders (Quarles ii). By using the written word, Douglass targets educated northern whites because they were the only group capable of changing the status quo. Illiterate northern whites and free northern blacks could not vote, while white Southerners would not vote because they did not want change. For that reason, Douglass used his life story as an instrument to promote abolition among literate northern whites (vi).
...ica. Anna Hartwell states, “Christianity occupies a central place in Malcolm’s account of white supremacy, in both its global and domestic incarnations” (Hartwell). She also states, “Against this Christian tainted legacy, Malcolm X counterpoises Islam as “the true religion of the black man”. Islamic universalism proffered for him an alternative to U.S. citizenship, which had constantly failed to live up to its promises for African Americans” (Hartwell). Malcolm X had an understandable dislike of the system of white supremacy because it is a system that thrives from people being on the bottom who have higher percentages of taxes taken out paychecks even though they make far less than everyone else. The thing about white supremacy is that it affects in a negative way poor people of all colors, but black people suffer the most for obvious reasons. This was the message
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, brings to light many of the social injustices that colored men, women, and children all were forced to endure throughout the nineteenth century under Southern slavery laws. Douglass's life-story is presented in a way that creates a compelling argument against the justification of slavery. His argument is reinforced though a variety of anecdotes, many of which detailed strikingly bloody, horrific scenes and inhumane cruelty on the part of the slaveholders. Yet, while Douglas’s narrative describes in vivid detail his experiences of life as a slave, what Douglass intends for his readers to grasp after reading his narrative is something much more profound. Aside from all the physical burdens of slavery that he faced on a daily basis, it was the psychological effects that caused him the greatest amount of detriment during his twenty-year enslavement. In the same regard, Douglass is able to profess that it was not only the slaves who incurred the damaging effects of slavery, but also the slaveholders. Slavery, in essence, is a destructive force that collectively corrupts the minds of slaveholders and weakens slaves’ intellects.
“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
Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglas are both ideally similar but at the same time, vastly different. While their paths to freedom are not in line, they share the same views on the value of education. Likewise goals and methods are a point on which they do not agree. Neither of them lived a soft and easy life, but if you were to ask one of them, he would tell you that he lived life to the fullest and it was good.