The comparison on Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglass's views on slavery and prejudice are quite similar. They both were black slaves who hoped for a better future for blacks that did not include slavery. They both detested slavery and the prejudice of the whites and believed that everyone was equal. Booker T. Washington's book Up From Slavery is an excellent view of what he went through as a slave and how he views slavery and prejudice. Frederick Douglass also wrote a book "The Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass" which is also a great example of what slaves had to go through every day, confined to slavery.
Althoughboth narratives are about learning to read, their journeys include many differences also. Frederick Douglass was an African American slave, born in February of 1818. In his narrative "Learning to Read and Write" he lists the ways he learned how to read and write, using exemplififcation. While noting that Douglass had to sneak around for books, he didnt have any sort of education around him, which made his strive for education a lot stronger. He was forced to teach himself how to read, considering no one cared enough about African American to offer them an edcation, so he leardned from books.
This meant that Douglass was on his own to educate himself. However, with these words Douglass finally saw his “pathway from slavery to freedom” (29). Learning suddenly became a way towards freedom because it would give him a sense of right and wrong. He learns the evils of slavery and understands that he doesn’t have to live this way. Douglass now knew the steps he must take in order to become a man of society, not a man of slavery.
Douglass has no “respect” because he is thrown into a world of slavery where he must tolerate the disrespect being shoved at him. It isn’t until his fight with slave-breaker Edward Covey that the beginning stage of “respect” starts to make its way to him. The fight is where I can see Douglass start to transform. He writes "You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man" (47). Brewton also brings to my attention that Douglass “devotes greater space in his first autobiography to the portrait of Covey than to any other character, black or white.” I think this is because the fight with Covey is a pivotal turning point for Douglass.
In addition to not having Blacks in America, many great American novels would not exist. As Ellison puts it, “Mark Twain celebrated [slavery] in the prose of Huckleberry Finn; without the presence of Blacks the book could not have been written”(82). Blacks inspired many American writers. If Blacks didn’t exist, those novels or writings would have never been seen. These things can alter the history of America if Blacks didn’t exist.
In my opinion, the narrative was very well written and it was a great resource when learning about the lives of slaves. Douglass’s Narrative shows how white slaveholders continue slavery by keeping their slaves ignorant. At the time Douglass was writing, many people believed that slavery was a natural state of being. Slave owners keep slaves ignorant of basic facts about themselves, such as their birth date or who their parents were. This ignorance robs children of their natural sense of individual identity.
Many people like to learn from books, but it is not enough because life is full of things which require more life experience. Both life experience and books have advantages. Firstly, people start to learn from experience at ages when they are not able to read and understand. Children cannot read grammar books to learn language and communicate with people. They learn how to speak from people who are around them.
So reading really does matter after all. There are so many ways in which reading continues to be both a vital skill for children to master, and an important source of knowledge and pleasure that can last a lifetime. I would like to say to others that make the most of all the resources that are available and waiting for you: printed books, online books, magazines and so forth. And parents encourage your children to follow-up activities involving creative writing skills and the arts, as well, so that your children can reflect upon or expand on what they've absorbed and, at the same time,
It allows speaking languages fluently and to communicate spontaneously. Therefore, the book can be faithful friend and the nearest into us which can guide us to how to behave in our practical life. Books have done far more for me, personally, than anything else in my life except good parenting skills displayed by my parents. Reading increases my vocabulary, aids in refreshing myself, and allows me the opportunity to see the world through someone else’s eyes. As they may have done for others, books do increase my vocabulary.
Some slaves resisted in passive ways against the trade and slavery. Sam Sharp resisted in a passive way as he decided not to work on Christmas day, this drew attention to the slave trade. Olaudah Equiano is another example of a passive fighter. He was a member of the 'Sons of Africa', a group of 12 black men who campaigned for abolition. He sold books, did speeches and travelled around the world informing people about what he had gone through and how it was still going on.