In his narrative, he writes about his mistress. He writes, “My mistress, who had kindly commenced to instruct me, had, in compliance with the advice and direction of her husband, not only ceased to instruct, but had set her face against my being instructed by any one else” (Douglass, pg. 113). Because of the fact that Douglass was a slave, his mistress stopped teaching him and prevented anyone else from doing so. “When I was sent of errands, I always took my book with me, and by going one part of my errand quickly, I found time to get a lesson before my return” (Douglass, pg 115).
Looking back into our country’s history I’ve come to realized school is something that was not always so easily accessible by everyone. Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X are two perfect examples of people that were either not given the opportunity to learn or denied the opportunity to learn. Frederick Douglass was a man who was born a slave and not given the opportunity to go to school and learn to read and write. Douglass’ mistress had taught him to read and write but was prohibited from teaching him further more by her husband shortly after Frederick’s success in both reading and writing (143). When the mistress noticed her husband’s disapproval of her actions she started to act more violently and like a stereotypical slave owner.
The littlest things can change how we are seen as a person. For example Frederick Douglass was a slave, but he took the time to be educated and started asking questions about why the whites were doing what they were doing. Because Frederick Douglass was a slave he was seen to be a piece of property and not human in his master’s eyes, this was wrong! In the past slaves were not to be educated, it was against the law to educate a slave. Whites were scared of the power that education could offer the slaves.
When he escaped slavery and learned to read he felt that it gave him hope and freedom. By learning to read he became the leader of the abolitionist movement, known for his oratory and antislavery writings. He challenged himself to set the goal to read, wanting to improve; it wasn’t an easy task and he often felt like giving up. “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free” (Douglass). If he’d done so he may never have been the first African American nominated for vice president of the United States.
As Douglass puts it, “nothing seemed to make her more angry than to see me with a newspaper”. This evidently shows she abhors Douglass’ determination to learn. As Douglass was running his errands for his mistress, he overcame this challenge by befriending the white kids in the neighborhoodThis way, he is able to have them teach him. One way these two situations are similar is that the authors receive help in achieving the goal to learn. Miss Sullivan helps Keller understand language whereas
To conclude, the Middle Passage is clearly the roots of the slavery that occurred in the United States. Learning about the Middle Passage, gives us a better understanding of the long journey that the slaves endured. How being treated as cargo made them less superior and the torture and living conditions were unimaginable. Hopefully we can end the road, which racism has paved in this country. But more importantly, that no other human being should ever have to go through what the African slaves
The Masters would use the children as bartering tools when African American women would refuse to engage in certain things that the master wanted her to do. In many cases the African women would have sex with the Master so that their friend, husband etc. would not be beaten or killed. Woman are very strong creatures and they seem to have had very good instincts when it came to what would help to prevent another occurrence whether a woman knew how to read or not she was able to assist with orchestrating a plan to escape slavery. Men definitely did not do it alone and if all you pick up is the books that are only given in schools you will miss so much more in depth information about how they assisted with all that we have today.
The first time Douglass fully understands this is when Hugh Auld gets mad at his wife for teaching Douglass how to spell some small words. Hugh tells his wife that, “If you give a nigger an inch, they will take an ell” (Douglass 78), which expresses his view on how quickly things would turn around if a slave were to learn how to write. Hugh doesn’t realize, but by saying this, he gives Douglass a clear vision of what is really going on with slavery. Douglass then understands that by keeping the slaves illiterate, the slaveholders are actually manipulating slaves into thinking that there is nothing for them but slavery. With this vision, Douglass begins to pursue the idea of knowledge.
Venture Smith was captured, and forced into slavery as a boy in the early 1700’s. Through a series of violent events, Smith’s reaction to enslavement evolves throughout his years as a slave. Like his father Saungm Furro, the history of violence perpetrated by the invading “white nation”, is what he grows up to despise. Venture Smith was only a boy when he was enslaved and captured. Being so young, he was a submissive participant in his enslavement.
It would make him discontent and unhappy.” This quote shows history at how slaves were thought of and treated. This was written from a slave’s point of view on what he heard and saw. Unfortunately most slaves did not teach themselves nor were taught how to read and write so their voices and opinions were never heard. Without this the reader would not fully understand the prejudice and close mindedness people of that time period had about slaves. Douglas also understood at that time the pathway from slavery to freedom was education.