Miguel Castrejon

History 1070
November 17, 2015

Frederick Douglass: Literacy leads slaves to question their condition.

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave is an autobiography of

Frederick Douglass. His autobiography narrates the different obstacles Douglass had to face throughout
his life as an American slave. Douglass was born into slavery in Talbot County, Maryland, but this fact
did not stop him from becoming one of the most famous intellectuals of that time. Douglass desired to
learn how to read and write but he later finds out that for him to become literate, he would have to go
through many obstacles and this will all start when he had a conversation with his master about literacy.
According to Mr. Auld, knowing how to read spoils a slave, because he feared that literacy would
endow slaves with the knowledge necessary to question slavery. Literacy leads slaves into wanting a
better condition and no longer want to be slaves.

Soon after Douglass went to live with Mr. and Mrs. Auld, Mrs. Auld commenced to teach him
the ABCs and then proceeded to show him how to spell words of three or four letters. When Mr. Auld
found out what was going on he instructs Mrs. Auld not to teach Douglass anymore. Mr. Auld
conceives it is not only unlawful and unsafe but he also said: If you give a nigger an inch, he will take
an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his masterto do as he is told to do. Learning would
spoil the best nigger in the world(78). Meaning that the attention should only be towards his master
and nothing else. He believed He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master.
As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and
unhappy(78). These words sank deep inside Douglass's heart. Mr. Auld unwittingly revealed to

Douglass a new goal, the path from slavery to freedom.

This new goal of freedom prompted Douglass to action and into behaving less like a slave.
Douglass adopted a simple plan, he would befriend all the little white boys in the street and would
make them his teachers. When Douglass was sent of errands, he would always take a book, and by
quickly finishing his errand, he proceeded to read a small part of it. He would also trade with little kids
for a piece of their bread of knowledge, he said I used also to carry bread with me... this bread I used
to bestow upon the hungry little urchins, who, in return, would give me that more valuable bread of
knowledge(80). The idea that a simple slave could have been as intellectual as Douglass was
outrageous, the mindset was that no slave has the necessary knowledge to trick a superior being, a
white person. Now that Douglass knew how to read there was only one more thing to do, learn how to
write. While he was in Durgin and Baily's ship-yard, Douglass noticed that once a ship carpenter was
done hewing and getting a piece of timber ready to use, they would write the name of the part of the
ship for which it as intended. This way he learned that the letter some of the abbreviations such as 'L'
for left, 'A' for aft, 'S' for side, and 'F' for forward, which eventually aided his ability to write.
Now that Douglass was literate he became dissatisfied. Literacy brought unhappiness to Douglass, just
like Mr. Auld said would happen. Douglass proclaims, I often found myself regretting my own
existence, and wishing myself dead.(81) The dark truth behind slavery sank deep inside Douglass'
heart and the thought of being a slave for the rest of his life troubled him. He used to tell the little white
boys in the street, You will be free as soon as you are twenty-one, but I am a slave for life! Have not I
as good a right to be free as you have?(80) Every once in a while, Douglass would hear the word
abolitionist, he found out that the word abolition was used to refer to any wrong doing against a slave
master. Every time this words came around, Douglass would always draw near expecting to hear
something of importance.

During Douglass' journey to freedom he was faced with many difficult obstacles, but because of
the knowledge he received from Mrs. Auld, the little white boys, and from the shipyard he never gave
up even if he knew that the dream to being free was something almost unreachable. Because of his
dedication and confidence, he was able to run away to the north and speak about slavery. Once
Douglass finally finds a way to freedom and becomes a free man he decides to devote his Sundays to
teaching other slaves how to read, because of the importance of literacy.
Being able to read and write is an important skill that is used in every single day of our lives. Just like
Mr. Douglass, we can achieve important goals in our lives by writing and reading. Literacy is a vital
skill in finding a job, it develops the mind, develops the imagination, and the creative side of people.
By using these two skills we discover new interesting things. Most of us do not know how hard it is to
be a person who cannot write nor read, but just imagine yourself without these two skills and think
about the difference it would make in our every days life. Thanks to reading we can question our
government's decisions and we can then proceed to take action for or against it. What would happen if
we lived in the dark and knew nothing about our government's decisions, just like slaves did? Would
we be happy, with it?