One of the most ardent champions of the movement for Afro-American rights, Frederick Douglass went a long way from being a slave to a well-known and respected member of American society. Having lived through many hardships, Douglass managed to retain the spirit of freedom that sustained him during all of his life. A slave and a preacher, an editor, and a political activist, he became the symbol of what a person can achieve when he or she is ready to fight for what he or she believes in.
Frederick Douglass was born in a family of slaves in Maryland and was awarded to Thomas Auld as a slave. Having escaped from his master, Douglass became a preacher. Later his abolitionist views found their reflection in his work when he toured around the country with speeches and started his newspaper. Being a political activist, Douglass supported the general suffrage and women’s rights movement. His uncompromising views allowed him to become a prominent political figure, who served as a party functionary, a minister, and a consul general.
Douglass’s Narrative reveals hidden truths about the lives, culture, and psychological struggles of American slaves. Thus, Douglass discloses that he “suffered many beatings” (#172) when he was in slavery. Moreover, he described how all his family was sold to different owners and he had a chance to see his brother only many years after they were separated (#172). The psychological struggles the slaves experienced were the separation from their loved ones as well as harsh treatment on the part of their masters. From a cultural point of view, the slaves had no education, and Douglass was proud of the fact that Sophia Auld helped him to learn to read (#172).
Douglass portrays slaveholders as heartless people who do not care about the sufferings of the slaves. Thus, he mentions “severe beatings” and the fact that once sold, he had no way of keeping in touch with his family who were all given to different masters without the slightest consideration of their family ties and feelings (#172). The only recurrent Douglass’ thought at the time of slavery was how to escape since the conditions of life and work were beyond human endurance.
In Douglass’ narrative, a home is a place where his heart belongs. Married for 42 years to one woman and having fathered four children, Douglass appreciated family life like no one else, being separated from his family early in childhood. Though Douglass traveled a lot to support his cause, he always returned to his family which he perceived as his home. Douglass did not seek power and saw it as leverage that should work for the benefit of the community. Thus, he nearly opposed Lincoln’s inauguration as he believed that Lincoln would not be able to bring the country to prosperity. Later, however, he changed his point of view and was able to advise the president on emancipation (#175).
Douglass abhorred violence, as he was subjected to it many times during his life. Apart from the beatings he received as a slave, he was more than once attacked by the mob for delivering abolitionist speeches (#174-175). Douglass understood friendship as having similar ideas on the issues of prominence. Thus, his friend Julia Griffiths for seven years remained his confidant and fund-raiser for his newspaper (#173). In his mind, Frederick Douglass had resolve few people can boast about. He stuck to his ideas with all his heart and carried them through all his life, notwithstanding the beatings, the mob attacks, and fierce opposition. Douglass was a single-minded person ready to fight for what he believed in. Finally, Frederick understood manhood as the courage to challenge the established norms and change the lives of millions of people for the better. To his last days and notwithstanding the opposition, he remained a fierce advocate of abolitionism, universal suffrage, and supporter of women’s rights.
Literacy played a major role in Douglass’s life since it allowed him to engage in journalism where he expressed his ideas on abolitionism and slavery. Thus, he wrote editorials where he was seen as an “aggressive war propagandist for the union cause” (# 175). Moreover, literacy allowed Douglass to launch his newspaper. The newspaper was read by millions of people across the country so that Douglass’s ideas could find a track in the hearts of many people. Later in life, literacy allowed Douglass to hold positions of prominence in the political system, spreading his ideas across the country.
Douglass’s personal life is both inspiring and horrifying. Throughout his life he carried the idea about the inadmissibility of slavery as to him, slavery meant bondage of the mind as much as of the body. While he suffered severe beating from his owners, he never gave up the idea first of escape and later in life, the idea of freedom and equality for everyone. The belief in his ideals sustained him in the most difficult times when “he was sought by US marshals as an accomplice” (#174) in a slave revolt. His life is horrifying in what he had to endure and suffer for his ideals – beatings, mob attacks, and allegations of complicity in criminal activities. Besides, he was separated from most of his family for decades and was able to see them only many years after. However, Douglass’s life is inspiring, too, since he, a man without education and on the top of it a slave, managed to build a career many people would envy. He was accepted into the highest echelons of power, an example of which is that he was invited to the White House “to advice Lincoln on election and emancipation” (# 175). During his life, Douglass was a party functionary, an acclaimed speaker at political events, and a minister to Haiti, outstanding achievements for someone with such a poor start in life as Douglass had.
Douglass’s narratives can be seen as a form of Abolition propaganda since in them he supported universal suffrage and equal rights for Afro-Americans and the whites. A good example of his ideas lies in the fact that he ceased recruiting Afro-Americans in the civil war because of “discriminations against black soldiers in pay, rank, and other treatment” (# 175). Moreover, he was nearly put in prison as an accomplice in a slave revolt. All these facts show that Douglass saw abolition as the only way of developing the American society worth considering.
The title Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, An American Slave can be seen as an oxymoron since initially being a slave himself, Douglass managed to make for the anti-slavery movement more than many free people. He advocated American liberties that at those times existed for a chosen few, for everyone. American slavery could co-exist with the idea of American Liberties only as long as Afro-American lives were not considered of importance. Once they began to count, a fierce abolitionist movement was launched to put an end to the shameful practice of slavery and grant equal rights to everyone.
Frederick Douglass’ life can be seen as an example of what a person can achieve when following his or her path without hesitation and with resolve. Indeed, Douglass’ transformation from a slave into a respected political figure could be called miraculous had not people known how much effort it took. Douglass’s belief and courage allowed him to greatly contribute to the future of the nation by promoting ideas he believed in.