Frederick Douglass Learning To Read Essay

In today’s society, when one recalls how they learned to read and write, one’s memory isn’t momentous as it once was. Although activists Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X are two different men with two different stories written more than a century apart, they share a common perspective about the importance of basic reading and writing skills that so many take for granted. These simple tools lead to immeasurable and eternal, personal and social changes. In fact, Frederick Douglass’ “Learning to Read and Write” and Malcolm X’s “Learning to Read”, collectively conceptualize learning to read and write as the method for personal and social deliverance. Both Analects divulge important connections between the concept of freedom and the process of
Douglass’ description of his mistress rushing at him, angry because she catches him reading a newspaper, affirms this. On the other hand, Malcolm was conscious of his verbal abilities, observing that he considered himself to be the most articulate hustler in the streets; but the realization that he lacked the skills necessary to communicate his ideas as convincingly as he knew he was capable of overwhelmed him. Able to recognize that speech is a critical component in how people perceive and relate to one another he declares, “Many who today hear me somewhere in person, or on television, or those who read something I’ve said, will think I went to school far beyond the eighth grade”. (Malcolm X)
Malcolm and Douglass commonly communicate how essential the process of learning to read and write were to their personal development and social awareness. Their interpretation of how words have the ability to move, transform even liberate people is astounding. Malcolm states “I never had been so truly free in my life”, and “reading had forever changed the course of my life”. (Malcolm X) The importance of both of these works in both African American and American literature signify how reading and writing can become a catalyst for social and personal liberation as knowledge is learned, shared and acted