Frederick Douglass: What Can Someone Accomplish In 20 Years?

What can someone accomplish in 20 years? Someone could possibly research a disease and come up with a cure for it in 20 years. Someone else could possibly get an education from kindergarten to college in 20 years. Frederick Douglass spent 20 years as a slave. He spent 20 years doing work against his own will, and he had no control of his own life. After being a slave for 20 years, Douglass was able to escape and become a leader in the abolitionist movement. Frederick Douglass was able to escape slavery and become a leader in the abolitionist movement because of his inner drive. Throughout his life as a slave, Douglass always longed for more in life, became self-sufficient by working and saving money, and never gave up hope. These are the three things that helped Douglass escape the chains of slavery once and for all. First of all, Frederick Douglass was able to escape slavery because he always longed for more in life. The beginning of Douglass’s
desire for a better life began with his move to Baltimore. As Douglass said in his narrative, “Going to Baltimore laid the foundation, and opened the gateway, to all my subsequent prosperity” (Douglass 39). By moving to Baltimore, Frederick Douglass saw how wonderful city life could be. If Douglass had never moved to Baltimore, he probably never would’ve realized how much was really out there in the world at that time. Throughout the course of his life in slavery, Douglass longed to live a life in the North, where he could be a free man. If not for his desire to live a better life, Douglass never would’ve escaped slavery. Since Douglass longed for more in life, he became self-sufficient in order to aid himself in becoming a free man. Douglass became self-sufficient by learning how to read and write, working on his own, and saving the money he was given. The first way Frederick Douglass became self-sufficient was by learning to read and write. He learned to do so by taking lessons from young boys he met on the streets and by copying letters on ships to paper. By learning to read and write, Douglass began to think more for himself. He became more independent. Douglass also became self-sufficient by working himself and earning wages. By learning to work on his own, Douglass felt a sense of accomplishment that he was doing work for pay. Despite earning wages from working, Douglass had to turn his money over to his master at the end of each week. In an attempt to make Douglass feel better about having to turn over his money, Frederick Douglass’s master gave him a little money each week from his wages. This disheartened Douglass despite the fact that it was supposed to make him feel rewarded. Even though Frederick Douglass felt cheated that he had to give over his wages to his master when it was him who had done the work, he still saved the little money that was given to him and continued working until his master no longer allowed it. Even though Douglass was disappointed that he didn’t get to keep his own wages for the work he had done, he never lost his hope that he would one day escape slavery. Hope is the last thing that led to Douglass’s freedom and leadership.
The original source of Douglass’s hope was him learning to read and write. After getting that education, Douglass felt more powerful, and he hoped that he would be able to escape the clutches of slavery. Throughout the entirety of his slavery, except for a short time while he was emotionally broken by a slave master named Mr. Covey, Douglass never lost hope. Once Frederick Douglass stood up to the slave-breaking master, he felt powerful enough to do anything. He was filled with a new sense of confidence and hope that he would one day become a free man. Even when a plan to escape failed, it didn’t dishearten Douglass. Instead, it encouraged him to want to escape even more. Once Douglass did escape slavery and become a free man, his hope for other slaves to become free is what helped him become a big leader in the fight against slavery. Douglass’s inner hope played the biggest factor in his successful escape and career as an advocate for
abolition. In the end, it was Frederick Douglass’s inner drive that helped him escape slavery and become a leader in the fight against slavery. Douglass desired more than just a life of slavery, he wanted to be a free man every day of his life from the moment he laid eyes on the city of Baltimore. He became intellectually independent by learning to read and write, working on his own, and saving up money. Finally, Douglass never gave up hope. He always dreamed of a better life and pushed himself to find a way to escape the grasp of slavery. The combination of a desire for a better life, self-sufficiency, and hope was what inevitably helped Douglass escape his life of being a slave and become a leader. In the end, it was Douglass’s inner drive that allowed him to become a free man.