How Did Frederick Douglass Become An Abolitionist?

To be an educated black or colored man was rare in the 1800’s, so rare it could cost a black man his life. For Douglass to become an abolitionist was truly amazing seeing that the odds were not in his favor. Douglass put his life in danger many times and face many obstacles to become the educated man he was. With the help of Abraham Lincoln, Douglass helped in the writing of the Emancipation Proclamation to free and abolish slavery in all America. In the autobiography My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass, he shows that education incarcerates him by limiting him to learn more, keeping quiet about what he knows, and that his knowledge could have devastating consequences. To Begin with, Douglass Knows that being a colored man would limit him to further continue his education. Douglass says “If I remained in a separate room from
Douglass himself says in his autobiography, “seized with a determination to learn to read, at any cost, I hit upon many expedients to accomplish the desired end” (500). Although he was a slave, he always found a way to keep learning without letting anyone know. Douglass found many means to keep learning and also keep quiet about how he was doing it. Horn speaking about Douglass says, “In order to attain literacy, Douglass is compelled to resort to indirections’ such as exchanging bread for reading lessons from hungry white children in the streets of Baltimore” (Horn). Douglass was so determined that he probably spent many restless nights learning to read and write, whether sick or in health he kept going. Douglass knew that exchanging bread with the white children of Baltimore would be worth it because he knew that his education has no price. Douglass knows that his education could cost him his life, but still learned even when the society he lived in, didn’t want him to