The Power Of Education In Frederick Douglass

In the Narrative of a Life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave, author Frederick Douglass shares his experiences as a slave in captivity, written after his escape to freedom, to give an inside look of exactly how slavery works: Throughout his testimony, Douglass confirms his fledgling sense that slavery is not a natural or justified form of society, but is rather a constructed power strategy supported by deprivation, mainly through education. Slaveowners accomplish this by depriving slaves of ‘basic knowledge’ as a tactic of dehumanization, but in spite, from there he begins to learn how to read and write and experiences what the power of education can do for a slave. Against all odds, through the power of education as Douglass becomes
Seeing as douglass came from not even knowing his “date of birth”(17) to his first piece of knowledge, the“A,B,C’s” from Mrs. Auld (the master's wife) sparked his thirst for knowledge, and his search for more information (44). On the contrary his master, Mr. Auld believed that if a slave learned to read, the individual would be “forever unfit to be a slave”, and become “spoiled...unmanageable, and of no value to his master”(46). Douglass learns white men only have the power to enslave black people if they can keep them from getting educated, to deprive slaves of education was to keep their slaves from rebelling and running away. Since education was looked down upon by Mr. Auld, Douglass had to find other ways to obtain more knowledge, so he begins trading food with “the hungry little urchins” in exchange for “valuable knowledge” as a payment (49). Due to his outside sources, Douglass begins to gain a vital education of current events to help him to form his own opinion. Douglass starts reading a book where “the slave was made to say some very smart...things” which exposed him to a character in his position that successfully expressed his own opinion and was written with a positive outlook in mind (50). Douglass realizes that
For example, after escaping slavery, he changes his name and is “called ‘Frederick Douglass’” by his friends and family (112). By choosing a new name to identify with moving forward, he has separated himself from his past. Next, he “[finds] -employment... in stowing a sloop with a load of oil” and starts earning his own money to provide for him and his wife (99). Since Douglass is finally able to make a living and decide for himself on what to do, he finds great empowerment in being his own master. He also starts subscribing to an anti-slavery magazine whose “faithful exposures of slavery…[send] a thrill of joy through [his] soul” (100). Douglass finds great joy in reading about the slave condition in the Liberator as he can relate to the struggles of slavery. But even after he's free, he discovers that his journey isn't over. Even after he acquires his own freedom, he realizes he can't rest until all slavery is abolished. He not only becomes an abolitionist activist himself; he writes the narrative of his life to “teach others, white and black”, how to follow in his footsteps to