Who Is Frederick Douglass An Abolitionist

Slavery has always been a difficult topic to discuss from the point of view of a slave, due to the lack of information directly from slaves. Thankfully, a now well-known abolitionist and former slave, Frederick Douglass wrote a narrative of his entire life in slavery, as far back as he could remember. He let the world know the ugly truth of what life was like for an America slave, and what trauma slaves endured all around him. Douglass let’s people explore his innermost thoughts and only hides details when discussing his escape, as to not prevent other slaves from escaping through the Underground Railroad, as he did. His book, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, finally humanizes slaves. It also shows many forms
of resistance that was taken by abolitionist, such as Vesey and Walker. Overall, abolitionists used a variety of techniques, some violent, and some peaceful, such as stealing.
No matter the form of rebellion, all abolitionist were striving for the same result, the end of slavery.
Douglass was born into slavery and experienced vastly different masters before fleeing to Freedom in New York. All of his experiences formed him into a strong abolitionist that was able to succeed as a free man, against all odds. His abolitionist views began to take shape when he was still a young boy. His master’s wife began to teach him the alphabet and how to spell a few, simple words until his master saw what was happening. He put a stop to this behavior quickly, “To use his own words, further, he said,”If you give a n* an inch, he will take an ell. A n* should know nothing but to obey his master- to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best n* in the world.”(Douglass 28) This crass and vile language lit a fire in young Douglass, “From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom.”(Douglass 29) Douglass used disobedience in the form of learning to read and write. Douglass also used a more aggressive form of resistance after being transported to a plantation to be broken. Douglass began to use violence against his mater, Mr. Covy. After enduring multiple brutal beatings,
Douglass decided to stand up for himself, which is almost unheard of in slavery. Douglass fought back when attacked by Mr. Covy, and managed to win. After Douglass used violence against his Master, he never received another beating from him again. “He would occasionally say, he didn’t want to get hold of me again. ”No.”, thought I,“you need not; for you will come off worse than you did before.”(Douglass 57) Frederick’s final form of rebellion used while he was still a slave was flight. Douglass devised a plan of escape with other slaves and wrote himself and others passes to be off the plantation. Douglass also exercised a form of rebellion by devising the plan and writing passes, known as defiance. While this attempt failed and was spoiled by one slave telling their master, Douglass did eventually succeed. Douglass was sent to Baltimore once again where he got his first real taste of equality while working side by side white men on a ship yard. This small sliver of equality reignited Douglass’ want and need for freedom. After facing mass amounts of anger and frustration upon being forced to give his mater the money he rightfully earned, Douglass was able to escape to the safety of New York.
While Douglass’ form of rebellion was peaceful up until the very end, when he could not take another beating, other abolitionist, such as Denmark Vesey, were not in favor of peace.
Vesey was born into slavery and able to buy his way out. Sadly, he was unable to buy his family out and committed himself to the abolitionist movement. Vesey was mainly known for his plan to set the town on fire in multiple places as a form of rebellion. Vesey’s plan included setting fires and “…to be ready with axes, knives, and clubs, to kill every man as he came out when the bells began to ring.”(Gorn 136) The pure violence and hatred in Vesey’s plan shows his unnecessary evil and aggressive attitude towards obtaining freedom. While Vesey’s forms of rebellion is drastically different than Douglass’, David Walkers views seemed to be more comparable to those of Douglass. Walker had never experienced slavery first hand, as he was born to a free black woman. Although, Walkers father was still trapped in slavery, helping to form Walkers abolitionist view. Walker was willing to do whatever it took to make progress in the abolitionist movement, but valued peace over violence. Walker was willing to resort to violence but only after peace was found to be inadequate when fighting for the abolishment of slavery. Walker used distribution of knowledge and education as a form of rebellion, telling of the wicked things the whites have done to blacks in slavery, just as Douglass did in his narrative. With this
being said, Walker’s forms of resistance were more compatible with those of Fredrick Douglass.
While a variety of all forms of resistance towards slavery were all important, I believe education was most critical, followed by flight. Education provided slaves with the knowledge they needed to commit other forms of resistance such as, writing passes, documenting experiences, and being able to function in the North, if they are able to escape slavery. Overall, I believe education was the key to developing most other forms of rebellion and was the key to growing the abolitionist movement so large. Especially when it came to convincing individuals who had never experienced slavery, of the cruelty that almost always took place. Flight is the second most important factor in the abolishment of slavery, because it not only saved individuals from the horrors of slavery, but allowed those individuals to tell their story and educate others on the horrors of slavery.
Finally, in 1865, slavery was abolished for good and freedom was won for all. This win was made possible due to all of the brave abolitionists and slaves that were willing to resist for a just cause. Without people like Frederick Douglass, Denmark Vesey, and David Walker, this movement to end slavery would have never been successful. No matter the form of resistance contributed, all played a major role in bring attention to the evil and horrors of slavery in the south.