Frederick Douglass

Vince Tang
English 48A
Journal for F. Douglass
October 18, 2011

Reading Quote:

“I have found that, to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason” (2116).

Research Quote:

“…in the moments following the speech, the twenty-three-year-old fugitive slave ‘felt a degree of freedom’ and, just as important, realized he had discovered his vocation” (2060).

Summary of Reading Quote:

Keeping a slave ignorant of moral values, denying him any opportunity to think for himself, and destroying his rational thoughts will turn him into a mindless but satisfied slave.

Response:

Some slave owners act as though they are a pure soul from heaven deserving the right to re-create God’s creation of man. God created man with moral values, individual thoughts, and the ability to reason. To blind someone of all this through intense labor and physical abuse in order to distract them from realizing their natural traits as human beings and lead them to believe that their sole existence is to serve their masters without question; to do all this to a slave is to re-create his human existence. Without the natural abilities to know what is right and what is wrong or make rational decisions, the slave becomes a loyal subject to his master and faithfully fulfills his orders to avoid punishment. This is similar to a Christian serving Christ. A faithful Christian does not question the Almighty but devotes himself to the Lord as his Shepherd in order to avoid eternal damnation. The difference is that a Christian religiously serves the Divine while a slave mindlessly serves another man. Christian or not, slave owners purchase their human properties expecting loyal labor by making them contented slaves.

Not all slaves accept their sole existence as a servant of another man. Douglass turned his meaningless life of slavery into “…the most influential African American leader of the nineteenth century and as one of the greatest orators of the age” (2061). It is through the power of language that leads him to his reputation. Learning to read materials such as Sheridan’s speeches opened his eyes to human rights. He was now discovering moral values through his own perspective. Without the distractions of extreme labor and abuse, Douglass was able to contemplate on his readings and devise reasonable strategies for a life of freedom. Learning to write helped the abolitionist communicate his anti-slavery message through personal experience. The power of language essentially gave the determined Douglass a purpose in life; a determination to abolish slavery.