Frederick Douglass
Literacy is powerful and can turn a slave into a free man, abolitionist, orator, author, editor, or an activist. Frederick Douglass and his quest for literacy allowed him to express his moral values, which were in contradiction with the moral values of a society entrenched in slavery. His opposition believed literacy should be restricted, while he and a select group of others believed that everyone was deserving. Frederick Douglass’ most powerful experience with words and literacy occurred when he was a child; though he did not fully comprehend them, he was beginning to recognize how powerful words could be. In my opinion, based on Douglass’ experiences throughout his life, moral law is more important than written law.
In the beginning, Douglass was unaware of his birthright-slavery-until he was taken to Colonial Lloyd’s plantation. It was here that he experienced the hardship and witnessed the cruelty of slavery. He suffered from starvation and the cold. He learned the one word that could bring a slave a lifetime of misery. That word was “impudence.” “This crime could be committed by a slave in 100 different ways… [it could be] a look, a word, a gesture, accidental or intentional, never failed to be taken as impudence” (Douglass 499). Physical punishment was always the penalty for this crime. Though Douglass did not fully understand why, he knew in his heart this was not right. No one deserved such treatment.
Douglass, now about eight years old, was sent to Baltimore to live with Hugh Auld and his family. It was here that Sophia Auld, Hugh’s wife, taught Douglass his ABCs and how to spell small words. When Hugh. Auld discovered that his wife was teaching Douglass to read, he immediately stopped her teaching and forbid her from continuing. Hugh Auld set about to instruct Sophia Auld on how to properly manage their "property". Hugh Auld said, “If you learn him now to read, he’ll want to know how to write; and, this accomplished, he’ll be running away with himself” (Douglass 217). Hugh Auld explained in teaching Douglass how to read, you will only harm him. You will make him unfit to do his work, unhappy, and rebellious. Douglass’s heart sank when he heard Hugh Auld’s words, and he began to feel defiant and angry. He realized that Hugh Auld wanted him to be an ignorant slave. Douglass thought that if “knowledge unfits a child to be a slave,” he would do everything in his power to overcome his ignorance (Douglass 218). Douglass realized “from that moment [he understood] the direct pathway from slavery to freedom” was literacy (Douglass 217). Douglass was determined to continue learning how to read and write. Douglass set out "with high hope, and a fixed purpose, at whatever cost of trouble, to learn how to read" (MacKethan 4). He managed to save enough money to purchase a book called The Colombian Orator, "a collection of revolutionary speeches, debates, and writings on natural rights" (National Park Service). The words contained in this book would later help serve Douglass in his pursuit to become a great orator.
With the news of Colonial Lloyd’s death, Douglass was sent back to the plantation where he would be counted and divided with the rest of the property and given to the remaining heirs. Douglass was given to Thomas Auld, and shortly after, Douglass was sent to work in the fields, with hopes that it would break him into submission. Douglass boldly rebelled by teaching other slaves to read and he physically resisted a slave-breaker. Douglass decided that he could no longer endure this type of life. If he stayed, he would die. He needed his freedom; he needed to escape.
After Douglass escaped to Baltimore, he began to attend abolitionist meetings. It was not long before he began to speak out against slavery. Douglass spoke out about being a slave, but never mentioned the name of his slave owner, or where he came from, because he feared retaliation. Then Douglass met William Lloyd Garrison, who was a prominent abolitionist. He encouraged Douglass to write his story, to write about his life as a slave. So Douglass wrote his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave. Douglass wrote a truthful account of his life, naming names and places. Douglass later fled to England, where he promoted his book and continued speaking out against slavery.
While in England, Douglas wrote to Thomas Auld about exposing him in his book. Douglass wrote the letter on the anniversary of his escape from Thomas Auld. It had been ten years from the time Thomas Auld took ownership of Douglass. Douglass informed Thomas Auld that he remembered their abusive relationship and feels the injustices done to him allow him this privilege of recounting his treatment of Douglass in the book and in public. Douglass feels that Thomas Auld’s actions void any personal rights to privacy or propriety. “All will agree that a man guilty of theft, robbery, or murder, has forfeited the right to concealment and private life; that the community have a right to subject such persons to the most complete exposure” (Douglass 412). Douglass is calling him out, exposing him for what he was. Douglass may not have had the power or the means to fight back against Thomas Auld then, but now, Douglass used his words to fight his fight. “The morality of the act I dispose of as follows: I am myself; you are yourself; we are two distinct persons, equal persons. What you are, I am. You are a man, and so am I. God created both, and made us separate beings” (Douglass 414). This was a brave move on Douglass’s part. In the day, it would be unheard of for a slave, who was to be illiterate and left in ignorance, to write a letter to his master/slave owner. Undoubtedly a bitter pill for Thomas Auld to swallow.
It would be almost two years before Douglass would return to the United States. Douglass was still a fugitive slave, and he would need to find a way to legally obtain his freedom. Unsure if Mr. Thomas Auld still sought revenge, or whether money could buy Douglass’s freedom. In the end, Douglass bought his freedom and returned to his life’s work of speaking out for literacy and working toward ending slavery.
Douglass would come face-to-face with Thomas Auld one more time. In 1881, Douglas would be formerly invited by Thomas Auld, who wasnow over eighty years old, to come visit. “Slavery was destroyed, and the slave and the master stood upon equal ground” (Cirillo 28). Coming back to the plantation and meeting with the man who had inflicted so much pain, filled Douglass with bitterness and anger. For forty years Douglass had fiercely spoke out about this man’s character and his treatment of Douglass. Douglass thought back on Thomas Auld’s treatment, “He had struck down my personality, had subjected me to his will, made property of my body and soul, reduced me to a chattel, hired me out to a noted slave breaker to be worked like a beast and flogged into submission,…forbidden me to teach my fellow-slaves to read on pain of nine and thirty lashes on my bare back” (Douglass 875). Douglass would not have visited this man back in the days of slavery for fear of being put in shackles and put on the auction block. But Douglass now “regarded him as I did myself, a victim of the circumstances of birth, education, law, and custom” (Douglas 875). Their meeting was emotional and it brought old Thomas Auld to tears. Thomas Auld admitted, “Frederick, I always knew that you were too smart to be a slave, and had I been in your place, I should have done as you did” (Douglass 877). Douglass admitted “I did not run away from you, but from slavery” (Douglass 877). Thomas Auld would die days after their meeting.
At an early age, Douglass learned the power of words. A man's words could be as powerful as a whip or freedom. Douglass’ learning to read set him on a path that would turn a slave into a free man, and if you look on this site’s home page you will see a list of all his other accomplishments made possible by learning to read. Frederick Douglass was a believer in moral law and unrestricted literacy, and knew its importance over man’s written law.
"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free" -- Frederick Douglass