Frederick Douglass was one of the most important historical figures during the Reconstruction Era. Originally a slave, Douglass became a freed man and one of the strongest abolitionists among black men at the time. To understand Douglass's championing of education, he will have to understand his backstory and the predicament he was in. Douglass was originally taught by his slave master's wife, but whenever the master found out about this he demanded his wife to stop (Frazer 97). Douglass, however, thirsty for knowledge; kept finding ways to read and write. Douglass learned how to further read by making friends with poor white boys. These boys very may have given him books or newspapers after befriending or doing them favors. Douglass learned to write from learning four letters in a the Durgin shipyard for crafting boats. From there Douglass would challenge his white boys to "who knew the most letters." This way he learned more letters in time. Eventually he read from a book known as the Columbian Orator changed his view entirely.
Upon reading the Columbian Orator, Douglass learned of the troubled past of black slaves and how they originated from Africa. Douglass later blamed himself for reading this as he grew angered by what he had read. He blamed the white men for robbing his black ancestors from a peaceful heritage into captivity. After all this and while still enslaved, he would have hold a secret night school to teach fellow slaves how to read and write (Urban 121). Douglass saw a multitude of reasons why literacy was important to the slave culture. He primarily say education as a way to fight back against his white oppressors. Slave masters had long feared slaves with knowledge, and it's not hard to see why. If a slave was educated he would have more likely found his way to freedom or fought back against the slave master. Douglass believed education was the primal way to find a way to freedom and best preserve the black slaves. Another side reason why he valued literacy was cultural transmission. With this cultural learning it would be much easier to integrate into white society in the future. Both these ideas hold true today. Consider immigrants - they are taught English and take necessary classes to prepare themselves for life in America. This is the most basic form of cultural transmission and really a class like ETE 115 is a way of cultural learning by learning about these past events. The other idea that education will lead to freedom and defeat tyranny still holds true today. There are many historical examples leading up to today, and this truth will never change.
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