Frederick Douglas Essay Example

Frederick Douglas is a massive influential figure in our generation. When he was younger he taught himself how to read and write by living by himself with no books and no teachers. He taught himself and shortly after taught others. Frederick Douglas was born in Talbot County, Maryland. He was raised by his grandmother who was a slave. When Frederick was young he was being taught how to read and write but got caught and still found a way to learn to rebel against slavery. Frederick Douglas is a very influential figure from our past because educating himself and others to read and write, inspiring them to rebel while being a slave. Also, he traveled around the world giving speeches about his life as a slave in effort to end slavery and had a prominent role in the Civil War. 

When Frederick was younger he had learned how to read and write and used that knowledge to rebel against slavery when he taught everyone else at the plantation. Frederick Douglas was a threat to slavery from a young age and the older he got the more of a threat he was. Douglass began teaching slaves on the plantation how to read and “There, he gained a reputation for disobedience” (McGrath para #2). He risked his life in order for justice for everyone in the plantation. He knew giving them knowledge about reading and writing will help them escape and start a better life forever. Teaching other slaves how to read and write, he rebelled with everyone so they could get a chance to escape and change their life. He risked his life for a change in theirs and “physically fought back against a ‘slave-breaker’” because he realized no one was going to make a change so he did it himself(Source 3 para #4) 

After becoming a free slave, he started to become a prominent figure in the Civil War. Once he was free and gaining popularity by his books and speeches the Civil War was beginning in America. While being an influential presence he used his popularity to “promote the passage of the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution.”(Source #2 para #6). Being a main role in the Civil War wasn’t a challenge for Frederick Douglas because he has been giving speeches and had an audience for the abolishment of slavery. Frederick was doing anything he could do in order to abolish slavery because he knew it was inhuman and realized a lot of African Americans couldn’t do anything about the problem.. In 1861-1865 Abraham Lincoln allowed African American to join the military so the can participate in the Civil War and Two of Douglass’s sons, Charles and Lewis, joined the 54th Massachusetts Infantry(source #3 para #11). Even though they knew they weren’t going to receive equal pay or treatment then white people, they still went in order to have a chance to abolish slavery because they realized all there life that slavery was the worst to ever happened to them there whole life and it has changed many peoples lives.

Frederick Douglas was a main figure in African American’s past fighting against slavery. Frederick Douglas taught himself how to read and write and taught others because he wanted everyone to be able to escape and have a changed life. Also once he escaped he moved across the world so he can give speeches about his past life because he wanted to gain attention to the problem because he knew no one in America would’ve made a change. Once he gained popularity he started being a main role in the Civil War because that was the one chance he had to change every African American's life forever and he knew he could do it. Even since he was young he has been changing the way he lives.