What connections between education and freedom does Douglass make?
In Chapter Six, Douglass is staying with the Aulds. Sophia Auld, initially a kind woman, starts to teach him how to read. Mr. Auld stops the lessons as soon as he realizes what is going on. He says that teaching a slave to read would spoil the slave (he doesn’t use those exact words…). Douglass realizes that since Mr. Auld doesn’t want him to learn to read, he determines to do so. He finds school copy-books and secretly traces the words inside it. He finds poor white boys and bribes them with bread in order to teach him how to read. He finds a copy of The Columbian Orator and begins to read it. The book contains a famous speech between a master and a slave, in which the master lists the reasons that slavery is justified and the slave refutes each and every one. The speech moves Douglass emotionally. After he has learned to read, Douglass realizes that the slaveholders do not teach their slaves to read because it is only then that the slave can realize just how unfair their lot is. He
Related Questions
- True American Freedom begins with education of the Declaration of Independence and the 40 Grievances that define 40 definitions to recognize tyranny in government. Have you read them?
- Can someone explain what Freedom of information act of 1966 is about?
- What is the need of symbols in general and during freedom struggle ?
