Frederick Douglass’ most important legacy was the use of his words to fight for the freedom and rights of African Americans. He used his oratory and writing skills throughout his life to communicate his desire to free African American slaves which led to the Emancipation Proclamation brought by President Abraham Lincoln. He then advocated for equal rights and opportunities for his fellow Americans as a Civil Rights leader. He published “The North Star” and “Frederick Douglass’ Paper to convey his message. He used his oratory skills until the day he died when he came home to his wife after a Women’s rights meeting and suddenly died of a massive heart attack. Douglass knew how special he was.
Whenever he saw the opportunity, in his speeches and writings, he used his own symbolism against slavery and the dehumanization of human race. In 1851 Frederick Douglass changed the name of his publication from “The North Star” to “Frederick Douglass’ Paper” Empowerment and ResponsibilityDouglass devoted his life to abolish slavery but his work did not end when in 1861 President Lincoln ended the institution of slavery. Douglass fought for civil rights and to empower African Americans to develop their own skills and to take responsibility for their actions. Slaves were used to being guided and told what to do by their owners. Douglass believed that African Americans had to prove that they deserved citizenship. He was involved in the civil war as a recruiter of African American soldiers. He encouraged them to join the Union Army as he deeply believed that America would accept them if they were contributors to society. Literature and popular cultureHis speeches and publications are part of America’s cultural history and of African American contemporary literature and politics. Douglass’ three autobiographies are one of the strongest influences in the slave narrative literary genre. His influence can be felt today as references in hip hop songs. People can shape their own futureDespite his difficult life and against all odds he taught himself to read becoming one of the most famous African Americans of the 19th century. His story was an inspiration then as it is today. One of his most relevant messages may be his belief that people have the power to shape their own future. He believed that positive changes have cumulative effect and individual transformation would positively benefit society as a whole. His vision was finally realized when Barack Obama became the first African American president of the United States on November 2008. First African American President of the United States. Back to Blog
The following post is written by NCTE member Scott Filkins. As I prepared to read Frederick Douglass’s autobiography with my 11th-grade students this fall, I thought through what I value about his work, both to frame how I would teach it and to make these ideas part of the conversation about why we read certain texts in a class called “American Literature.”
These reasons are more than sufficient, both to justify the work’s inclusion in the textual dialogue we call American literature and to give our specific conversations of his autobiography focus and meaning. But the past few times I’ve taught the book (thanks to my endlessly smart colleagues) I’ve been focusing on Douglass’s work as an example of political activism, writing for change. I feel foolish that this isn’t the approach I took in the past, given that ending massive human injustice was in fact Douglass’s goal in writing it.
“How is it not completely obvious that slavery is inhumane?” they wonder. “Why would you have to do all this to persuade someone that this kind of inequality is unethical?” The enormity of these questions energizes students’ study of the text and brings them to appreciate the complex and disturbing significance of the very fact that it had to be written. Knowing Frederick Douglass as a political activist who used his considerable literate gifts–as a writer, as a reader of other texts, and most importantly, as a reader of his fellow human beings–to make change in the world for the benefit of others is, it turns out, the most important outcome of our shared reading experience with his autobiography. I only hope that everyone gets the chance to know him this way. Scott Filkins teaches in the Champaign Unit 4 Schools. He co-directs the University of Illinois Writing Project and is a doctoral student at Illinois in curriculum and instruction. Scott is the author of the NCTE publication Beyond Standardized Truth: Improving Teaching and Learning through Inquiry-Based Reading Assessment (2012). What impact did the Narrative of Frederick Douglass have?The publication of the Narrative brought to Douglass widespread publicity in America and in the British Isles. This was all he needed; henceforth his own considerable abilities and the temper of the times would fully suffice to keep him in the limelight. His was among the most eventful of American personal histories.
How did Frederick Douglass impact society?He became a leader in the abolitionist movement, which sought to end the practice of slavery, before and during the Civil War. After that conflict and the Emancipation Proclamation of 1862, he continued to push for equality and human rights until his death in 1895.
What can we learn from Frederick Douglass Narrative?Douglass narrative teaches about self-determination and courage. Despite the suffering he underwent under different slave-masters including in Covey's hand, he did not lose hope. He was determined to escape whether it meant losing his life. It is this determination that would help slaves overcome the unending slavery.
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