In defense of frequent claims by Southerners that blacks are slaves due to being born inferior, Douglass argues that slavery and education are complete opposites and that slavery actually creates the inferiority by promoting ignorance. ... Even as a young boy Douglass becomes frustrated at the fact that he does not know his birthday but all the white children do. ... By sharing his perspective on education, his narrative is one of the key influences that helped other blacks understand the importance of education and how one can only truly be free once they are capable of grasping the reality a...

• Word Count: 1456
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Dana, the modern black women, is summoned to save and work for Rufus, a white son of a plantation owner, out of his misery. ... Slaves are considered property because they were black and labeled as subhuman. To enforce the status of blacks being property, white owners would use inhumane violence as a form of punishment. ... Slave owners believed blacks couldn't hold the ability to own knowledge; therefore, they were restricted to any sort of reading or writing by law. ... Rufus relationship with Dana slowly rises to a greater danger because as a boy Rufus treats Dana as a friend but as Ru...

• Word Count: 1077
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Frederick Douglass was the most important black American leader of the 19th century. ... However, the prefaces also implicitly place black narratives under the control of white editors. For this reason, in all of his subsequent autobiographies, Douglass replaced Garrison and Phillips' endorsements with introductions by prominent black scholars. ... For instance, as a boy, not yet ten years old, Douglass learned the importance of knowledge when he overheard Hugh Auld chastising his wife Sophia for teaching a slave to read I quote "a nigger should know nothing but to obey his ...

• Word Count: 2277
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Paul Boyer makes a convincing argument that another subject, which was a major issue in the lives of the slaves, was respect. ... Few slaves rose from their original status to the ranks of the slave elite or even the free-black. ... I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty - to wit, the white man's power to enslave the black man . ... Plantation owners felt that their entire system of slavery would collapse if blacks became educated. The only means for which to restrict blacks was through legislation. ...

• Word Count: 2340
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate