Ryan Johansen

History 1700
Frederick Douglass Mid-Term Essay
A common theme throughout The Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass is the idea

of literacy, and the effects it had on slavery. The first mention of this comes in a conversation

between Frederick Douglass’s master, Mr. Auld, and his wife. Mr. Auld, after discovering that

Mrs. Auld had begun teaching Frederick, he immediately told her “that it was unlawful, as well

as unsafe, to teach a slave to read” (14). This decry of literacy for slaves is shown to be

instinctive by the immediate manner in which he responded. This raises the question of why this

response is so automatic. The slaveholders avoided allowing slaves to be literate because they

knew that illiteracy was the key to keeping them as slaves.

The slaveholders, despite their constant control over the slaves, knew there were flaws in

their system which could be exploited through the education of the slaves. They considered

obedience from their slaves to be their highest priority, and as one becomes more educated, they

begin to feel less subservient. Mr. Auld shows this idea by saying: “If you give a nigger an inch,

he will take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master – to do as he is told to

do. Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world” (19). He shows first that he is afraid that

giving anything better to a slave will lead to that slave trying to take more. He stated that the

slave should only think to obey the master. Learning anything besides that, particularly

becoming literate would be detrimental to the cause of slavery.

When one learns to read, it is a gateway to learn much more, because then that person can

read books of various topics, and become progressively more educated, which could include, in

this time, the ideas of the abolitionists. This was the fear of many slaveholders, as seen by the

action of Mrs. Auld: “Nothing seemed to make her more angry than to see me with a newspaper.
She seemed to think that here lay the danger. I have had her rush at me with a face made all up of

fury, and snatch from me a newspaper in a manner that fully revealed her apprehension.” (16).

This shows the great fear they had. Mrs. Auld, who at one point tried to teach Frederick

Douglass how to read, was now angered by the mere sight of him with a newspaper. This came

from the understanding she received from her husband; that it would “spoil” him, making him an

unfit servant. Referring to Frederick Douglass, his master said: “to himself, it could do him no

good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy” (14). He would

become an unfit servant, because he would then desire more, and hate more his subservience.

Particularly for Frederick Douglass, this would prove to be his gateway to gaining his freedom

from the bondage of slavery.

After hearing his master convince his wife not to teach slaves to read, Frederick Douglass

made a decision: “I set out with high hope, and a fixed purpose, at whatever cost of trouble, to

learn how to read. The very decided manner with which he spoke, and strove to impress his wife

with the evil consequences of giving me instruction, served to convince me that he was deeply

sensible of the truths he was uttering.” (15). He would later learn to read and write, and at one

point that was a key part of a failed attempt to escape slavery (32). This determination is what

gave him the hope to break the chains that held him enslaved. The more he learned, the more he

resisted, and the less he learned the more enslaved he became. The two were closely tied

together. It was the learning that helped him realize that he was truly in a wrong state of being.

This is what the slaveholders most feared. They feared it because of the consequences. The very

fact that this book was written by Frederick Douglass, a former slave is evidence to explain their

fears. This book has had such a great effect that it is still read and analyzed today, one hundred

and seventy three years later.

 The slaveholders desired their slaves to be workable, to not talk back, and to just accept

orders without question, believing that their masters had a right to rule over them. They feared

any slave who didn’t follow the status quo, as he could cause an uprising. Mr. Gore, an overseer

of slaves once shot a slave for defiance. He defense was this: “if one slave refused to be

corrected, and escaped with his life, the other slaves would soon copy his example; the result of

which would be freedom of the slaves, and the enslavement of the whites.” (11). These overseers

and slaveholders truly feared the slaved they possessed. They knew that the slaves had the power

to overthrow them, if given the idea and the motivation. Due to horrendous conditions of slavery,

they already had the motivation. If they had been given the idea, there would have been no

stopping them. For these fears, the slaves were held in ignorance.

As he learned more, Frederick Douglass justified the fears of his masters, and the other

slaveholders. He said: “The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers. I

could regard them in no other light than a band of successful robbers, who had left their homes,

and gone to Africa, and stolen us from our homes, and in a strange land, reduced us to slavery. I

loathed them as being the meanest as well as the most wicked of men.” (16). This statement

shows how uprising naturally followed the education of the slaves. The slaveholders were very

conscious about keeping the slaves in a state of ignorance, because they cannot wish for what

they do not realize exists. Freedom and knowledge go hand in hand. One leads to the other. The

slaveholders did all they could to prevent the literacy of the slaves, because they knew that that

would undo slavery. They were held in a balance of power which could be tipped if not

controlled. They could not control everything, as seen by the fact that Frederick Douglass, and

others escaped, and even wrote of their experiences, and is shown even more so by the eventual

downfall of slavery. Education is freedom, ignorance is slavery. The slaveholders knew of this
and tried to control it. They failed, and this principle is shown today through the life of a former

slave, Frederick Douglass.

 Works Cited

DOUGLASS, FREDERICK. NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS

(AMAZONCLASSICS EDITION). LAKE UNION PUBLISHING, 2017.