The Subject of Slavery in The Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass

The subject of slavery is a rea that has been widely researched in the historical literature in an effort to create awareness of the experiences that the black community had in the 18th

century (Bertocchi and Dimico 197). According to Strachan, the most relevant is the approach that was sort in the educational sector and overall literary of the population (Godreau et al. 115). The significance of the subject is from the understanding that the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” underline the need for access to equal education, equity and freedom for all humans (Savenije, Van Boxtel, and Grever 516). The primary documents used in the course explore the subject of education of slaves from a prejudiced perspective that necessitates the need to investigate more on the oppression they underwent (Malott 199).

            The novel The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass describes the experiences that social reformer and abolitionist went through as they would be denied education (Douglass 56). Some of them had to strive and educate themselves as they would be denied only because of their skin color (Drake 22). The problem was that there was a worry that black literacy would be a huge threat to the slave system which made the whites to pass a law that forbade slaves from learning how to read and write (Andrews 215). Teacher that would be found to be engaging in the education of blacks would be chased out of town or sometimes get caught and imprisoned (Verderber 99). The overall impression is that the education for blacks was illegal (Wilson 97).

            There is a need for more research into the education of slaves because while a majority of literature focus on the fact that they were not permitted to access education, the blacks were tortured (Simkin 121). The subject of harassment is hardly explored with reports indicating that students would be whipped using lashes just by attending school (Anderson 22). Other reports imply that there was oppression in the extreme manner as pertains the efforts by the blacks to bypass the ruling that prevented them from learning (Rankin 344). There is a need to research more on the approaches and brutality that was experienced by the black population (Mwangi 3).

            Information on the topic can be obtained using vast approaches. One strategy would be to visit the school library where there are primary researches that were performed and that contain more information about the subject of education for slaves (Jacsó 51). The other site that is reliable for getting primary data and trends as pertains slavery is google scholar and google books (Evans and Thomas 356). Google is a vast medium that has many books that can be use as primary data sources for the subject of slavery (Google). Both sites complement the vast amount of primary liberate on the topic of slavery and implications on the black population (Columbus School for Girls 56).

             In conclusion, it is worth affirming that the subject of slavery is an issue that seeks to enable the current generation apprehend the torture that was subjected to people of color throughout the late seventeenth and eighteenth century. An equally intriguing subject is the one of the education of slaves with research indicating that there was a fear about the blacks becoming more informed which led to the passing of black population education as illegal. Overall, the primary documents used in the analysis offer complete and conclusive data on education in slavery through there is a need to research more on the oppression that the leaners underwent.

Works Cited

Anderson, J.D. “Introduction and Chapter 1: Ex-Slaves and the Rise of Universal Education in the South, 1860-1880.” The Education of Blacks in the South, 1960-1935

1988: 1–33. Print.

Andrews, William L. Critical Essays on Frederick Douglass. N.p., 1991. Print.

Bertocchi, Graziella, and Arcangelo Dimico. “Slavery, Education, and Inequality.” European Economic Review 70 (2014): 197–209. Web.

Columbus School for Girls. “Library and Information Services.” Columbus School for Girls. N.p., 2013. Web.

Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. N.p., 1860. Web.

Drake, Kimberly. “On The Slave Narrative.” Critical Insights: The Slave Narrative (2014): xvi–xxxi. Web.

Evans, Michael, and Michael V Thomas. “Books Google Com.” Search (2010): 356. Web.

Godreau, Isar P. et al. “The Lessons of Slavery: Discourses of Slavery, Mestizaje, and Blanqueamiento in an Elementary School in Puerto Rico.” American Ethnologist 2008: 115–135. Web.

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Jacsó, P. “Amazon, Google Book Search, and Google Scholar.” Online (Wilton, Connecticut) 32.2 (2008): 51–54. Print.

Malott, Curry Stephenson. “African Americans and Education: A Contested History.” Souls 12.3 (2010): 197–215. Web.

Mwangi, Chrystal A George. “Complicating Blackness: Black Immigrants & Racial Positioning.” Journal of Critical Thought and Praxis 3.2 (2014): n. pag. Web.

Rankin, David. “Black Slaveholders: The Case of Andrew Durnford.” Southern Studies 21.3 (1982): 343–347. Print.

Savenije, Geerte M., Carla Van Boxtel, and Maria Grever. “Learning about Sensitive history: ‘Heritage’ of Slavery as a Resource.” Theory and Research in Social Education 42.4 (2014): 516–547. Web.

Simkin, John. “Education of Slaves.” Spartacus Educational. N.p., 1997. Web.

Strachan, Mark. “The Role of Slavery in Design Education.” ACUADS CONFERENCE 2014: THE FUTURE OF THE DISCIPLINE. N.p., 2014. Web.

Verderber, Michael Edward. “Theatricality in ‘Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.’” N.p., 2007. Web.

Wilson, Kirt H. “The Racial Politics of Imitation in the Nineteenth Century.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 2003: 89–108. Web.