The Power of Literacy

Fredrick Douglass was a civil rights activist that all Americans should know about.

Douglass was born a slave in Maryland; however, he did not know what year because it was

common for slaves at the time to not know their age or birthday. Slavery was horrific. He saw

and went through many things that no child or person should ever have to experience. When he

was around seven or eight Douglass was sent to live with the Auld family, where he started to

learn how to read. Learning how to read was said to “spoil” the slave by Mr. Auld and that

proved true. Once Douglass was able to read, he wanted to learn more and more, and was

eventually able to escape.

Not letting a slave learn to read was a tactic that slaveholders used to dehumanize

enslaved people, much like not letting them know their birthdays or ages. Mr. Auld was outraged

when he found out that his wife was teaching Douglass the alphabet. He said, “A [slave] should

know nothing but to obey his master- to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best

[slave] in the world…. If you give a [slave] and inch, he would take an ell” (Douglass 78). Mr.

Auld believed that by becoming literate it would make the slave become disobedient, discontent,

and it would ruin them. One of the best ways to keep slaves was to not let them become

educated. Auld believed that if they could read, they would know how wrong slavery was and

escape or fight back. But this was all said after he found out about Mrs. Auld teaching Douglass

how to read.

At first living with the Auld family was very different from what he was used to.

Especially because Mrs. Auld was very kind to him, which was very rare for slave holders and

white people in general. In his autobiography he stated, “I was utterly astonished at her

goodness” (Douglass 77). Mrs. Auld was the first to teach Douglass the alphabet, and eventually
she taught him how to spell some small words. Unfortunately, this kindness did not last for very

long. Douglass credits her change in demeanor to “The fatal poison of irresponsible power”

(Douglass 77) that slaveholders had over their slaves. She soon stopped her reading lessons after

her husband told her that learning to read would, “forever unfit [the slave] to be a slave because

it makes him discontented and unhappy” (Douglass 78). This led Douglass to look for other

ways to continue his learning since Mrs. Auld was no longer willing to teach him.

Douglass had learned the alphabet, and he was determined to learn how to read no matter

what. His masters made this difficult by keeping a close eye on him. When he ran errands, he

would always take a book with him to study if he had time. Douglass also learned from the poor

white boys that lived nearby. He had access to bread which is something that the white boys

didn’t always have and would trade them bread for reading lessons. When talking about this

exchange he said, “The bread I used to bestow upon the hungry little urchins, who in return,

would give me that more valuable bread of knowledge” (Douglass 83). Douglass took this very

seriously; he would learn how to read!

When running errands, he would also look at the harbor and practice reading the names

of the ships passing by, that is also where he practiced learning how to write. He noticed that if a

certain letter was on a piece of wood, it would go to a certain part of the ship. Douglass would

also trick some of the local boys for writing lessons. He would try to compete with them to see

who had the better writing and would copy what they wrote and learn new words. Douglass

wrote, “In this way I got a good many lessons in writing, which it is quite possible I should never

have gotten in any other way” (Douglass 87). After learning the basics from Mrs. Auld, Douglass

was able to trick people into helping him learn to read and write. Mr. Auld was right when he

said that if you “give a [slave] and inch, he would take an ell” (Douglass 78). Mrs. Auld taught
him the alphabet, and now he knew how to read and write. Becoming literate would lead to his

discontentment, and eventually his escape from slavery.

After learning how to read, Douglass truly became furious with the institution of slavery.

He had always felt that slavery was wrong, but he had no way of expressing his feelings well

until he begun reading books. When talking about the power these books gave him Douglass

said, “The readings of these documents enabled me to utter my thoughts, and to meet the

arguments brought forward to sustain slavery…. The more I read, the more I was led to abhor

and detest my enslavers” (Douglass 84). He was able to put his feelings into words and describe

his feelings about slavery much easier. Douglass would have never been able to put these

feelings to words without learning to read.

While reading he learned what abolitionist meant and knew that he was one and that he

wanted to learn about abolitionism as much as he could Douglass, “always drew near when that

word was spoken, expecting to hear something of importance to myself and fellow-slaves”

(Douglass 85). He needed to know more. One day he was discussing abolition with some Irish

men, and they advised him to run away. He didn’t run just then because, “White men have been

known to encourage slaves to escape, and then to get their reward” (Douglass 86). While he

didn’t run then, he took their advice and decided that he would eventually run away.

It was true that learning how to read forever unfit Douglass from being a slave. After

hearing Mr. Auld describe why learning how to read would ruin a slave Douglass knew that he

had to learn everything that he could. Douglass’s story truly shows the important of not only

learning to read but reading everything that you can. As people living in the 21st century it is

extremely important to read books that educate us about our world and our time, as well as time
that has passed. Reading and becoming educated is one of the best things we can do, you might

never realize how evil and wrong something is until you get the words to describe it.
 Work Cited

Fredrick Douglass, “Narrative of the Life or Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” Reprinted

by Penguin Classics, 1986