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English III. Frederick Douglass Early American Unit. Journal. “The Road Ahead”
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English III Frederick Douglass Early American Unit
Journal • “The Road Ahead” • “Each of us has the right and the responsibility to assess the road which lies ahead and those over which we have traveled, and if the future road looms ominous or unpromising, and the road back uninviting, then we need to gather our resolve and carrying only the necessary baggage, step off that road into another direction. If the new choice is also unpalatable, without embarrassment, we must be ready to change that one as well.” ~ Maya Angelou • What is Angelou saying about courage and decisions? Do you think this is a helpful way to look at life? Talk about a time in your own life when you had to change courses.
Important Roles in Douglass’s life: Frederick Douglass was… • A former slave • A powerful and influential black writer and orator • A molder of public opinion • A key player in politics after the end of the Civil War (notice the time period!) • A supporter for women’s suffrage • The first African American to run for Vice-President (1872)
Timeline • 1818 Born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, a slave, in Tuckahoe, Talbot County, Maryland. Mother is a slave, Harriet Bailey, and father is a white man, rumored to be his master, Aaron Anthony. • 1827 Asks Sophia Auld to teach him to read. She does so until Hugh Auld stops them, believing that education makes slaves rebellious • 1836 Makes an escape plan but is discovered, jailed, and then released. • 1838September 3 Borrowing papers from a free black sailor, he escapes from slavery to New York and changes his last name to Johnson. • 1845 Publishes Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. In it, he reveals details that could lead to his arrest as a fugitive slave. He meets Susan B. Anthony while on a speaking tour. Later he becomes a champion of women's rights. He then begins tour of Great Britain and Ireland, lecturing on slavery with abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. English friends raise money to "purchase" his freedom; Douglass is manumitted after Hugh Auld receives $711.66 in payment.
Timeline • 1847 With money raised by English and Irish friends, buys printing press and begins publishing the abolitionist weekly North Star.He continues publishing it until 1851. • 1848 Participant in first women's rights convention, Seneca Falls, New York. Begins Sheltering Fugitives in the underground railroad. • 1855 Publication of his second autobiography, My Bondage and My Freedom • 1877Douglass is appointed U.S. marshal of the District of Columbia by President Hayes. • 1878 Purchases Cedar Hill, in Anacostia, Washington, D.C. The twenty-room house sits on nine acres of land. He later expands the estate by buying fifteen acres of adjoining land. • 1881 Publishes his third and final autobiography, The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. • 1892-93 Douglass is commissioner in charge of the Haitian exhibit at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. • 1895February 20Speaks at a meeting of the National Council of Women in Washington, D.C. Dies suddenly that evening of heart failure while describing the meeting to his wife.
The Civil War and Frederick Douglass 1861 The Civil War begins. 1862 Congress abolishes slavery in Washington, D.C. 1863 • Jan. 1 Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation takes effect, abolishing slavery in the states that are "in rebellion." FebruaryDouglass becomes a recruiter for the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, the first regiment of African-American soldiers; his sons Lewis and Charles join the regiment. Eventually his son Frederick Douglass Jr. becomes an army recruiter also. About 180,000 African Americans serve in the Civil War on the Union side. • August 10 Meets with President Lincoln to discuss the unequal pay and poor treatment black soldiers receive. 1864 August 19Meets with Lincoln again. In case the war is not a total Union victory, Lincoln asks Douglass to prepare an effort to assist slaves escaping to the North. 1865 • April 14 Lincoln is assassinated. December 18The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, outlawing slavery, is ratified.
Major Events in American History during Douglass’s life • 1839- Trail of Tears: Forced Migration of Cherokee Indians • 1846: Founding of the Smithsonian Institution, • 1848: Seneca Falls Convention for Women's Rights • 1837: Samuel F.B. Morse invents the telegraph • 1861-1865: Civil War A. Emancipation Proclamation, January1, 1863 • 1865: 13th Amendment outlaws slavery
Slave Narrative • Narratives of slavery recounted the personal experiences of ante-bellum African Americans who had escaped from slavery and found their way to safety in the North. An essential part of the anti-slavery movement, these narratives drew on Biblical allusion and imagery, the rhetoric of abolitionism, the traditions of the captivity narrative, and the spiritual autobiography in appealing to their (often white) audiences. Some of these narratives bore a "frame" or preface attesting to their authenticity and to the sufferings described within.
Purposes of Writing Slave Narratives • Attempted to arouse the sympathy of readers in order to promote humanitarianism. • Emphasized traditional Christian religious ideas. • Showed acceptance of the ideals of the dominant white society. • Emphasized the cruelty of individual slave owners.
Commonly seen Motifs • Exposes physical and emotional abuses of slavery: scenes of whipping, sexual abuse, starvation, especially of women or children • Exposes (sometimes satirically) white owners' hypocrisy and inconstancy • Describes repeated raising of narrator's expectations only to have them dashed by whites • Describes quest for literacy and freedom • Includes vignettes of other character types and the experience of slavery: those who succeed and those who fail • Makes overt appeals to imagined audience • Details loss of significant family member(s) and the destruction of family ties
Common Motifs • Hatred • Suffering • Education/Ignorance • Freedom
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass • Read chapters 1-3
