Frederick Douglass

In the class Black American Voices, I had learned about Frederick Douglass and his life. I read his autobiography called Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. 

After reading his story, one part that stuck out to me was that Douglass has no idea about his true birthday. He was born into slavery because his mother was a slave. He only knows he was born in February, so he claimed Valentine's day as his day of birth. Personally, I could tell you the exact time I was born, but Douglass was not granted that privilege. 

This small fact seems unimportant, but it shows how much Douglass was able to overcome in his lifetime. From the start of birth, he was seen as not even a person. He was separated from his mother soon after birth and sent to work at another master's plantation.

At this plantation, he was able to learn to read from the master's wife. When he is caught learning, he takes to the streets. He asks the white sons of plantation owners to teach him the alphabet and words so that he can learn to write. Learning to read and write gave him a leg up in American society because he could do much more than most of America could.

After a few attempts at escaping, he finally escapes wearing a sailor outfit through the railroad system to New York. He joins his wife, who is also free, and they settle in New Bedford, Massachusets. He became a preacher and became involved with anti-slavery groups. At a convention against slavery, Douglass was asked to write and tell his story to the public.

He publishes his autobiography and it makes a difference as it is one of the first written stories of the life of a slave. Douglass then goes on to publish The North Star, an anti-slavery newspaper. During this time, he took interest in the women's rights movement.

As the Civil War starts, he joins President Abraham Lincoln as a consultant. He encourages Lincoln to make the war about the ending of slavery. From his position, he also encouraged freed slaves to fight for the North and to fight for freedom.

After the Civil War, Douglass fought for the full rights of black people and women. From there, he became more involved with the government and making more of a difference for people who don't have a voice.

Frederick Douglass inspires me as a journalist because he made it his mission to overcome challenges to speak up for those who can't. While still fighting for his basic human rights, he chose to help those who didn't have the rights he did. He chose to help women gain rights even though some of those women most likely had more rights than he did at the time. No matter who the person was, he was fighting for their right to be equal to the white man in power. He fought for equality and justice through writing and speaking to the public.

Douglass went through much more than I ever will go through in my lifetime, but I hope to achieve a quarter of what he did.