Douglass and Slavery

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses Frederick Douglass, an African-American author, lecturer, abolitionist and a leading political and social figure of the mid-to-late 19th century, who was born a slave himself. The paper describes how he helped to pave the way for the successful Abolitionist Movement in the United States. The paper portrays the suffering of American slaves, yet relates that slavery nevertheless prevailed for centuries before finally being abolished in the late 19th century. The paper explains how "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" implicitly underscored the extreme inequalities among Americans that supported the institution of slavery.

From the Paper:

"Douglass himself understood first hand the demoralizing conditions of 19th century American slavery, and yearned, from early on in his life, to help to put an end to them (Royer). In that, he succeeded, likely beyond his own original expectations (Douglass, pp. 1995-204). In their lifetimes, most American slaves never even knew their birthdays, and in many cases, their fathers were also unknown to them, and often white men, e.g., masters; overseers; or sons or other relatives of such men (Zdrok-Ptaszek; Baym)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bay, Mia. "Creative Conflict in African American Thought: Frederick Douglass, Alexander Crummell, Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Marcus Garvey." Journal of Southern History, Vol. 71. 2005. 921-934.
• Baym, Nina, et al. (Eds). "Frederick Douglass 1818-1895." The NortonAnthology of American Literature, Vol. 1. 5th Edition. New York: Norton 1998. 1990-1992.
• "Phillis Wheatley c. 1753-1784." In The Norton Anthology of AmericanLiterature. Vol. 1. 5th Edition. Nina Baym et al. (Eds). New York: Norton, 824.
• Constitution of the United States. (2000) Microsoft Encyclopedia Encarta, 1-32.Retrieved March 4, 2006, from Microsoft Works Suite 2000 (CD-ROM), Disc 3.
• Dred Scott Case. (2000) Microsoft Encyclopedia Encarta, 1-3. Retrieved March 4,2006, from Microsoft Works Suite 2000 (CD-ROM), Disc 3.

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