Slavery and Education

Slavery and Education

Introduction

Slaves were not provided education and it was highly immoral for their owners and also very controversial. If the slaves would get education then these slaves will ask for their freedom and therefore the revenues of their owners would shrink, and it may lead to antislavery. We know that education may lead to free thinking, and it can turn the slavery into the end, and men like Fredrick Douglass used his limited education to get freedom from slavery and be a free man.

Discussion

In his book Douglass emphasizes that slaves were viewed like duffers and were isolated with plantations. Slaves were without any knowledge and education. Douglass never knew his own age or his father's name. He wrote "a want of information concerning my [age] was a source of unhappiness to me even during childhood. The white children could tell their ages. I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same privilege" (Douglass, 2012). It was clear that slaves are not stupid and unintelligent, but with appropriate education these can convert into smart and intelligent as compared to those from inception. These ideas inspired Douglass to focus in education and hoped that this will help in his future struggle.

We can visualize that Douglass learned the alphabets from Sophia Auld, the wife of a slaveholder. It is clear that the slave's life is restricted and monitored. Douglass knew that he would be punished if he did anything wrong. The fear and danger that was in plantation degraded the slaves, to do anything. In Douglass case, it was opposite as he was lucky enough that he was treated differently because he lived with Auld family. Previously Douglass life was miserable when he was separated from his mother. Surprisingly Douglass life was in bit calm when lived with the family of Auld and this was his starting for freedom (Douglass, 2012).

Douglass described his mistress as "a woman of the kindest heart and finest feelings" (Douglass, 2012), although strange according to him. "She very kindly commenced to teach me the ABCs [and] assisted me in learning to spell words of three or four letters." Sophia treated Douglass as an equal and saw the hypocrisy and the inhumanity of slavery. Unfortunately, these lessons did not last long, for Sophia Auld's husband discovered Sophia's intentions. "If you teach that [slave] how to read, he would at once become unmanageable and ...