As a child, Frederick Douglass learned of the power of education for slaves from an unlikely source: his master's own mouth. While a young man with the Auld family, the lady of the house, Sophia, started to teach the young Frederick how to read. She was scolded by the master of the house, Hugh Auld, who stated that a literate slave is not content to be a slave. In fact, most southern states prohibited literacy...
As a child, Frederick Douglass learned of the power of education for slaves from an unlikely source: his master's own mouth. While a young man with the Auld family, the lady of the house, Sophia, started to teach the young Frederick how to read. She was scolded by the master of the house, Hugh Auld, who stated that a literate slave is not content to be a slave. In fact, most southern states prohibited literacy for African-Americans because of their fear of slave insurrections. With this knowledge, Douglass came to appreciate the relationship between education and freedom.
Douglass continued to learn to read in secret. He taught himself to read, in part, by manipulating poor white adolescents to help him. He even taught himself how to write. This writing ability would become an even more powerful tool for him as he would become a prolific abolitionist writer as an adult. Douglass even began to teach church school to other slaves at the age of sixteen. He would teach other slaves how to read or write. He did this at a great risk to his own life.
The literacy of Frederick Douglass allowed him to realize that there was a greater calling for him as a free man. He would read the arguments of abolitionists in the newspapers. He shared this information with other slaves. After two unsuccessful attempts, Douglass successfully escaped in 1838.
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