Fredrick Douglass questions

1)

Some ways Fredrick Douglass taught himself to read and write are:

a- Having his master’s mistress teach him to read through daily teachings of the alphabet.

b- Having poor white children teach him how to read in exchange for food.

c- Reading the dictionary and other scholarly books.

d- Watching ships-man carve letters in larboard and learn and memorize those letters.

e- Copy and learn the writings in Webster’s Spelling Book

f- Read, copy, and memorize Master Thomas’ copy-books.

2)

Other than Fredrick Douglass, his master’s mistress undergoes a learning process of realizing that slaves are potental threats to her society's reality with knowledge equal to a white child's education and the results of said process are fatal and yet a tragedy due to the loss of a closeted abolishitionist that could have been one of many voices to speak on Douglass' behalf to a right of a decent chance at learning. Douglass describes his mistress as nothing less similar to a tender loving lamb that clothes the naked, feeds the poor, and comforts all mourners who come seek her counsel. He tells the anecdote of how she would defy all moral code of not teaching a slave how to read by patiently educating Douglass on the alphabet, endangering the wellbeing of his life as well as hers if they were to be caught, while treating Douglass as a human being an not as someone’s inanimate property. As time progressed, Douglass noticed a change in his mistress’ behavior and saw that her kind disposition was surrogated for one that resembled pure demonic wrath and villainous ferocity. He states that with her change in attitude came her change in behavior, her daily teachings of forbidden education coming to an immediate halt, her privileges she once had given- reading the newspaper for example- now taken away, as novel beatings that proceeded her malicious acts.
According to Fredrick Douglass, the shift in behavior came from the realization that Douglass could be a potential threat to the lavished life of luxury they lived in and to society as a whole. Education for a slave only resulted in revolt and death for their captures, so the conclusion of having a slave left in “mental darkness” through the restrictions of knowledge was the only prevention method to ensure slaveholders safety. The results of Douglass’ mistress abandoning her teachings of Douglass showed that anyone can be persuaded to think a certain one when provoked with the right methods, and ordinary, kind, gentle people can alter their personalities to suit ones resembling devil’s advocates themselves. With Douglass’ mistress “learning” that by teaching a slave to read could pose as a potential threat to her life as well as her families, she was “taught” that what she was doing through acts of kindness could only lead to her downfall and inevitable doom with the knowledge he’ll soon acquire just from reading books about the reality in the lies slave masters had told them.

3)

Although Fredrick Douglass and Malcolm X’s personal experiences are different, their quests for getting a profound education are very much alike. Douglass was born a slave and taught himself to read and write though copy and memorization methods- looking at words, letters, or a combination of both- and applying that to his daily learning. Although he had acquired a head start from the generous counsel of his mistress’s teachings of the alphabet, Douglass found himself buying his education through the exchange of food for thought and tedious readings in scholarly literature that could expand his knowledge. Malcolm X, however, was imprisoned when he learned to “read” and write. Malcolm X knew the words he spoke in public but did not know how to convey his thoughts on paper through the written language of English. In prison, Malcolm X would sit in the library and copy, write, and memorize the words a given dictionary would offer him. He would then go back to his cell and recite what he had written aloud to make better understanding of his work and apply his new found knowledge of words he never knew existed and better penmanship to his occasional writings and debates the prison would often have. He states that there was a time where one could not wedge himself out of a book, that binding novel being his only “escape” from prison and onto another far beyond place. Just like Douglass, Malcolm X was a man who went to great lengths and beyond to get a decent education that would make him be considered articulate and innovative. Both men used the copy and memorize method and read the dictionary- the mini-encyclopedia according to “X”- to learn more about the unknown that modern culture did not want them to be taught. They were both black men in search of a greater channel of thinking and acquired that through the hard work and dedication of reading, writing, and patience in a society that deems the average black man as unintelligent and inferior. They withstood obstacles that could have taken their lives but pursued an education despite the odds of racial tension.

4)

I learned that Africa is a messed up country right now because of civil-war outbreaks and other countries are more focused on democratizing Iraq than helping a once powerful continent regain its place in the world as a stable country. I love the fact that I come from a continent with so many great monuments and treasures that are valued by the entire world, but am slightly ashamed that my “original” home is a land of complete chaos and confusion that was brought on by the very people that brought me to America in the first place. I learned a lot about my culture and where I came from with the facts and knowledge about Kings and Queens that ruled Africa with an iron fist, but also realized that that strong monarchy is long gone and replaced with European ideas in exchange for their loss of identity. It is a pleasure to know I come from a lineage of prestige power, but painful to know that my people are now fighting each other rather than the “true” enemy.