Ms. Czerniecki

English

Fall 2017 – Text #1: Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass

Overview

Perhaps the most powerful and influential black American of his time, Fredrick Douglass (1818-1896) embodied the tumultuous social changes that transformed the United States during the nineteenth century. In a career of unprecedented breadth, Douglass rose from the oppression of his slave’s birth to become an internationally famous writer and orator, one of the most visible spokesman for the Abolition Movement before the Civil Ware and a key player in the political intrigues that followed the enfranchisement of the emancipated slaves after the Confederate surrender. An effective molder of public opinion, Douglass was a tireless lecturer and essayist and the editor of succession of the periodicals that solidified hi renown while contributing significantly to the public discourse on a variety of issues.

Douglass’ own experiences as a former slave formed the basis of his immensely captivating presence as a orator, and served as a major component of the three autobiographies published during hi lifetime. The first of these, The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, an American Slave, appeared in 1845, a few years after Douglass’ dramatic 1841 debut into the world of professional moral oratory. Written in part to counter the incredulity of audiences dubious that a speaker from such a lowly background, and featuring introductions noted white abolitionists William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips, The Narrative was an immediate sensation, inflaming antislavery in the North and abroad.

Questions for Discussion

For Tuesday 811/7 (pgs. 35-76):

1. For what two reasons does Frederick tell us that he cannot relate the means of his escape?

2. How is it possible for Frederick and Anna to marry? Why is their marriage such an important event?

3. Why is Douglass at first reluctant to speak out against slavery?

4. Why does Douglass contend that the church turns the other cheek on the treatment of slaves?

5. What does Douglass discover about prejudice against color in New Bedford?

6. Look at page 65. Write a few sentences explaining the role faith had in Douglass’ process and life. “Between the Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognized the widest possible difference-so wide, that to receive the one as good, pure, and holy, is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and wicked. To be the friend of the one, is of necessity to be the enemy of the other. I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land”.