Frederick Douglass

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Education: The Key to Freedom
Ignorance is the most stubborn chain in the universe because it makes human mind captive and useless. Freedom from any kind of yoke begins with freeing the perception of men and women to see the world as it is and not as it seems. Douglas was writing at the point when slave owners deprived their subjects of information and believed that slavery was natural for an African American. Apparently, slavery thrived on ignorance, and the only liberation would be education. According to the narrative of Douglass, education is the only key to freedom because it sharpens the brain and predetermines the position of a servant; education also elaborates human decency and differentiates it from the life of a beast. Furthermore, education fights ignorance and repels mediocre living standards. This study demonstrates that education is the only key to freedom from slavery.
The position of a servant is dependent on knowledge and the literacy level of the servant. An informed servant is a leader by default; it is risky for any master to enslave a learned fellow without suspecting takeover in his home. Douglass says, “If you teach a slave how to read, there would be no means keeping him caged in slavery life. Knowledge would forever make any African American unfit to be a slave. Any educated slave would at once be unmanageable and of no slavery value to the master” (Douglass, 29). The word “unfit to be a slave” suggests that education repels the act of slavery and could possible encourages rebellion towards the slave owners.

With some excellent oral and written skills, they could figure out a way to fight for their liberty. Enlightened people are free thinkers whose minds no longer enclosed to the patterns of a slave. It would be useless to try keeping informed people as slaves as they could devise an escape plan anytime and thereafter, slaves turned the tables. Trying to have an educated slave’s mind under control would more like hitting a rock; informed slaves would either fight for their rights or devise an escape plan. It was after Douglass acquired knowledge that he planned to escape. The writer proves this fact when he states that “if one slave refused to be corrected, and escaped with his life, the other slaves would soon copy the example; the result of which would be, the freedom of the slaves, and the enslavement of the whites” (Douglass and Menéndez, 20).
Education is a tool that shows any rational human the truth of life which is separate from that of animal life. Without education men and beasts would live and reason alike. The so-called masters made the life of slave the same as that of animals. As the writer says “We were all ranked together at the valuation; Men and women, old and young, married and single, were ranked with horses, sheep and swine” (Douglass and Menéndez, 51). The Slaveholders knew that if slaves had their hands on education, they would not settle for anything less than a better life and freedom. Education broadens an individual’s thinking and prohibits a man from living like a beast. The fact human receives from training is what makes an individual life distinct from the life of an animal. When Douglass starts to read, he gains a clear understanding of what slave life meant and what slaves had to go through. He states, “I would sometimes feel that learning had been an affliction rather than a benefit” (Douglass, 35). He says that the ability to read revealed to him how worse his state as a slave was, without any action to correct it. It was a revelation showing his misery and no remedy for it. When the punishments intensified, Douglass wished he had never had a chance to learn to read. It made his life more unbearable. His little knowledge enlightened him of some of the inhuman torture they had to go through as slaves. With an understanding of the meaning of humanity, it made his pain more compared to the other slaves who had no idea about human life. Illiterate slaves were like little children who have no idea of rights. Slaves were only required to know how to do their chores, their masters and nothing beyond that. It is prudent to state that the life of a slave was no better than that of a beast of burden.
Education is the ultimate weapon to freedom. Even slave owners were unsecured of allowing slaves to have a taste of knowledge. One of the slave masters taught Douglass the alphabets (Douglass and Menéndez, 29). When the husband finds out, he commands her to stop teaching him. He says that teaching slaves to read are unsafe. Mr. Auld says, “If you provide a Slave an iota, he will become an annex. A Slave should grasp nothing but to take orders from his master—doing as he is shown to do” (Douglass, 97). He says that teaching a slave would spoil him, making him disobedient and rude. He later continued to say that a learned slave would not feel contented. To him, slaves were mere property and were not to receive any special attention or treatment. Douglas weighed Mr. Auld’s concerns against his will in search of knowledge, and he was sure that being able to read was very crucial. Mrs. Auld’s aggressive treatment and anger towards him after the stern warning from her husband made Douglass confirm all his speculations. Consequently, Douglass learned that learning was the only key to attaining freedom, some day.
Knowledge cleanses an individual’s mind of mediocrity and substandard conformity to the state of situations. When elaborating the value of education Douglass says, “It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy, it opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out” (Douglass and Menéndez, 35). Literacy is a unique tool and tactic that renews the mind of all including a slave. Douglass describes his earned knowledge as, “it was a new and special revelation, explaining dark and mysterious things, with which my youthful understanding had struggled, but struggled in vain” (Douglass 98). He could now understand why the white man had enslaved the black people and how he easily had control over them. Douglass says that this was one of his greatest achievements. He knew that this was his only guarantee of freedom. He came to the realization that slaves were not born stupid. The slavery was what made them look stupid compared to the white people. From simple A, B, C, Douglass was motivated to learn to gain more knowledge. He would give some poor white children bread in exchange for knowledge that later led to his autobiography. After Douglass was able to read, he found a book, “The Columbian Orator,” which gave him a great thirst for freedom. He was able to voice his thoughts after reading several arguments against slavery. This understanding helped him learn to courageously take control of his life and have a great zeal towards attaining freedom.
Education is the uncontainable weapon of war. Slavery thrives where slave traders and owners can cage a human being as an animal. However, knowledge charms the mind of a slave and widens the thinking of any holder to overrun the extensions of a cage. Education intensified Douglass’s thirst to escape. He decided to lay down his life to get to teach other slaves and impart some knowledge to them. Having an opportunity to teach his fellow slaves gave Douglass a feeling of fulfillment. He continually hoped that they could also get enlightened on what they were going through to have a desire for freedom like the one he just had. Douglass had obtained the whole idea of independence from education. Were it not for this education, Douglass would not have escaped from slavery. After Douglass’s escape from slavery, he got to work for pay. This point is where he discovered “The Liberator” (Douglass and Menéndez 99). The book contained a lot of information concerning slavery, its side effects. Douglass shared his testimonials with the help of his little education, which inspired people to stand up against slavery. Education had given him the gift of free thinking. The freedom to think contributed significantly to his liberty. From a mere slave, Douglass became a very famous person who accomplished a lot. His narrative helped act as a sword against the enslavement of the black people.
Freedom from slavery began from education; the same knowledge passed to most slaves and later became a revolution. Slave owners thrived on the ignorance of their slaves to tame and control them. The main difference between a slave and his master was the amount of knowledge in their brain. The human quest for knowledge is inevitable because information is not only a tool for survival but also a pathway to a free world. The fight for freedom ended with the spread of knowledge and understanding. Where ignorance locks people’s mind, the only key to freedom is Education.

Work Cited
Douglass, Fredrick. “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”. 1st ed. Boston: The Anti-Slavery Office, (1845): 20-98
Douglass, Fredrick and José Menéndez. “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass; an American Slave”. 1st ed. Boston: Anti-Slavery office, Cornhill, 1845. Web. 14 Jan. 2017.