Blog Post #1 – A Response to Frederick Douglass

Knowledge is power, and power changes our perception of everything. Douglass was wise beyond his peers or common slaves, as he took advantage of his relationships to learn how to read and write through the mentorship of his mistress and white youths. But, to his misfortune, knowing can cause more pain than peace.

As stated, there are various ways of understanding an experience, and it is all at the hand of the lens a situation is viewed from. Reading Douglass’s narrative, you gain a very unique view of a slave is yet a slave and someone who gained more educational experiences. Unlike many slaves of his time, Douglass understood slavery for what it truly was. His intellectual abilities allowed him to see not only the cruelty, but also the injustice of the American slave trade (40). By learning the history, Douglass exceeded the blissful ignorance that many slaves, and his resentment towards their captivity grew.

In the passage from chapter two, the reference of how song guided the emotional expression of many slaves shines a light on Douglass’s journey. Douglass admits to never fully understanding the meaning of slave songs, as he only knew of them from the slave perspective; he never considered what they might be perceived as from onlookers until he moved north. The songs were full of anguish, sorrow, and resentment, yet for so long, he believed his other slaves to be less enlightened. A song was a means of a slave expressing themselves in the little freedom they had through lyrics and tone. For Douglass, I believe he found his self-expression through learning. Through reading his narrative, you can tell that rather than playing into emotion, Douglass leans towards the sensible analysis of his journey versus the tortured verse of a slave song. Reading this slave narrative from the perspective of such a unique being definitely alters a readers understanding and perception of the experience.