Thursday 23 September 2021

Douglass, Frederick "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass"

Douglass, Frederick "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave" - 1845

After reading Harriet Jacobs' story "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" earlier this year, I had this next on my list of books for one of my challenges. I thought the story of Harriet Jacobs was extraordinary but this one was even better. Probably, because it was told by the person who experienced this life himself. Frederick Douglass didn't learn reading and writing like we do, at school, he had to do it secretly. And what a writer he became.

I guess, freedom is something we all would wish for if it were denied to us. And not having experienced it, it would be impossible to understand how it is if you can't just choose where you want to live and what you want to do but also with whom you want to live. Families got ripped apart and you never knew what happened to your loved ones, probably nothing good.

The author understands all this very well. He has lived it. If you want to read about how a slave truly feels, this narrative is probably one of the best you can find. If you read this book, you will definitely join in with all the anti-racist people and organizations and say: Never again!

This is a very important book!

One of his quotes is:
"Once you learn to read you will forever be free."
But the best one is probably: "I know of no rights of race superior to the rights of humanity."

From the back cover:

"Born a slave circa 1818 (slaves weren't told when they were born) on a plantation in Maryland, Douglass taught himself to read and write. In 1845, seven years after escaping to the North, he published Narrative, the first of three autobiographies. This book calmly but dramatically recounts the horrors and the accomplishments of his early years - the daily, casual brutality of the white masters; his painful efforts to educate himself; his decision to find freedom or die; and his harrowing but successful escape.

An astonishing orator and a skillful writer, Douglass became a newspaper editor, a political activist, and an eloquent spokesperson for the civil rights of African Americans. He lived through the Civil War, the end of slavery, and the beginning of segregation. He was celebrated internationally as the leading black intellectual of his day, and his story still resonates in ours.
"

8 comments:

  1. You definitely need to read Educated, Marianne. You are going to love it for sure!

    Lovely review.

    Elza Reads

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    1. Thanks, Elza, or rather Mareli. 😉 I think I will. There are just soooo many other books on my TBR pile. LOL

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  2. I need to read this! I'm putting this at the top of my 2022 reading list. Great review. :)

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    1. Thanks, Lark, I know you will like it. Well, we don't like the situation he was in but we want to know so it won't be forgotten.

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  3. One of the most important books ever written. His skills as a writer and speaker have few equals.

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    1. True, Sarah. I am glad I finally got to it. And if we imagine how many slaves were denied any education and what they could have done!!!

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    2. I was thinking about this as I was reading your review, something I have thought quite often. This is what Douglass was capable of, as a self-taught man. Imagine if he had been given the very best education in the world at the time, what greater heights could he have even reached? And as you said, all those who never had the chance to learn whatever they could. Who knows what we've missed out on as a society by denying the rights of the (estimated) 400,000 who ended up here in the US (or the millions in general who were captured in Africa and sold on this side of the Atlantic).

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    3. I doubt we will ever find out. It's unbelievable and unbearable. Plus all those people killed in wars ...

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