Escape from slavery
Fredrick Douglas was born around 1818 though his actual date and time of birth still remain unclear. He was born into slavery in the land of Maryland. As an infant, he was separated from his mother. He later went to live with his grandmother in Maryland until he was sent by the owner of the plantation to Baltimore where he became a slave. This was the start of his journey as a slave. However, on 3rd September 1838, he started his dangerous journey of a lifetime. This was the escape from his slavery life from his master in Baltimore. With the realization of the new freedom, a new name was given to him which was, Frederick Douglass. In the 19th century, he was regarded as one of the most eminent abolitionists and human right defender. Following his oratorical and literary vividness, he was able to be at the forefront in participating in the United States movement. As a result of his great determination to fight against slavery, he became the first black American citizen to hold the top position in the American government. Frederick Douglass’ urge to become a reformist and save the African Americans from slavery contributed to his escape from slavery.
According to Finkenbine, (2000), he asserts that freedom is complicated and is not easily attained. Douglass in his quest for freedom from slavery, he took daring steps that led to his escape. On a train trip to Philadelphia from Baltimore, Douglass concealed himself as a liberated black sailor. This was a creditable trick that he attained from his marine knowledge that he had gained from his experience working at the waterfront. He was well aware that the sailors in Baltimore city were accorded reverence. This would, therefore, act to his advantage. He, therefore, wore the same attire as those worn by the other sailors. While in his pocket, he armed himself with sailor’s protection pass. This was important as he was expected to present in lieu of free papers. Black passengers were required by the railroad official to carry the free papers as this acted as proof that they were liberated. However, he had some challenges as the free papers that he had were borrowed from a free African American friend. The resemblance of the physical description was a minimal and close examination of the papers would have revealed his deception and that of his friend. He, therefore, decided to use another strategy that would see him through this phase. So as to avoid the examining eyes of the railroad officials, he waited for the train to start moving and he jumped on it at the last moment. On the free paper given to him, he drew an authoritative eagle on top. It is through this amazing eagle that the conductor failed to concentrate on the physical description thus allowing Douglass to stay on the train without being arrested.
Bromell, (2008), claims that Frederick Douglass’s arguments were that of liberalism. The author continues to argue that these arguments were of the essence as they fought against slavery. Devotedly, he embraced the strong perception of mutual responsibility and the thought of universal self-ownership, universal rights, partial government and ethos of self-independence. His experience as a former slave made him well-versed with his perception of natural rights as well as self-ownership. This led to his great argument that slavery was wrong in all aspects. This is because it allowed the total destruction of the human personality. Douglass strongly believed that the process of appreciation of each and every individual’s right to self-ownership was a requirement under the natural law. This placed natural rights at the core of his main thought and judged all human societies basing on their influence on the individual's natural rights.
Shortly after Douglass arrived in New Bedford, he subscribed to the liberator. This was the grand anti-slavery paper that was edited by Garrison. Douglass, therefore, started attending the abolitionist movement meetings. In 1841, he attended one of the anti-slavery conventions that were held in Nantucket. During this convention, he gave out a speech recounting about his experience as a slave. This was thrilling to the audience. After the convention, the general agent of the anti-slavery society pleaded with Douglass to become a permanent lecturer representing the organization. He accepted the offer and he soon became one of the prominent orators and speakers of the abolitionist movement (Douglass, 1845). In 1843, he was selected as the representative of the New England Anti-slavery organization where he was expected to participate in the one hundred conventions that were to be held on anti-slavery. A similar number of conventions were also held in 1844 and this continued up to 1845 where he attended the northern state convention. During this era, anti-slavery conventions were common across the northern nations. All through these conventions, he managed to outstanding with his great oratory skills. His attendance at these conventions made a great consciousness throughout the United States (Douglass, 1845).
During reconstruction in the 1870s, Douglass created an image that depicted the vision of America as a multiracial democracy. This meant that the nation would be open to welcome immigrants from all areas across the globe. In one of his lectures held in 1869, he talked about the U.S’s rising composite Nationality. In this, he clearly argued in opposition to the form of nationalism that was expected to drive the U.S into reserving their nation only for other European people and their descendants. According to Douglass, he envisioned the US to be a nation that was destined to be a place for diverse democracy (Bromell, 2008). This would thus result in a higher population of the non-whites following the American’s principles and commitment to religious freedom. Doing this would, therefore, help build an equal society.
One of the major ways through which Douglass fought for change is through his newspapers. At first, he was employed by William Garrison during his early part of career life. At that time he contributed in writing the abolitionist newspapers known as the liberator. In 1847, his career took another turn as he left to establish his own newspaper, The North Star. Throughout his newspapers, his advocacy took a whole new level as it used a different form. He used the platform to demonstrate the abilities that the African American held Finkenbine, (2000). He created these newspapers with an intention of advocating for equal rights not only for the black slaves but also for women and other oppressed minorities who were treated unequally. Generally, his newspapers promoted abolitionism and a multitude of other related reforms. His later part of his journalism career, his publications were well written and edited. As a result, Douglass message of freedom was conveyed to a global audience. This served as a personal affirmation of independence and immense talent Finkenbine, (2000).
In 1841, Douglass joined the abolitionist movement. The agenda of these abolitionists were to travel, deliver anti-slavery speeches and to get more subscribers to the liberator newspapers of anti-slavery. For four years, Douglass traveled to all regions with a great determination to talk about slavery and its die need to be ended. Through the various abolitionist meetings that he attended the abolitionists often shared their experiences about slavery and the reasons as to why they are on the move to abolish it. This formed the main agenda of these abolitionist meetings (King, 2001). Among other abolitionists, Douglass became vocal in issues that related to the fugitive slave action in 1850. The abolitionist movement, in this case, endeavored to achieve immediate freeing of all slaves. Their advocacy of these goals makes a distinction of abolitionists from political oppositions. They collectively denounced slavery as a sin that needed an urgent abolishment. They also endorsed non-violence and expressed disapproval of racial prejudice (Bromell, 2008). However, just like other black abolitionists, Douglass experienced similar challenges. One of the challenges that they all faced was experienced while they emancipated friends and family as they articulated their ideas and commanding respect.
Electing Abraham Lincoln into office led to a chain of events that in the end lead to civil war. This also led to the liberation as well as the Thirteenth Amendment. Douglass spent four years of the civil war challenging Lincoln’s policies with the hope that he would push him towards an authoritative immediate liberation policy. Douglas and Lincoln’s relationship during this time was defined by their communication through public addresses. They, therefore, did not personally meet until after the emancipation declaration. The numerous meetings of Lincoln and Douglass led to the total destruction of slavery as there were changes in policies. In 1865, with the help of Lincoln, the 13th amendment of abolishing slavery was passed by the House of Representatives (King, 2001).
The change in perception about liberation and slavery was evident throughout Lincoln’s era of governance (King, 2001). However, though slavery has been abolished in the northern nations, the status of slavery is not that much different from the black people in the Southern states. Most of the black slaves are receiving bad treatment and are highly prejudiced. Though the law and the constitution protect the rights of the black Americans, they are still denied civil liberties. As a result of the rising rates of slavery incidences, there have been efforts to reform the policies. Media has also played a bigger role in changing the American society as some of the news covered is in favor of anti-slavery.
To sum it up, Frederick Douglass is among the top ranking legends in the American history. Through his constant efforts and determination to end slavery amongst the African American People, he has greatly inspired many people across the world to continue their fight for liberty. Some of the important lessons drawn from his narrative on escape from slavery are that the struggle for freedom must go on until these rights are protected. As people and abolitionist advance that cause through democratic, peaceful and lawful strategies, people will gain their freedom as symbolized by Douglass efforts to break away from slavery.
References
King, W. (2001). Bill E. Lawson and Frank M. Kirkland: Frederick Douglass: A Critical Reader. Philosophia Africana, 4(2), 99-104.
Finkenbine, E., R. 2000. Douglass, Frederick ( February 1818–20 February 1895). American National Biography. doi.org/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1500186.
Douglass, F. (1845). Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave. Cornhill: Anti-Slavery Office.
Bromell, N. (2008). The Liberal Imagination of Frederick Douglass. The American Scholar. Retrieved from https://theamericanscholar.org/the-liberal-imagination-of-frederick-douglass/#.Wq5qdvlubIU.
