THE EARLY LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS

THE EARLY LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS

Jun 30, '09 8:16 AM for everyone

THE EARLY LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS

“The land of the Fee and the Home of the Brave...”

That is the last stanza of the “Star Spangled Banner”, The National Anthem of the United States of America. but are they really fee form the start? How did they achieve this Civil liberty they enjoy today? Th biography of Frederick Douglas, a one of the foremost leaders of the abolitionist movement, which fought to end slavery within the US in the decades prior to the Civil War will definitely encapsulate the whole history of the African-American people similar to what harriet Beecher wrote in Uncle Tom's cabin. The only difference is, the happy and tragic stories written in

 Before Barrack Obama and Martin Luther King Jr. there is Frederick Douglass who dedicated his life for the equality of the White and Black Americans in the United States . F As a brilliant speaker, Douglass was asked by the American Anti-Slavery Society to engage in a tour of lectures, and so he became recognized as one of America 's first great black speakers. He won world fame when his autobiography was publicized in 1845. Two years later, he began publishing an antislavery paper called the North Star. Douglass was born in a society where the Blacks are not just second class citizens but they are literally slaves. From womb to tomb, they have no other choice but to be under the whims of their masters. They cannot direct their own lives for they have to follow what their owners want them to do. They are like chicken being sold at the market and tagged by their skills and abilities to do in the field or at the mines. Some of them also suffer sexual abuse and emotional traumas resulting to desperation and a view that the world was indeed cruel to people like them.

            According to Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, (United Nations, 1948), “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” Prior to the establishment of UN, Slavery was legally practiced in most parts of the world particularly in the US where they need manual labor in agriculture and various industries. Sad to say, men have categorized his brethren based on the color of his skin and his creed. As for Douglass, he suffered deprivation of Motherly love; he was separated from her at a very tender age. He did not experience being reared in a family bounded by love; instead he grew up in an environment bounded by chains. He also discovered how cruel life can be under their lords. Douglass offered a solution to the moral and political dilemma that troubled many slavery opponent
 Douglass provided a powerful voice for human rights during this period of American history and is still revered today for his contributions against racial injustice.

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'"

-         Martin Luther King Jr.