Frederick Douglass College Essays Samples For Students

Frederick Douglass, born in Talbot County, Maryland, was a social reformer who escaped slavery to become the leader of the abolitionist movement. In his narrative, he describes his unhappy and troubled childhood as he experienced slavery firsthand (Gates, 328). He was raised up in the home of slave masters where he grew up seeing how cruel slavery was. Frederick Douglass’s mother was black and his father was white; of whom he did not know. Douglass was separated from her mother at a very tender age, a very common practice among the slave owners. Douglass believed that this was done so as ...

My journey into attaining my Bachelor of Arts in political science has been a tedious process. I had to overcome several obstacles to finally achieve this level of education. However when I take a look at my journey and compare it with the Frederick Douglass story several similarities can be drawn. We cannot deny that Frederick Douglass lived at a time when life was harsh for Blacks as they were not allowed to learn how to read and write. This might not be the case now but I draw my determination from him and how he tried everything he could to succeed ...

Writing as a process is often fraught with uncertainty and struggle; even the best writers have to start from somewhere. It is often an arduous climb for a writer to create a great work of literature, or even a passable one. Every author, whether successful or not, must endure a roughly similar process of learning how to write, and how to write well. In Ann Lamott’s “Shitty First Drafts,” Frederick Douglass’ “Learning to Read and Write,” and Kurt Vonnegut’s “How to Write with Style,” the various trials and tribulations of getting a piece of writing from the mind to the page are described ...

The classic American myth of rags-to-riches can be seen in the lives of Benjamin Franklin and Frederick Douglass. These self-made aspects of their lives can be seen in the narratives of the stories of their lives. Benjamin Franklin and Frederick Douglass became very successful in achieving their goals. Their lives paint a clear picture of self-made individuals who fought odds in their lives and struggled to become famous and highly revered individuals in America. Even though they were separated, by time, place and circumstances, the two writers had a similar chronology of life events in their narratives. Benjamin Franklin is an ...

Month Day, Year

When reflecting upon the events leading up to the abolition of slavery, the civil rights movement of the later 20th century and other such cultural milestones of equality in America, most of these events and turning points can be traced back to key figures in American history who stood their ground against adversity and overcame tremendous hardship, not just for their own survival, but for the sake of future generations to come. In terms of race relations in the 19th century, in this particular case, concerning the interaction between African Americans white Europeans in the U.S., one name that ...

Frederick Douglass

- Describe Frederick Douglass' early childhood. What kind of relationship did he have with his mother? Who was his father? Why did Douglass believe that slaves of mixed parentage suffer[ed] greater hardships than other slaves? Provide specific details that support your response.
According to Frederick Douglass’ own account, he had no authentic record of his age. For him, it was his source of dissatisfaction not to have learned how old he really was (that is, just like most of the slaves his age or older). According to him, it is improper and impertinent for a slave like him ...

The dawn of a new era beckons everyone to forget the past and focus on the future. The hardships and discriminations of the past have lost their foot and the society is now emerging based on equality and sovereignty. The poem, "Litany on the Tomb of Frederick Douglass" by Martin Espada is just one attempt by the poet to welcome this dawn and the winds of change. The poem focuses on how the racial barriers of the past centuries have broken their bind to usher a new era where a Black man is chosen as the president of United ...

Informative Speech

Specific Purpose: Informing the audience on why college education will go a long way in helping every individual in his or her social and work life.
Thesis: The education attained at the college level extends beyond the walls of the classroom, as aside from monetary benefits, the attitudes and ideologies gained in campus are significant in life.

Introduction

Attention getter: Frederick Douglass, a self-emancipated slave from the antebellum period, published a Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass a mere seven years after running away from his master. In the text, Douglass depicted what the lives of persons of African ...

The book “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”. Is one of the most celebrated and finest slave narratives of the nineteenth century. It is an autobiography of a well-known Afro-American during his life as a slave. The whole book exploits the author’s early life, a life that ended soon after his escape from slavery. At the time of his escape from slavery, it is said that Douglass was approximately twenty years old. The book is a formative of some of the experiences that he faced in his lifetime during his demonstration for the cruelty of the slavery as well as his ...

Rhetorical Analysis: Douglass Frederick. “What the Black Man Wants.

Introduction

Frederick Douglas was an extraordinary person, who “escaped slavery, and was a leading abolitionist, orator and newspaper publisher, diplomat and advisor to presidents.” That made him not only one of the greatest voices against oppression, but also relentless advocate of human right, be it women, black, immigrants or Native Americans.
In April 1865, to express his support for black people’s efforts to seek same privileges as others, he gave a remarkable speech at the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in Boston. This speech was against the background of ...

Frederick Douglass or Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born in Tuckahoe, Maryland in February 1818, the time when African slaves were prominent in America. Frederick’s mother, Harriet Bailey, was a slave working for Captain Aaron Anthony. There are a few details which are uncertain in Frederick Douglass’ childhood, but he knew that his father was a white man, and he is uncertain as to his exact birthday. Frederick has no idea as to the name of his father, however, when he was young, he heard rumours that his father is his mother’s current master. Captain Aaron Anthony was a former sea ...

Since the beginning of time, education has constantly been a part of our way of life. However, the reason that everyone learns differently because every person is different. Of course, education and learn begins at childhood; whether from a parent or school teacher. Eventually, there comes a point in life when every person is taken over by a sense of independence and that is when people find their will to learn more in their own way. This passion for education and learning has been demonstrated by two separate essays, namely “Learning to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass, and “The Lonely, ...

Frederick Douglass is an illustrious author in the history of African American literature. His memoirs, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave is one of most read book among African Americans. This autobiography was first published in the year, 1845 and was revised several times. Frederick in his autobiography gives accounts of his life and shares his own experience as a slave. This paper intends to discuss Frederick Douglass, his life and experiences, slavery and several other related aspects.
Douglass starts his narrative by saying that he has very less memory of his birth. He says ...

The word ‘Philosophy’ originated from the words ‘Philo’ and ‘Sophia’ meaning love and wisdom. Philosophy is concerned with all inquiries, pursuit and practices of wisdom. It specifically entails a systematic human study of their perceptions, thinking and reasoning. One might say that a man/woman without a philosophy is a man/woman without a direction. This is because people live in accordance to the digestion of what they perceive their environments. This paper will take an analytic view of the effects of philosophical beliefs to human life. Discussion will base on the character analysis in the ‘narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass’ by Frederick Douglass, ‘ ...

Something unusual or extraordinary that you have done (personal story)

Perhaps the most significant accomplishment any person can achieve in this world is the ability to empathize with those who suffer and in turn, scrape up enough energy to care and do something to make a change. How can anybody offer needed and necessary help without understanding the nature and degree of problems through which another person suffers? At a personal level, I was always sympathizing with cancer patients and donating money towards one research or another. However, I later realized that was not enough. One Saturday afternoon, my high school held a donation drive for the terminally ill ...

There are two ways that knowledge is gained by an individual; one is through outside knowledge which is acquired by education, and by self-knowledge which is gained through experience. In all instances, complete understanding is achieved when the two aspects of outside and self-knowledge interact in a person’s intellectual and emotional levels, whereby these aspects either complement one another or cause tensions that enhance deeper thought processes. Hence, a set knowledge that may be interpreted or gained in two ways unite to form the bigger picture, so to speak, and allow an individual to form his or her own insight ...

Over the last thirty years of slavery in the U.S.; from 1830 to 1865, African American writers have perfected the first truly indigenous genres of literature in the nation: the North American slave narrative. This genre attains it eloquent expression in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: an American Slave by Frederick Douglass; and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs. Similar to other slave narratives, the works of Douglass and Jacobs embody the tautness between the disagreeing motives which generated memoirs of the life of slavery. The need to realize the most important objective ...

Introduction

The story, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, is an autobiography by Frederick Douglas in which he narrates his experiences as a slave in the US. Frederick Douglass narrates how he served as a slave under Captain Anthony, Mr. Hopkins, and Mr. Gore among others. He later manages to flee to New Bedford, Massachusetts where he is hired as a lecturer for the American Anti-Slavery Society. To tell his story, Fredrick Douglass uses several methods of development. Methods of development include narratives, process, classification, comparison and contrast, description among others (Jacobus, 908). The three methods of development used ...

Introduction

United States of America gained their independence from Great Britain in June 4 1776. This was a great accomplishment for the people of United States because now they could rule themselves. For most people they were happy but for the black people who were still slaves did not see this independence. This was still being experienced 75 years later after they had gained independence. Fredrick Douglass who was an abolitionist movement leader claimed this injustice on a speech he made at Rochester, New York in 1852 a day, which was after the Independence Day (Asante). In the speech, he claimed that the ...

Harriet Tubman and Fredrick Douglass are renowned African America civil rights figures who escaped from slavery. The civil rights activists spent a momentous time of their life fighting against slavery and advocating for social justice thus holding prominent ranks in the American history. In addition, Douglass and Harriet were African Americans abolitionists whose births are not recorded but estimated. Fredrick Douglass was the son of a black woman Harriet Bailey and a white man, making him an African American. Harriet Tubman was born to slave parents Benjamin Ross and Harriet Green Ross. Both Harriet and Douglass were abused by their owners despite ...

Frederick Douglass was one of the most important orators of the 19th century, and a well-regarded abolitionist leader. He is also well known for his autobiographies, which provide a detailed account of his childhood as a slave, his unofficial education, and his eventual escape from slavery. Frederick Douglass' writing style is incredibly detailed and personable. His most famous work is A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, his first of three autobiographies in which he narrates his life as a slave from childhood to his escape. His use of eloquent language and detail help to enhance his argument that ...

We have concluded our units on Education and Ethics (Values). Our next unit is entitled “American Cultural Myths” (where we came from?) Who was Frederick Douglass and where did he come from?
Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), was a former slave, whom after escaping slavery became a very famous reformer, writer and statesman (Willard Gatewood 1846).He was born a slave in Talbot, Maryland in the United States of America. He was very famous for being fluent in English and most people were amazed by his intelligence. This was because at the time there was the notion that slaves were not thoughtful nor ...

Frederick Douglass’s “Fourth of July” Speech

This is one of the most popular speeches delivered by Frederick Douglass during his time. He was a civil rights advocate and an abolitionist to the African Americans during times of slavery. His famous speech that took place in the Rochester’s Corinthian Hall attracted vast numbers of people and left many speechless (Barnes). The speech was later reported as eloquent, heart touching and admirable as it drew massive applause at the end. For this reason, the speech was published and made accessible to every interested American. Several people got a copy of speech and until today, Americans still talk about ...

Rhetorical Analysis of the Fourth of July Speech of Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass was a great man and truly brilliant public speaker, who spent his life working to abolish slavery and guarantee equal citizenship rights for blacks. He did not make a moral argument for nonviolence although he strongly denounced the United States for betraying its own principles of liberty and democracy for all. In his rhetorical situation, he was addressing white audiences that he hoped would be sympathetic to their cause, and had strong criticism for white Christians who had often been indifferent to the situation of blacks and failed to ...

As a modern day audience, for the most part, our reaction to a slave narrative is often one which fills us with remorse and regret. Frederick Douglass’ narrative concerning his quest for education and specifically, how to read and write, is an example of such an instance. As a white, middle-class person of the twenty-first century, it unsettles me and fills me with a deep-seated feeling of remorse for the actions of our ancestors.
Upon settling with the Auld family, Douglass began to learn how to read and write with the assistance of his Mistress. However, upon finding out about these activities, ...

“Learning to Read” by Frederick Douglass

In “Learning to Read” Frederick Douglass wrote the story of his personal experience with one of the most prohibited and dangerous acts that a slave in the pre-Civil War South could do: learning to read. It is a narrative that is both shocking and revealing of insight into the times and place where it took place, the power of the institution and practice of slavery to dictate evil into the hearts of men and women, and of the dedication and strength of the personality of Frederick Douglass. A close reading demonstrates not only Douglass' narrative techniques, but his skills ...

There are many interesting personalities in the history of humankind. Some of them amaze more than the others. There are people who have a strong will to be free and live their life independent from the others. These people are known as leaders. They create their own lives the way they see it. Frederick Douglass and Harriet Beecher Stowe are two characters that amaze people till now with their abilities to be strong in any life situation.
Frederick Douglass is an African American man who managed to become free by the means of his self power. He was not ...

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is a famous autobiography that was written by Fredrick Douglas himself. He was a slave who faced many challenges from his childhood to adulthood. Douglas raised many issues in this book, and all those ideas were intended to reach those who defended slavery.
In his book, Douglas tried to explain the idea of humanhood as one of his points. He tried to show the thoughts, signs, and actions that make someone a human being. According to him, there is no true humanhood in an individual that supports slavery or an action that ...

Too often I have neglected the value of education in my life until realizing the challenges that many people throughout history and around the world face in their own fight for the right to an education. Two individuals from different eras and parts of the world with entirely unique conditions who fought for their right to be educated are Frederick Douglass and Malala Yousafzi. Frederick Douglass, a black man living in the United States in the 1800s, growing up under the horrors of slavery; and Malala Yousafzi, a young Pakistani Muslim girl living under Taliban rule risking her life ...

Introduction

Frederick Douglass in ‘Learning to Read and Write’ writes about the dedication with which he learnt to read and write, and the difficulties that he faced because he was a slave for life. He recounts how his Master disliked that his wife was teaching letters and alphabets to Douglass, and forbade her from instructing him. Obeying her husband, she not only stopped teaching him but also ensured that he did not get time or resources to read at all. However, Douglass persisted in his pursuit of learning and used every opportunity to learn to read. He learnt to read with ...

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is a story that features the coercion Fredrick Douglass encountered before his escape to freedom. In this autobiography, Douglass offers the readers with first-hand information about the pain, brutality, and humiliation of the slaves. He points out the cruelty of this institution on both the perpetrator and the victims. As a slave, Douglass witnessed the brutalization of the blacks whose only crime was to be born of the wrong color (Cruse 32). This narrative of Douglass is a very personal description of a worrying time in the author’s life, but it also appropriately portrays ...

Although slavery has been condemned as a crime against humanity, there was once a time when men and women were considered as less than animals and were made to work under the harshest circumstances. While treatment towards both the genders might have differed, the general attitude towards slaves was the same which was exhibited by those who were well off and had enough money to afford servants. The premise of this paper is to compare and contrast the arguments which have been given by Fredrick Douglas in his autobiography. Douglas was the son of a slave and saw very little of his ...

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Slavery has been a debatable issue for a number of reasons. The major one finds basis in the fact that it is to this day regarded as the major cause of the American Civil War that lasted between 1861 and 1865. To understand the origin of slavery, different Historians have embarked on different researches on the topic in a bid to do the same. One such Historian was Zinn Howard who in the book A People's History of the United States argues that blacks have been ensnared in webs of slavery and “the elements ...

Narrative of Frederick Douglass

This narrative offers a unique firsthand account of American slavery as narrated by a victim. Through his many experiences as a slave, Frederick saw the institution of slavery as a cruel and dehumanizing social injustice that people should reject and abolish. He argued that slavery put the oppressed victims at a disadvantage both educationally, socially and religiously. Slaves suffered abuse and deprivation from their masters and Frederick shows how they were treated as property or animals. This was the basis of the oppression and dehumanization of the then slaves who their considered as having no rights at all. This essay brings forward the nasty ...

Introduction:

The state Appeals Court of New Jersey found in favour of a gay scout who had been excluded from the state’s boy scout association on the basis of his sexual orientation. This was later overturned by the Supreme Court in a majority opinion written by the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist who stated for the majority that if someone whose sexual orientation destabilizes the operation of an organization then that organization has a right to exclude him/her from the group. Ina minority opinion Justice John Paul Stevens ruled that the decision was a violation of civil rights and was discriminatory based on ...

The African American Experience

Blog Entry 1: Pre-Slavery Era
Nolen (2001) records that the first Africans set foot in America in 1619, at a place called Jamestown in Virginia. They arrived on a Dutch ship that had docked in the town and wanted food for their continued journey. Therefore, the Dutch crew sold the 20 Africans to a local trader for food. The twenty Africans were servants and were on a payroll, a position similar to that of poor Englishmen who traded freedom to pass in America for several years labour. The pre-slavery era as experienced by African Americans was experienced between 1619 and 1680 (Nolen, 2001). ...

Phillis Wheatley and Frederick Douglass are two of the most important voices in the early slave and African American narrative. Phillis Wheatley being one of the biggest child poet prodigies of her time, her works are filled with hope and candor regarding her fellow blacks, both slave and non-slave. Frederick Douglass, as one of the foremost scholars, orators and politicians of his time, spoke from a much more authoritative and straightforward perspective on his works. Both their tones and attitudes, specifically as they speak to unique audiences, are quite different, and they will be explored in detail as they pertain ...

Slavery has always been looked at on a general perspective not considering the different roles that they play in the society. It is rarely considered that male and female slaves played distinct roles in the society. the book Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave & incidents in the life of A slave girl by Frederick Douglass takes us through the life of a life of a slave girl as compared to that of a slave boy. When the whites were taking hostages as slaves, they were mainly interested in the males because of their masculinity and the fact that ...

The narratives of both Frederick Douglass and Mary Rowlandson, due to their detailed and uncompromising portraits of early American life, are extremely important examples of their respective genres, and American literature as a whole. While Mary Rowlandson's narrative is a straightforward narrative of her life before and after captivity, the majority of Douglass' slave narrative takes place in his childhood; furthermore, Rowlandson's narrative was thought to end with her death, though that was later proved false; Douglass' ends with the beginning of his true life as a free man.

The difference between a captivity narrative and a slave narrative are somewhat unique; while a captivity ...

Overview

Metamorphosis in Poetry and Speeches is a demonstration of how they evolve from one time to another. This paper will outline the same by using the works of three of the most inspirational African Americans. They include Douglas Fredrick’s 1852 speech, The Meaning of the Fourth of July; Malcolm X’s WeDidn’t Land on Plymouth Rock; and Tupac’s song (poem) “Keep Ya Head Up.” Since they occurred in different years, they help the development of this article in demonstrating the evolution of the metamorphosis in poetry and speech.

Douglas Fredrick’s The Meaning of the Fourth of July

Douglas speech was rhetoric, comprising a set of ...

While America is still a relatively new country in comparison to many, it has a long and deep history. The question to look at is what exactly that history is. The aspects of American history that one learns or is taught are as diverse as those who inhabit the country. Considering that America has been called a melting pot, meaning it brings together many differing cultures, religions and races, there is a myriad of lenses which one can view this country. Often the history taught is white-washed, meaning it is through the perspective of the white man. This creates ...

Traumatic experiences do not just go away. Frederick Douglass went through a variety of horrors to win his way free of enslavement and they colored him and his views for the rest of his life, some in overt ways and others in more subtle ways. Some do not appear in the course of the narrative; we never hear him say, for example, that he experienced night terrors or other symptoms associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and similar conditions from the time that he was “transformed into a brute” after being broken by Mr Covey, or what lingering prejudice or ...

As the United States ushered in the nineteenth century, its societies witnessed an unprecedented increase in reform movements that revolved around calls for change within its borders. Before then, protestors lasted as long as it took for them to tire of their efforts. In other words, there was no commitment to ensuring that the American populace changed its attitudes in life and for that reason, reformations were impossible to sustain in the eighteenth century. Now, in the nineteenth century, the situation changed as social protests prevailed and the people created formal organizations to communicate messages. One such endeavor was ...

Before the American Civil War of between 1861 and 1865, black slavery in the United States thrived on the pillars of white supremacy. Otherwise dubbed the antebellum period, the years ranging from 1820 to 1860 witnessed a gradual yet steady increase in the country’s reliance on slave labor. As per the ideologies of white supremacy, the dominance of white people warranted the inferiority of colored individuals and as a result, everyone belonging to the former group could hold those of the latter faction in bondage. Accordingly, the cultural norms of the country during the given era encompassed the ...

Theme: Abolition and Education

The view of the stories exemplifies the theme of abolition. In both the works, the determination of the protagonist is to see slavery abolished. The plots all drive through the murky quest for freedom that eventually lead to the abolition of the slavery and eventual freedom to all. The long-raging battling against slavery took a different turn when protagonists to the slavery turned vile and rebellious to the subdued way of life. Douglass’ characterization of the events of slavery takes the war an artistic level with assertions and imagination of rebellion against the slave masters (Newman 127-52). However, Douglass’ ...

Historical studies on the slave system in the United States concentrate on the period after the American Revolution where there were debates over the definition of freedom in the regions and Caucasians sought to uphold white supremacy. To that end, perceptions on the nature of black slavery revolve around a period in which the institution was not only deeply rooted in American societies but was also present in all spheres of the same. For instance, on the eve of the American Civil War, slaves formed the backbone of the economy in the South, were the rightful properties of their ...

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is a story that features the coercion Fredrick Douglass encountered before his escape to freedom. In his narratives, Douglass offers the readers with fast hand information about the pain, brutality, and humiliation of the slaves. He points out the cruelty of this institution on both the perpetrator, and the victims. As a slave, Fredrick Douglass witnessed the brutalization of the blacks whose only crime was to be born of the wrong color (Cruse 32). He narrates the pain, suffering the slaves went through, and how he fought for his freedom through attaining education.
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Frederick Douglass was the most significant black figure in the nineteenth century America. He emerged from a family of slavery at a plantation in Maryland from 1818 to 1895 and became an influential person in the most controversial and important political and social struggles of his age . He involved in various reforms, including the civil rights, women’s rights and temperance, after demonstrating an unusual courage, eloquence and tenacity in the crusade against slavery. Millie Evans, on the other hand, belonged to North Carolina and described her life under slavery as positive for she witnessed the kindness of her masters. Serving ...

Introduction

The term ethical intelligence has been coined by the American ethicist Bruce Weinstein, who in his book "Five Principles for Untangling Your Toughest Problems at Work and Beyond", describes the five principles of ethical intelligence that determine the level of one's success in his job, how strong his relationship is with his friends and family, and what he feels about himself. The five principles of ethical intelligence identified by Bruce Weinstein include 1) Do Not Harm, 2) Make Things Better, 3) Respect Others, 4) Be Fair, and 5) Be Loving (Weinstein, 2011, p. 6). According to Bruce, a society or culture ...

Literature

Thesis Statement: The effect of domination and oppression of the white masters against the black slaves symbolized by the cruel, inhumane and harsh punishments became the catalyst for the slaves to escape.
In the “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl”, the female author was speaking based on her own personal experience and used her pen name “Linda Brent” as disguise. In this book, Brent emphasized how the Southern whites have completely taken control over the blacks. The whites became the oppressor with the blacks as the victims. The author defined the word slave as a piece of merchandise, ...

Introduction

Slavery was an institution that began before the formation of the United States and was an unfortunate part of the early history of the nation. The Constitution included the paradoxical combination of a Bill of Rights as well as provisions that allowed slaves to be calculated as three-fifths of a free person for purposes of taxation and representation. African natives were captured from their native lands and sold as part of a three-way trade triangle, along with sugar and molasses, that comprised one of the ugliest phases in American history. Even though they were in the land of liberty, slaves were denied ...

Since Lincoln was assassinated in April 1865, it is impossible to know what final form his Reconstruction policies would have followed, although his successor Andrew Johnson always asserted that in carry out a moderate Restoration of the Southern states in 1865 his was simply carrying out Abraham Lincoln’s original plan. Abolitionists and so-called Radical Republicans like Ben Wade, Frederick Douglass and Thaddeus Stevens disagreed with Johnson and finally attempted to remove him from office in 1867-68. They did not intend to restore the former Confederate states unless equal civil and voting rights had been granted to the four million ...

FREDERICK DOUGLASS WROTE “WHEN THE TRUE HISTORY OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY CAUSE SHALL BE WRITTEN WOMEN WILL OCCUPY A LARGE SPACE IN ITS PAGES”

Frederick Douglass wrote “When the true history of the anti-slavery cause shall be written women will occupy a large space in its pages”

At a time when the white male was considered superior to everyone else in society, such women as Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Sarah Parker Remond, the Grimke Sisters among others took it upon themselves to fight for the emancipation of slaves. They got involved in the abolitionist movement in a period when people regarded the domestic ...

ABSTRACT

Stanley Elkins proposed a groundbreaking theory about the effect of oppression and totalitarianism on subject races, one that drew from multiple academic disciplines. James McPherson’s interpretation is more fact-based and less theoretical, drawing from anecdotal archival sources to develop an environment-centric picture of slavery in the Antebellum and Civil War periods. Ultimately, the success of African-Americans in all walks of life have tended to show that, as abolitionists argued, servility was a temporary product of the powerlessness of their situation in the plantation South.

Debating America’s Legacy of Slavery

James McPherson and Stanley Elkins represent two different approaches to the discipline of historical study and ...