When I think of Frederick Douglass, I see the image of his self portrait as a middle aged African American (as seen on the cover of The Classic Slave Narratives), with his thick hair and beard. Not a child being corrupted through the hardships of slavery. He narrates his childhood of being sold to different plantations and witnessing fellow slaves being lashed to the point when they can no longer cry from pain due to physical exhaustion. While reading the "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" in The Classic Slave Narratives, I was amazed at how articulate he was in his writing. I just thought to myself over and over again, he was a slave who would be lucky to have clothes on his back and prospered into becoming this amazing speaker who puts college graduates today to shame.He first started to learn how to read and write when he was about seven or eight years old under the ownership of Hugh Auld in Baltimore. Mrs. Auld was kind enough to teach him the ABC's and to spell small words. He would then learn how to write by copying little Master Thomas's Webster's Spelling Book. This would take him years to perfect.
His patience and determination for education is what we should all admire from reading this narrative. He is the perfect example for everyone that learning is not impossible. He dealt with a difficult childhood of not knowing his mother and being sold from one plantation to the next and had nothing to his name. And now, he is one of the greatest role models in history. We should be all grateful for the education we have access to and should not take it for granted.
