This story is about a boy whose mother is a slave. He’s
separated from her when he's only a few weeks old. After that his grandmother
takes care of him when he is six his grandmother takes him to the plantation to
work and leaves him there intentionally. He never recovers from this betrayal
of abandonment. Later on, he sent to work for a ship Carpenter by his master. Despite
a ban on teaching slaves, the Carpenter’s wife starts teaching him the English
alphabet but soon her husband finds out and force her to stop teaching him.
Determined to read and write he continues to learn from
neighborhood White boys by giving away his food in exchange for lessons. As his
knowledge and vocabulary grown, he begins to read newspaper and Political books.
The more he reads, the more aware he becomes of the social injustice against
him. One day he buys a copy of the Columbian orator a popular school book which
helps him to understand the power of spoken and written words. He learns that
educating his people is the key to fight against social injustice. So he starts
holding church services to teach other slaves how to read and write.
His weekly services grow in popularity with over 40 slaves
attending but soon angry slave owner shut down his class. He gets sold to a new
master. His new master is a monster in form of a human being. He enjoys
whipping his slaves who won't follow orders. Our hero educes this brutal
whipping for about six months until he can't take it anymore. One day he fights
back the fight between him and the brutal Master last for two hours and
eventually the master surrenders. On that day he restores his sense of
self-worth and he vows to never let anyone beat him again.
At the age of 20 after two unsuccessful attempts, he finally
escaped from slavery by impersonating a sailor and flees to the North. To
continue fighting against Injustice, against his people he decides to spread
his knowledge and wisdom. Whenever and wherever he can he attends abolitionist
meetings. In 1841 after attending an abolitionist convention he takes the
opportunity to become a lecturer for the Massachusetts anti-slavery Society
this leads him to public speaking and writing. Soon he starts writing and publishing
books on slavery and founds an anti-slavery newspaper titled the ‘North Star’. A
lot of white people aren't happy and don't want to let him do these things and
one day while participating in a lecturing tour he is chased and beaten by an
angry mob before being rescued by a local family, but he's determined to
continue fighting his fight against injustice.
In addition to abolition he also participates in the first
Women's Rights Convention. Soon he is recognized internationally as a human
rights leader fighting against slavery system and standing in for women's
rights. He goes on to become a trusted advisor of President Lincoln. He advises
the president of the treatment of black soldiers and urges him to give all
Black men and women the right to vote.
In 1863 President Lincoln declares the freedom of all slaves.
He becomes the first African-American citizen to hold a high US Government rank.
He's also the first black person to receive a vice presidential nomination. Although
he did not campaign for the office, he keeps on inspiring people to use the
power of Education to affect positive change themselves and Society. His words
will inspire future presidents and inspire those who will fight for justice
after him. That the inspiring person is Federick Douglass
His journey teaches us to never give up in the face of
adversity. He once famously said “If there is no struggle, there is no
progress those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation are
men who want crops without ploughing up the ground, they want rain without
thunder and lightning, they want the ocean without the awful roars of its much water.
This struggle may be a moral one or it may be both moral and physical, but it
must be a struggle”.
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