You are on page 1of 5

Conner Jessop

History 1700
Professor Wilkinson
3/09/15

The Power of Words

What many anthropologist consider the start of humanity, language is how humans organize
thoughts, create ideas, and share whats in our mind with others outside it. By well conveying ones
thoughts with language, one can project their ideas into reality. This is precisely what Fredrick Douglas
did as an abolitionist in the 18th century. Fredrick Douglass uses the world changing power of language
to obtain his own freedom, and ultimately aids in the end of slavery as a whole.
At the beginning of the human journey, communication was conveyed with pictures. These
pictures told stories only fully known by the the artist and the culture it was shared with. Today,
modern scholars can only guess at the meaning the pictures are trying to express. It was probably
because of these draw backs that humans began to refine their techniques and first developed writing.
With the advent of writing, one could do more than just depict their thoughts with pictures in a
sequence and hope it forms a coherent story. With a written alphabet, people could then begin to put
their exact thoughts on paper and share exactly what they were thinking with anybody who knew the
given symbols. We see that along side the better use of communication, we also see the rise of greater
civilizations and more advanced technology. The Egyptian hieroglyphics are one of the first written
languages in history and the Egyptians were among the most advanced civilizations of the ancient
world. The Egyptians believed that by uttering spells they could physically alter the material world. For
decades scholars disregarded these notions as nothing more than pagan superstition. Today
anthropologists are realizing the Egyptians fully understood the significance of organizing thoughts

Jessop 2
with language and the power well organized thoughts had on the world when spoken to other people.
With the rise of civilizations and the synthesis of more precise communication, organization
formed within societies. The intelligent devised greater forms of organization for a greater functioning
society. This also led to hierarchies forming; with the literate elite at the top of the social ladder.
Common people weren't literate and across almost every civilization the lower class people lived their
whole lives in servitude to the rule of the literate law maker. This was exactly the case during the age of
slavery in America.
Thanks to the industrial revolution we see mass literacy among populations because of cheaper
books and paper. As Lawrence A. Cremin, a historian and researcher states in his book Traditions of
American Education at this time eighty percent of adult white males in America could read or write.
While the literacy rate for white males was high, it's believed that only twenty percent of the African
American population could read and write. Due to the vast majority of African Americans being slaves,
white males sought to secure their power in society by assuring their slaves remained illiterate, thus
rendering slaves completely subject to their slave holders will. It's for that reason that makes Fredrick
Douglass so significant in history.
Fredrick Douglass was a former slave during the nineteenth century who had a major impact on
the end of slavery as a whole. After escaping from the confines of slavery, Douglass wrote an
autobiography offering a primary account of what it's like to be a slave. This book and the literary work
Uncle Toms Cabin are considered the two most influential books for ending slavery in America.
Ironically, what led to Douglass wanting to learn how to read and write comes from one of his
first masters, Mr. Auld, forbidding him from learning how to read. Mr. Auld tells Douglass that learning
how to read would both make him unmanageable and forever unhappy as a slave. To Mr. Auld, a slave
should only know obedience and literacy would ruin that. This ignited a spark in Douglass that fueled
the rest of his studies. From then on Douglass becomes more and more conscious throughout the book

Jessop 3
as his literacy increases. Douglass uses different tricks in order to get the neighborhood kids to show
him different words. After he expands his vocabulary enough, Douglass then goes on to read
abolitionist documents such as the book, The Colombian Orator and emancipation speeches. Douglass
expresses his higher attained levels of cognition by saying, They (the texts) gave tongue to interesting
thoughts of my own soul, which had frequently died away for want of utterance. He then says, The
reading of these documents enabled me to utter my thoughts, and to meet the arguments brought
forward to sustain slavery. These statements shows that with the higher levels of literacy, Douglass'
level of cognition increases by better organizing his own thoughts.
With this increase in cognitive function however, Douglass writes how everything his master
had told him about what would come of his literacy came true. Douglass writes in reference to the
texts, But while they relieved me of one difficulty, they brought on another even more painful than the
one of which I was relieved. The more I read, the more I was led to arbor and detest my enslavement.
He then writes, I would at times feel that learning had been a curse rather than a blessing. It had given
me a view of my retched condition, and I envied my fellow slaves for their stupidity. What these
passages tells us is that in gaining literacy Douglass had become what every slave holder feared. Slave
holders need their slaves, as Douglass put it himself, to be stupid in order to maintain their mindless
obedience. This bridge for Douglass was forever burned behind him, and we see through the rest of the
book how he uses his intellect to trick his masters and inspire other slaves. Learning to read did unfit
him to be a slave, and he eventually escaped slavery and became one of the most influential antislavery advocates of all time.
Fredrick Douglass realized the significance knowledge had and it's use through words early on
in life. Because of his pursuit of knowledge he went beyond gaining his own freedom and was able to
perfectly capture the wrongness of slavery in words. The continual growth in conscious thinking as
Douglass increased his literacy and acquired more knowledge shows us the importance of education for

Jessop 4
both individuals and for society. If we can learn one thing from Douglass and his story it's how
important words can be in effecting social change. By continually finding better ways to convey our
ideas through words one can shift society towards greater levels of equality.

Jessop 5

Work Cited

Cremin, Lawrence A. Traditions of American Education. New York: Basic, 1977. Print.

Oakes, Lorna, Lucia Gahlin, Lorna Oakes, and Lucia Gahlin. Ancient Egypt: An Illustrated Reference to the
Myths, Religions, Pyramids and Temples of the Land of the Pharaohs. New York: Hermes House, 2002.
Print.

Woodson, Carter G. "Full Text of "The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861 : A History of the Education
of the Colored People of the United States from the Beginning of Slavery to the Civil War"" Full Text of
"The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861 : A History of the Education of the Colored People of the United
States from the Beginning of Slavery to the Civil War" LIBRAEY BUREAU, 2007. Web. 24 Mar. 2015.

Douglass, Frederick. Life and times of Frederick Douglass: His Early Life as a Slave, His Escape from
Bondage, and His Complete History: An Autobiography. New York: Gramercy, 1993. Print.

Wilkinson, Philip, and Neil Philip. Mythology. London: DK Pub., 2007. Print.

You might also like