Week 6 blog- autobiographies

The autobiographical story that I enjoyed the most was the excerpt from Frederick Douglass' Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. I have read the entire Douglass autobiography. There may be some of the more contemporary stories that have more powerful words, but Douglass gives a powerful accounting of slave life in the 1800's. His was an important "slave narrative" at the time and the "work" this writing performed during the abolition movement is unmatched. He writes of not knowing his exact date of birth or his father's identity, lack of enough food to eat, and beatings. All of these issues are written in history books but not with the poignancy and urgency that Douglass writes. He also spoke about the degradation of the slave owning family. Even when the mistress of his new slave owner stopped teaching him to read, he never gave up the quest to read, for he realized that was the ticket to freedom. As we write our midterm papers about black resistance, Douglas gives us evidence that slaves never accepted their plight and further evidence of their tenacity even under extremely dire circumstances. While history books may reveal these same phenomena, reading from the pen of someone who has been there makes a more lasting impression. Not many slaves could read or write, so there is not a large body of writings called "slave narratives" and for that reason, this makes Douglass' accounting unique. With little other information to draw upon, his becomes an important historical text.