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Falicia Witt
History 1700
3/10/16
Literacy: Lighting the Road to Freedom
Historically speaking, freedom has always rested almost entirely on the shoulders of
critical thinkers. For a man to be truly free, he must be fully cognizant. One of the most essential
avenues to cognizance is literacy as exemplified in Fredrick Douglass narrative. In his story,
Douglass writes of his experience in slavery, and how literacy helps him break away from the
ignorance that would bind him otherwise. Douglas first starts to read on his first master- Mr.
Auld-s farm. According to Mr. Auld, knowing how to read spoils a slave because he feared
literacy would endow them with the knowledge to question their station.
Keeping slaves illiterate holds them ignorant and robs them of the ability to partake in
and share the vast amount of knowledge contained in printed works. It leaves them cut off from
the ever expanding world of free thought, and affords no room for growth which serves only to
perpetuate a need for a master. Ignorance is the only chain that can hold a man so tight. Mr.
Auld not only reiterates this point when he says Learning would spoil the best {slave} in the
world. Now," {...} if you teach that {slave} {...} how to read, there would be no keeping him. It
would forever unfit him to be a slave (25). He also unwittingly sparks Douglass curiosity that
will eventually light his path to freedom.
Douglass was fortunate in how he came to read. Before being exposed to the demonizing
effects of slavery Mrs. Auld started teaching him how to read. By learning the ABCs and
learning to trace those few words, Mrs. Auld instilled in him the foundation he needed to build

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upon before Mr. Auld was able to stop her. After the Aulds realized their error, Douglas was
forbidden to continue in his pursuit. This, however, did not stop him. He simply became more
creative as he hid his endeavors from his masters. Douglass would take extra bread from the
tables, and trade it for a lesson in reading from the hungry white boys. He was determined to
learn to read and stopped at nothing. At one point he began tricking the boys into teaching him
by betting them that he knew more than they did, and slowly obtained the seeds he needed until
he learned to read.
Douglass begins to reads everything he can get his hands on. Including a novel entitled
The Columbian Orator in which a slave gains his freedom through reasoning with his master.
This novel inspires Douglass and fills him with a small hope, but as he becomes further
enlightened he becomes less content with his life as a slave. Standing at the docks looking at the
ships sails ready for departure, Douglass can no longer stand the realization of his circumstance.
He realizes that the only way to keep a contented slave is to keep him a thoughtless one (53).
He longs for the numbing effects of ignorance left behind, to no longer bear the burden of the
enslaved, and decides that he would rather die than continue his existence as chattel. He
concludes that he must run away and be free, or that he will die in the attempt.
Douglass then starts using the knowledge he gains from his ability to read to help plan his
escape. At one point he writes permission slips for himself and a few of his fellow slaves should
they be stopped in their attempt at freedom. Unfortunately, this attempt did not yield the benefits
Douglass had hoped for, yet he will continue in his pursuit despite impossible circumstance. He
is both persistent and unrelenting in his quest and after enduring many hardships and with the
help of many friends, will eventually find the freedom he seeks in New Bedford.

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Literacy was essential to Douglass escape. Without it he would not have had the
knowledge necessary to detect the inconsistencies of slavery, however abhorrent. He may not
have ever questioned the white rhetoric of the south without first being able to critically examine
it. His ability to read inspired and fueled his journey to freedom. Literacy continues to liberate
Douglass as he constructs his narrative. Living as a slave, Douglass was never the author of his
own story, his life was not his to construct. Once he obtains his freedom he gains this ability and
begins to write his own story. Its liberating to be able to share your story on your own terms as it
can be a powerful tool in swaying the minds of others toward your cause.
The ability to read and write is fundamental to freedom because its an avenue to
information that when used wisely can change the world. Being informed is imperative because
without knowledge of the world around you, one simply cannot understand his/her relationship
to it, nor can that person hope to achieve their aspirations, no matter how worthy. The ability to
read is an indispensable asset in setting and accomplishing goals to those who use it to their
advantage. Unfortunately illiteracy is still an issue today. Were so bombarded with
information all of the time that most of us dont ever read anything of real substance, and a lot
of us, when we do stumble across it, cant comprehend it anyway. Information is available in
abundance, yet we, generally speaking, dont examine it critically, we dont always know where
or how to find the best sources, or we simply feel overwhelmed and prefer the latest reality show
train wreck. Illiteracy in any form is a threat to freedom everywhere.