Freedom at Last

Have you ever thought about living life on edge? Always looking over your shoulder, just to feel a sharp sting across your back because you went to far or you did not wake up in time to catch the shuttle to go to work. That is what slaves had to fear everyday. Just like women in the 1800s, slaves were not aloud to speak out or disagree basically they had no voice. If they dare to do these things, they would be punished. "There must be no answering back to him; no explanation was allowed a slave, showing himself to have been wrongfully accused" (Douglass 245). The slaves did not have the right to have an opinion, if so the master's would feel they were being questioned by someone who was lower than them and it was not their place to speak up. But there was one person that wanted more out of life than just being a slave, his name was Frederick Douglass. He wanted to learn how to read. "A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master" (Douglass 250). Slaves did not know how to read or write, let alone know how old they were at the present time. Once his mistress, Mrs. Auld taught him his ABC's , he saw a light at the end of the tunnel of maybe he could learn how to read and eventually he did. He was reading everything that he could get his hands on especially a newspaper. From then on, there was no stopping him. Time changed when he decided to speak at the anti-slavery meeting. "I spoke but a few moments, when I felt degree of freedom,and said what i desired with considerable ease" (Douglass 289). From that moment on he felt that there could be freedom at last and he can finally be noticed as a human. Frederick Douglass did not want to be an oridinary slave. He knew his purpose was to learn to see his way out of slavery. He knew what he was capable of, went after it and made a change in the world. That is why I am so thankful for people like Frederick Douglass that made a way for me to have a better life.