Journal 3

For this journal, you will be responding to the essay by Fredrick Douglass.

Use the questions below to help write your response.

What books seem to matter most to Douglass? Why?

What are his motives for wanting to learn to read and write?

For Douglass, what is the relationship between literacy and freedom?

Journal 3 Answer

The essay “Learning to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass is all about how colored people experience discrimination in showing interest in learning. During this period, black people are taken as slaves in the households of white people. His story tells his audience how white people forbid Black American slaves to be knowledgeable during his time. He states that “the whole argument on behalf of slavery was brought forward by the master, all of which was disposed of by the slave” (Douglas 79). This statement illustrates his passion for reading about slavery.