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Frederick Douglass Importance Of Education

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Frederick Douglass Importance Of Education
A relevant theme in Frederick Douglass's narrative is the importance of education. Knowledge is what contributed to setting people free, while ignorance is the very thing that contributed to enslaving them. The goal of slave owners was to keep their slaves ignorant; if they remained ignorant, it would be less likely that they would want to get away. This mindset is exemplified when Master Hugh demands that his wife stop teaching Douglass to read and write. "'A n****r should know nothing but to obey his master-- to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best n****r in the world. Now,' said he, 'if you teach that n****r (speaking of myself) how to read, there would be no keeping him'" (824). In other words, once a slave has an education
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