Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Frederick Douglass' Moral Courage

Good Essays
344 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Frederick Douglass' Moral Courage
Not many people follow through with their aspirations, but those who do evolve greatly and achieve great respect. Frederick Douglass's life reflects moral courage and character in multitudes of way by thoroughly standing up for what he believes is morally right. Frederick Douglass exemplifies a man with great character through his passionate speeches, his determination to abolish slavery and his love for all people.

Through Frederick Douglass's speeches, his audience receives a great understanding of his morals. He passionately speaks on his beliefs of what a society built on equality should embody. At an antislavery meeting in New Bedford, Massachusetts where he becomes allied with Garrison and his abolitionist views. Audiences were impressed and he became hired as a speaker. Garrison was impressed as well, and helped him get started with an Antislavery newspaper, "Liberator". With his passionate speeches, he was the voice of the African Americans strive against slavery.

Most of his life, Frederick Douglass devoted his time to abolish slavery. Finally in 1865, Frederick Douglass was able to witness the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, outlawing slavery, is ratified. Douglass served as an advisor to President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. Together, they fought for the adoption of constitutional amendments that assured voting rights and civil liberties. Not only concerned for his people rights, his love for all people spread to women rights.

African American's lack of rights parallel to those of Women's. Frederick Douglass saw this as an opportunity to increase awareness of inequality. He participated in the Seneca Falls Convention, the birthplace of the American feminist movement, and one of the signer of its Declaration of Sentiments. It didn't matter if it was women rights or African American rights, Frederick Douglass sought for equality.

Frederick Douglass stood out as a man of great morals and character. He followed through with his hope for society to provide equality and to live up to their constitution. Not only did his speeches help the ending of slavery, but as well, raise the awareness of women rights.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    What challenges did he face? In what ways did he inspire others? Frederick Douglass contributed to the abolitionist movement in many ways. In 1861, a civil war broke out. According to the National Park Service (N.P.S.), one contribution Douglass made was by ensuring that emancipation was one outcome of the war.…

    • 416 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    frederick douglass

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Frederick Douglass - The author and narrator of the Narrative. Douglass, a rhetorically skilled and spirited man, is a powerful orator for the abolitionist movement. One of his reasons for writing the Narrative is to offer proof to critics who felt that such an articulate and intelligent man could not have once been a slave. The Narrative describes Douglass’s experience under slavery from his early childhood until his escape North at the age of twenty. Within that time, Douglass progresses from unenlightened victim of the dehumanizing practices of slavery to educated and empowered young man. He gains the resources and convictions to escape to the North and wage a political fight against the institution of slavery.…

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Frederick Douglass felt so strongly about abolishing slavery that he went to talk to the then president (Abraham Lincoln), and he also wrote a book about being a slave. He wrote the book in an effort to make people realized the torture, endless work hours, the abuse, everything a slave went through, in a hope to make people realize how awful slavery was. However when he wrote this book, it became very popular almost immediately, so he was forced to flee to Europe before he could be arrested and put in jail. Frederick Douglass also had a close relationship with Abraham Lincoln which he used to his advantage, so he went and talked to Abe Lincoln and persuaded him to let African American’s fight in the Civil War. If this had not happened we (Northerners)…

    • 171 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    And now, Frederick Douglass not only impacted the united states by his autobiographies, abolishment of slavery, and being a candidate with President Lincoln, but also as a rebellious slave and friend of many. He may have had some tough times, but he got through them, and helped end slavery. He urged President Lincoln to let the free black men be in the…

    • 527 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Frederick Douglass was an African-American slave that defied the odds by doing something that none of his own kind could do. This inspirational man learned how to read and write all while working as a slave and trying to overcome the challenges of his lifestyle.…

    • 519 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln were heroic men who fought for freedom and liberty. Frederick Douglass was a modest man. He fought through the hardest of times and he got through them. When Douglass was pushed down he got right back up. Robert Hayden says in his poem that, “this former slave, this Negro beaten to his knees, exiled, visioning the world where none is lonely, none hunted, alien, this man, superb in love and logic, this man shall be remembered.(SB p.70)” This quote is saying that Douglass was beaten down but he never gave up and he kept fighting for what he believed in. Frederick Douglass is a hero for standing up for what he believed in and for helping end slavery. He was a very famous orator and abolitionist. In the…

    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    But why? He would have speeches, write newspapers, write books and do many other things to bring attention to slavery and segregation. He inspired many whites and changed their minds about treating blacks differently. In 1861 Frederick Douglass talked with Abraham Lincoln about freeing slaves and how they would do it. That started the Civil War. When the war ended in 1865 slaves were free. That didn’t solve all problems though. Blacks were still getting treated differently. Douglass didn’t give up. He continued to fight for the freedom of black people. Frederick Douglass was successful in stopping slavery but now he was faced with a new problem, blacks were being treated differently than whites. Blacks would get beaten, stoned, tortured, etc, and most police refused to protect blacks. Some policemen would even join in. The blacks had to drink from separate water fountains, use different bathrooms, and had many more things separately than whites. Another problem was that whites had more rights than blacks. Whites were able to vote, serve on juries, work in skilled trades, etc. While blacks weren’t entitled to those rights. Frederick Douglass knew that being treated differently was better than slavery, but he thought everyone should be treated equally and have the same rights. So he chose to fight in the Civil Rights…

    • 871 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Frederick Douglass was a slave at one point in his life fortunately he was able to escaped and once he became a freeman, he was known as one of the most influential African American of his time, Douglass main goal after he escaped slavery was to promote freedom for all slaves, he published his first newspaper in Rochester, new York , called The north start it got its name because for run-away slaves they would follow the north star to freedom.…

    • 196 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Frederick Douglass managed to escape the horrors of slavery to enjoy a life of freedom like many others in the nineteenth-century. His distinctive personal drive to achieve justice for his race led him to devote his life to the abolition of slavery and the movement for black civil rights. His oratory and extraordinary achievements formed a legacy that expands his influence until this date, making Frederick Douglass a role model for all generations.…

    • 488 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Frederick Douglass was an Abolitionist, social reformer and writer. He wrote one of his several autobiographies ‘Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself” in 1845. Throughout the story it's clear to see he's targeting the free states of the north and highly looked upon people in America to realize how wrong slavery is and that they should help take a stand against it. Although many people believe slavery wasn't a bad or threatening thing, Frederick Douglass believed that slavery was an abomination and needed to be stopped; therefore he wrote his autobiography to share and prove to people about what life as a slave is really like, in an effort to persuade them to help in the effort to abolish slavery altogether.…

    • 929 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Douglass was one of the few slaves who had the opportunity to talk about his own personal experiences. Many whites did not accept slaves as truly human after obtaining their freedom. Douglass described the way society lives in New Bedford, which was full of dissatisfactions. He wanted to demonstrate humanity to the readers that the perception of inequality is flawed. For example, Douglass witnessed a betrayer as he quoted, “With this, a number of them bolted at him; but they were intercepted by some more timid than themselves, and the betrayer escaped their vengeance; and has not been seen in New Bedford since” (2). A progressive urban environment is another key for freedom, but Douglass realized during his stay in New Bedford that although the conditions are better, there is a wide range of injustice.…

    • 220 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    By becoming literate a person explores new ideas whether if a writer, artists, lawmaker, and any career. Frederick Douglass was an open-minded man and spoke of equal rights for women's suffrage. He attended several women rights movements one in which was the First Women’s Rights Convention. During this convention, he signed the Declaration of Sentiments, which stated “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men and women are created equal” (Douglass, The Rights of Women: Electronic Edition). Douglass believed that there is no reason to deny women equal rights since they are as intelligent and accountable beings like men. He feels instead of being prejudice and treating slaves or women like animals to let them be part of the government…

    • 265 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Fredrick Douglas

    • 1564 Words
    • 7 Pages

    I believe that it was a combination of Douglass's personal traits: his observation, faith in truth, assertion, self-education, and brawn that helped guide him in the right direction.…

    • 1564 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    I believe that Frederick Douglass put his life as a slave into words that inspired people all around the world. His Autobiographies explained the heartaches of a slave that he was forced to live through for half of his life. Although most people believe in equality today Frederick Douglass didn’t have that right, people took that from him because they believed they were doing the right thing. Douglass was a kind and determined man and didn’t give up until he got the right result. He was not afraid to get his hands dirty in the process even when people doubted him and told him he was wrong.…

    • 641 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Frederick Douglass

    • 1110 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Numerous people have a diverse way of thinking towards the Narrative of Fredrick Douglass, so some people may think that his description on slavery was adequate while others may think that his narrative was not fair. Several people say that the story was an autobiography of his life and others say that the story was written to reveal the brutal acts of slavery and the hardship one went through as a slave. During most of Douglass’s childhood he did not have it as hard as other slaves, but as the years passed by and the older he became, the harder it become for him as a slave. He did not just live as an urban slave during his childhood but also lived as a plantation slave during his older years. The life of an urban slave was not like the life of a plantation slave. Fredrick Douglass gave a good description of events that took place in his life, but you cannot just go off of just his stories because his life of a slave is differed from a plantation slave. So the book is how he saw things and what he felt. The things he experienced in his life was the same and different in many ways that of another slave. The great Fredrick Douglass tries to describe in the best way he can the life of a slave. He does this because he could only talk about slavery through events that he lived through because slavery was different for other people and different things happened to those people.…

    • 1110 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays