Blog C- Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglass

Both Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglass shared many similarities. They both were born in slavery, they both became mostly self-educated, and they both believed in the power of education. The only difference was that they had different ideas about education.
Frederick Douglass was born a slave. He was born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in 1818. His mother was a slave as well and they lived on a big plantation in Maryland. Growing up, he rarely saw his mother because she was sent away to work on another neighboring plantation. Instead, he grew up with his grandparents until he reached the age of six, when he was split apart from his loved ones and given to the Loyd Plantation and then later, Baltimore. There, he served a man by the name of Hugh Auld. Auld’s wife, Sophia began to teach Douglass how to read and write until her husband forbade her to teach him anymore, as it was against the law to teach a slave. Douglass realized that the white owners did not want him educated because it would lead to revolt. He began to understand that education could lift people up and would give African Americans the power to thwart the stereotypes and take their place in the world: equal and strong. He began to self-educate himself, secretly studying every time he could.
Later, Douglass was sent to another master, Edward Covey, a brutal man, who was incredibly cruel to his slaves. Douglass tried to escape but his first try did not succeed. His second escape was much better. Taking identification papers from a friend that was a sailor, Douglas pretended to be a sailor and went to New York City. Here, he lived out his days, continuing to speak out for his fellow slaves and tried to show them the importance of education. He showed them that education would give rise to freedom and liberty. By being educated, African Americans would realize what they were capable of and would no longer be content to be slaves. Furthermore, through education, African Americans could show the white people that they were not dumb but were as capable as anyone else to learn and develop. By becoming educated, Douglass stated that a man would become a greater person. Education gives you the opportunity to grow and develop and to be the best that you can. Education get rid of ignorance and stereotypes and allows us to understand the world and people around us.
Douglass believed that everyone was equal and that education should be given to everyone. It should not be withheld for any reason. His belief was that everyone was equal and everyone should be given the same opportunities so that they could have the chance to better themselves.
Booker T. Washington had very similar views. Also born into slavery, Washington was born in 1856 on a tobacco farm. His mother was a cook while is father was a white man from a neighboring farm. Booker T. Washington, like Douglass, was not allowed to go to school. Instead, he was allowed to carry books for Burrough’s daughters to school but he was not allowed in the schoolhouse. However, this changed when in 1865, the Emancipation Proclamation was created. Booker went to school after his job ended (he worked in a salt mine). Later, he was given a job by a wealthy woman who helped him learn. When he became 16, he walked several miles so that he could enroll in a new school that taught black students. He later became an instructor there and became known as one of the nation’s first black educators in Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He, like Douglass, believed in educating everyone, but his approach was more hands on. He believed that education should be used as a tool for a job. His ideas were similar to what we now know of as technical schools. His view of education was that education should teach people things they will need to know in life. His approach was practical methods that would help African Americans in their jobs later on.

Web Cites Used:

http://afroamhistory.about.com/od/frederickdouglass1/a/bio_douglass_f.htm

http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=543

http://www.frederickdouglass.org/douglass_bio.html

http://www.nps.gov/archive/bowa/btwbio.html

http://northbysouth.kenyon.edu/1998/edu/home/btw.htm
http://www.ushistory.net/washington.html

Book Sources:

Douglas, Frederick. Autobiographies. New York: LIbrary of America, 1994.

Washington, Booker T. Up From Slavery: an Autobiography. New York: Doubleday, 1963.