Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass:

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass:

 

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass:
Read the following:
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, Written by HimselfNorman Yetman, “An Introduction to the WPA Slave Narratives” An Introduction to the WPA Slave Narratives Document Set of WPA Narratives The following questions may help you judge the quality of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass:
How did Frederick Douglass understand his “life”? What were its lessons? What lessons did he learn? What lessons did he hope his fellows still in slavery would learn?What lessons did he hope white people–North and South–would learn?What was Douglass’ assessment of Sophia Auld’s character? How did becoming a slaveowner change her? In Douglass’opinion, how did slavery change society?What were the implications of Douglass’s understanding of Sophia Auld for his view of the proper role of women in American society.Douglass entered a Northern society increasing divided by class, workingclass and owning class. Who did Douglass identify with? How do you know that? What difference
did it mean?Among the competing definitions of equality—-Jackson’s, Skidmore’s, Grimke’s—-which did Douglass identify with.Most Northerners had no direct knowledge of slavery. Douglass’s Narrative informed them of what it was like? How accurate was Douglass’s portrayal?What was the nature of slavery in Frederick Douglass’ Maryland? How representative was Douglass’s experience?What were the differences between life on an Eastern Shore plantation and life in Baltimore? What were the benefits and disadvantages of urban and rural slave life?Consider the place of the family in Douglass’ Life? The role of his mother and various surrogate mothers? Douglass’ father? Douglass’ kin?How did Douglass gain his freedom? Consider the role “will” and “education.”Consider the role of violence in Douglass’ story. Why were slaves punished so harshly and arbitrarily? How did Douglass react the first time he witnessed the whipping
of a fellow slave? How did he demonstrate his manhood?How did slaves distinguish a good from a bad master, a good from a bad overseer? By what standard did slaves measure kindness?Consider the religious beliefs of Frederick Douglass? How does he understand God? How does he understand religion?What does Douglass tell us about Afro-American life in the free states? What was the relationship between Douglass and other free workers? In Baltimore? In the North?After reflecting on each of the documents in the set and the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, Written by Himself, write an essay that
answers the following:
Numerous scholars have argued that the purpose of the slave narrative was “to enlighten white/non black readers about both the realities of slavery as an institution
and the humanity of black people as individuals deserving of full human rights.” Compare and contrast the narratives in the WPA document set with Douglass’s Narrative.
What is similar? What is different? Do these narratives achieve this purpose? Historically what were the purposes of these narratives? How did the historical moment
shape these narratives? Are these narratives useful for the 21st century reader? Why or why not?
Be sure to cite all the documents in the WPA set. Your paper should be about 6-8 double-spaced typed pages. Please email your completed paper to the instructor.
*Please read the instructions carefully for there are two links to documents that must read, in order to complete the the assignment completely. If links can not be
open please contact me and I can provide those for. Thank you