Similarities Between Douglass And Harriet Tubman

Abraham Lincoln and Harriet Tubman are two well-known American historical figures. Both figures represent great change during a crisis in American history, however, both faced the crisis in different and similar ways. Abraham Lincoln was a laid-back countryman who later was the president of the United States for one full term and a very short second term. He freed the country from the greatest crime; slavery. However, at the the beginning of the Civil War, he was not fighting to free the slaves, instead, he was fighting to keep a nation together.

Both Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln were heroic men who fought for liberty and freedom. Douglass was a slave during the Civil War until Douglass became a free man. Douglass attended a conference where he found the courage to speak about slavery. A quote in the Springboard Book on page 72 states, “ I spoke but a few moments, when I felt a degree of freedom, and said what I desired with considerable ease.” Douglass realized that he had the freedom to speak what he believed in after so long being forced into silence.

As a boy, Frederick got moved to live with his master's cousin, Huge Auld. While Douglass was there, Auld's wife began teaching him how to read. Auld claimed that Frederick would be unfit for slavery if he knew how to read. Huge forbade his wife to continue teaching Douglass.

Many minority groups were vulnerable to enslavement placed upon them by white Americans throughout the 19th century. In the episodic autobiographies Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, An American Slave written by Fredrick Douglass and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl written by Harriet Jacobs, both authors present the physiological manipulations associated with slavery. Douglass's and Jacob’s experiences suggest that slaves endured a continuous treatment of brutality, loneliness, and sexual abuse. Slave-owners deprived slaves of positive human qualities because they (slave-owners) became divested from their sense of identity. The dehumanizing institution of slavery caused slave-owners to conform to social roles instituted by society and forced slaves to suffer from learned hopelessness.

In the narratives of Fredrick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs we see a point of view of two slaves in the 1800s, one being a man and the other being a woman. In Fredrick’s narrative we see that he was a born slave. As he grew up he desired to learn how to read, believing that this was the key to him being a free man. He became a leader for many other slaves and quarreled with his masters. He bought his time and eventually fled to the north where he ended up working with wages.

The Struggles Of Frederick Douglass As a young man Frederick Douglass was struck with the inability to read nor write these troubles dawned on him due to his state of slavery. Frederick Douglass was born a slave, a slave will not read, a slave will not write, and a slave is not a human, these thoughts were planted in the head of his white owners cursing him to inequality and illiteracy. Imagine never being able to write a love letter or read a funny note, imagine never being able to put your ideas on paper and making them permanent. Frederick Douglass had a great mind, one that was chained up and held back by the slavery and illiteracy his forced lifestyle brought along.

“She led dozens of enslaved people to freedom in the North along the route of the Underground Railroad—an elaborate secret network of safe houses organized for that purpose” (Britannica, 2023). Harriet Tubman was one of the most renowned conductors of the Underground Railroad because of how she saved over 70 people from the plantations in Maryland, where she had once been one of the slaves. The people in the time of Harriet Tubman considered her the “Moses of her people.” This was the story where Moses freed the Israelites from Egypt and led them across the Red Sea. In comparison to Harriet Tubman is that she helped many enslaved African Americans across the Underground Railroad to their freedom in the North.

Harriet Tubman was a strong and brave woman who helped free slaves. Born to slave parents and being a slave herself, her exact birth date wasn 't kept but she was believed to be born in 1825 in Dorchester County, Maryland. She was raised in harsh conditions and faced a difficult life of sicknesses and punishments far exceeding what she deserved. In one instance, Harriet was hit in the head with a 2 pound iron weight which cracked her skull and caused her to have sleeping problems and seizures. However, from all her cold, hungry nights and savage beatings she became a hero.

Frederick Douglass was a slave from Maryland who, through luck and intelligence, was able to escape slavery at 20 years old. In his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, he describes how it felt being a slave throughout his childhood and adolescence, as well as the traumatizing conditions on plantations. Douglass also discusses how he learned to read and write, which causes him to consider his position in slavery and helps to inspire his escape. Nevertheless, once he arrives in New York, Douglass’s hope quickly fades as he is faced with the reality of his situation; he is all alone in a place where he could easily be caught and returned to slavery, making the efforts of his escape in vain. In the excerpt from his autobiography,

There was an innumerable amount of people who were willing to put themselves at risk to offer a helping hand to slaves in search of freedom, but Harriet Tubman is one of the most well-known leaders of the Underground Railroad. Harriet Tubman was born into slavery in 1820 in Maryland and escaped in 1849. After her successful journey to freedom, she returned south many times to help family members and hundreds of other slaves gain the ability to live a free life (Harriet Tubman Biography.com). She also worked as a spy during the Civil war for the Union Army. After the war was over, she helped impoverished former slaves by establishing her own Home for the Aged (Harriet Tubman).

Two Great Men “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. ”- Thomas a. Edison Frederick Douglas and Booker T. Washington were both amazing civil rights activists. Frederick Douglas was a runaway slave who worked to end slavery.

Frederick Douglass in his narrative “Why I learned to Read and Write” demonstrates how he surpassed many obstacles along the way towards getting an education. These obstacles not only shaped Frederick’s outlook on life but also influenced him in his learning to read and write. Frederick’s main challenge was that of not being an owner of his person but rather a slave and a property to someone else. Frederick Douglass lived in the time when slavery was still taking place and slaveholders viewed slavery and education as incompatible. The slave system didn’t allow mental or physical freedom for slaves; slaveholders were to keep the apt appearance and slaves were to remain ignorant.

Both King and Douglass were advocating for the same thing: their constitutional sanction of freedom. Both men, in their respective letters touch upon parallel thoughts and beliefs that revolve around the much bigger topic of racial inequality and discrimination. Both men were discriminated against and they talk about their experiences and plight in their very distinctive yet special styles. Born in the year 1817, in an era of open and unashamed slave trade, Frederick Douglass’s story begins as a serf to Mrs. Hugh in the city of Maryland.

orical figures Harriet Tubman and rosa parks were both strong African American woman who knew what rights were and didn't let the world bring them down. They ignored the nay-sayers and plowed on through with their beliefs. they are both women who tried to free the black people and earn rights. Harriet Tubman helped blacks through slavery, rosa parks helped them through segregation Harriet Tubman was the leader of the Underground Railroad during the late 1800's while Rosa Parks refused to move from the bus seat and got into more legal matters in the early 1900s. Basically, the time period and what they did made them different, but they have more similarities than differences.

One such slave was Harriet Tubman. Harriet Tubman was One of the most well-known conductors of the Underground Railroad. She rescued over 300 slaves over the course of eleven years. Tubman was born a slave in the early 1820’s, originally named Araminta Harriet Ross until after marriage. When she was a slave, she endured the inhumanity of repeated lashings and beatings.