1. Frederick Douglass

2. Quick Bio Personal horrors that he observed during slavery reason for his passion for black liberation and women’s rights. Narrative documents his journey from owner to owner Taught himself basics of reading and writing Narrative (1845) is generally held to be the most famous of a number of slave narratives Considered one of the most influential pieces to fuel the abolitionist movement of the 19 th century

3. Consider… Why does age matter? What is its significance in our society?

4. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass “By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant.” “The white children could tell their ages. I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the priviledge.”

5. Consider… What is the purpose of family? Why would someone in power be inclined to break the familial unit?

6. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass “For what this [mother and child being split up] is done, I do not know, unless it be to hinder the development of the child’s affection toward its mother, and to blunt and destroy the natural affection of the mother for the child.” “I received the tidings of her death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger.”

7. Consider… What causes a person to abandon or neglect their child? What makes one child more precious than another child?

8. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass “My father was a white man. He was admitted to be such by all I ever heard speak of my parentage.” “Children of slave women shall in all cases follow the condition of their mothers; and this is done too obviously to administer to their on lusts, and make a gratification of their wicked desires profitable as well as pleasurable; for by this cunning arrangement, the slaveholder, in cases not a few, sustains to his slaves the double relation of master and father.”

9. Prejudice Not Natural Read and discuss the intro. of the speech “[Colored man] was not driven from his home in pursuit of greater liberty than he enjoyed at home, like the pilgrim fathers; but in the same year that the Pilgrims were landing in this State, slaves were landing on the James River, Virginia.”

10. Prejudice Not Natural “Some of our number have fought and bled for this country and we only ask to be treated as well as those who have fought against it.” “Irishmen newly landed on our soil…have the audacity to propose our removal from this land of our birth.” “American skin-aristorcracy”

11. Prejudice Not Natural “more noble to suffer along with my colored brethren, and meet these prejudices, than to live at ease, undisturbed, on the other side of the Atlantic.” – Let’s discuss this…any connections we can make??

12. Can we as a society overcome prejudice?

13. Solution “Commence to do something to elevate and improve and enlighten the colored man, and your prejudice will being to vanish. The more you make a man of the black man, the more you will begin to think him a man….” Do you agree with Douglass’ solution? Why or why not.

14. Harriet Jacobs Born into slavery in Edenton, North Carolina. Taught how to read and write by her mistress. Refused advances of new master and sent to do hard labor and children threatened. Escaped with help of relatives. Hid in a storeroom for seven years. Escaped to New York City in 1842, reunited with children, spent ten years as a fugitive, and gained freedom in 1852.

15. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Find an example of when Jacobs’ writes using a “slave dialect” and explain the purpose of this switching of voice. “Who can blame slaves for being cunning? They are constantly compelled to resort to it. It is the only weapon of the weak and oppressed against the strength of their tyrants.” Do you agree with the statement above? Why or why not.

16. Do you think the average person in society agrees with the following? – A woman should never leave the house without wearing makeup – If a woman must choose, family is more important than their career. – The father of the bride is responsible for the wedding. – Women who sleep around are... – Men who sleep around are… – Men are rational and women are emotional – A man should never hit a woman – A woman is better at taking care of kids than a man

17. Social Constructionism The concept that there are many things that people “know” or take to be “reality” that are at least partially, if not completely, socially situated.

18. Ain’t I a Woman? How does Truth use social constructs against African American women to support the equality of all women and men?