Has any event in your life had the same impact that learning how to read had on Douglass’s life? If not, why not? His full name was Frederick Douglass. Douglass was a slave. According to Wikipedia “Douglass’s full name was Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, but he dropped two of his names after he escaped slavery. He was ‘an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York, becoming famous for his oratory and incisive antislavery writings.” Recently I have read some of his autobiography, but I will finish it very soon.

Douglass’s second master was a kind woman. She taught him how to read and write. In the south teaching slaves to read and write was illegal. This was illegal because the owners of the slaves thought that if their slaves learned to read and write they would no longer be content with being a slave. This may mean that they would get free and try to take the south over. Learning to read and write was the first step that Douglass took to being a free man. He would have never written his autobiography if he didn’t learn to read and write. Learning to read and write was a huge impact on Douglass’s life, but an even greater one I had on my life was when I was baptized.

Has any event in your life had the same impact that learning how to read had on Douglass’s life? If not, why not? Mine was being baptized at church. It showed everyone that I believed in Jesus the Son of God died for me. Before I believed I was scared at night and always asked my parents to pray with me and I was having nightmares, but after I believed I wasn’t scared or had nightmares anymore. Now I only have nightmares when God wants to tell me what I’m doing wrong in my life. It was not too close too what happened in Douglass’s life because learning to read and write isn’t as important as believing in God. 

At the moment I am twelve years old and know how to read and write. Me learning to read and write did not have as much impact on my life than Douglass’s life because he was a slave and it was illegal for him to learn. It must have been very influential for him.