1. Why do you think it was important for slave owners to keep slaves ignorant about their birthdays and parentage? Douglass opens his story by telling us that he is troubled by not knowing when he was born. Why is this fact so important to him?
2. List the turning points in Douglass’ life. To what extent did his “take-charge” attitude create these turning points?
3. Douglass presents much of his narrative in a factual tone and avoids personal opinions, yet the story is full of emotion. How is this possible? Where do you find evidence of emotion?
4. What kind of hero is Douglass? Does his heroism come from his physical or mental state? Or does it come from both? Of the two types of heroes (physical or mental), which would he consider himself?
5. In Chapter II, Douglass expresses his belief that education will set him free. What does he mean by this? Is this essentially an optimistic view? If he could visit us today, do you think he would still hold this view?
6. Examine the films Roots and Glory, as well as music videos of Public Enemy; how do they portray slavery and black-white relationships in nineteenth-century America? Discuss the films and videos in terms of Douglass’ Narrative.
7. Compare Douglass’ depiction of the struggle of African Americans in white America with the narratives of such black writers as Maya Angelou, bell hooks, Alex Haley, Alice Walker, and Toni Morrison. In what ways can Douglass’ influence be seen in the works of later black writers?
8. Douglass’ marriage to his white secretary in the later part of his life caused considerable discomfort among his white and black friends and acquaintances. Douglass had this to say about his marriage: “They would have no objections to my marrying a person much darker in complexion than myself, but to marry someone much lighter, and of the complexion of my father rather than my mother, was, in the popular eye, a shocking offense.” To what extent have attitudes regarding interracial marriage changed? From his Narrative, what can you discern about his opinions regarding interracial marriage and/or procreation?
9. The interracial concerns and problems Douglass expressed still affect us today. How will these problems diminish? Consider a disunited and disenfranchised African-American population, alcoholism/drug addiction among African-Americans, and the matter of whites fearing that minorities will take their jobs away.
10. Various critics have placed Douglass’ Narrative within the genres of Romanticism and also that of Realism. Does it belong to either category? Justify your claims.
11. The underlying assumption and philosophy of Douglass’ Narrative is that humans can (and must) create their destiny. Comment on Douglass’ philosophy, citing examples and illustrations.
12. Several times in his Narrative, Douglass expresses his view that slavery is bad for both whites and blacks. In what ways is slavery detrimental to the South?
1.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
SELECTED WRITINGS OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS
The best source of information about Frederick Douglass remains himself. Douglass wrote the following three autobiographies:
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave; Written by Himself. Boston: Anti-Slavery Office, 1845.
My Bondage and My Freedom. New York: Miller, Orton, and Mulligan, 1855.
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, Written by Himself. Hartford, Connecticut: Park Publishing Co., 1881.
His collected speeches and articles can be found in:
BLASSINGAME, JOHN W. The Frederick Douglass Papers. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979.
Some of his more famous speeches and articles are listed below. (Unless otherwise indicated, they appear in Blassingame's collection.)
"The American Apocalypse," Rochester, New York, June 16, 1861.
"Capital Punishment Is a Mockery of Justice," Rochester, New York, October 7, 1858.
"Fighting the Rebels with One Hand," Philadelphia, January 14, 1862.
"John Brown and the Slaveholders' Insurrection," Scotland, January 30, 1860.
"Letter to His Old Master," appears in My Bondage and My Freedom.
"The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro," Rochester, New York, July 5, 1852.
"The Proclamation and a Negro Army," New York, February 6, 1863.
"The Slaveholders' Rebellion," New York, July 4, 1862.
"Slavery and the Irrepressible Conflict," Geneva, New York, August 1, 1860.
"Slavery and the Limits of Nonintervention," England, December 7, 1859.
SOURCES FOR BACKGROUND INFORMATION
BOWMAN, JOHN S, ed. Civil War Almanac. New York: Bisson Books, 1982.
CHASE, HAROLD W. Dictionary of American History. New York: Charles Scribner & Sons, 1976.
HORNSBY, ALTON, JR. Chronology of African-American History, Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1991.
ROLLER, DAVID, et al., eds. Encyclopedia of Southern History. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1979.
CRITICAL WORKS
BLIGHT, DAVID W. "The Private Worlds of Frederick Douglass." Transition: An International Review 61 (1993): 161-68.
CARSON, SHARON. "Shaking the Foundation: Liberation Theology in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass." Religion and Literature 24 (Summer 1992): 19-34.
GATES, HENRY LOUIS, JR. "A Dangerous Literacy: The Legacy of Frederick Douglass." The New York Times Book Review May 28, 1995. 3.
________. "From Wheatley to Douglass: The Politics of Displacement." Frederick Douglass: New Literary and Historical Essays. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
GIBSON, DONALD B. "Christianity and Individualism: (Re) Creation and Reality in Frederick Douglass's Representation of Self." African-American-Review 26 (Winter 1992): 591-603.
JAY, GREGORY S. "American Literature and the New Historicism: The Example of Frederick Douglass." Boundary 2: An International Journal of Literature and Culture 17 (Spring 1990): 211-242.
MAILLOUX, STEVEN. "Misreading as a Historical Act: Cultural Rhetoric, Bible Politics, and Fuller's 1845 Review of Douglass's Narrative." Readers in History: Nineteenth-Century American Literature and the Contexts of Response. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993.
TUTTLETON, JAMES W. "The Many Lives of Frederick Douglass." The New Criterion 12 (February 1994): 16-26.
YARBOROUGH, RICHARD. "Race, Violence, and Manhood: The Masculine Ideal in Frederick Douglass's 'The Heroic Slave.'" Frederick Douglass: New Literary and Historical Essays. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
ZAFAR, RAFIA. "Franklinian Douglass: The Afro-American as Representative Man." Frederick Douglass: New Literary and Historical Essays. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
ZEITZ, LISA MARGARET. "Biblical Allusion and Imagery in Frederick Douglass' Narrative." College Language Association Journal 25 (September 1981): 56-64.
