Frederick Douglass & Sojourner Truth Term Paper

As for Frederick Douglass, he was nothing short of brilliant. His speeches were powerful and his writing was extraordinarily skillful, especially given the fact that he was born a slave and taught himself much of what he knew. His narrative is polished and at times understated, which actually adds power to what he says. Because when a reader goes through the Narrative from the Life of Frederick Douglass that reader knows ahead of time he or she is reading something written by a famous African-American who was a slave. The power in the narrative is established in terms of culture and history. But add to that the power of the writing, and Frederick's work takes on an even more dramatic tone.

He explains in relatively calm narrative that he has seen an overseer named "Mr. Plummer...cut and slash the women's heads..." And how he knew that his master Anthony to "take great pleasure in whipping a slave." But then he goes on, now that he has the reader's attention: "I have often been awakened at the dawn of the day by the most heart-rending shrieks of an own aunt of mine, who he used to tie up to a joist, and whip upon her naked back till she was literally covered with blood." And moreover, Frederick's way of showing the strength of the slave culture he emerged from, he added, "No words, no tears, no prayers, from his gory victim, seemed to move his iron heart from its bloody purpose" since the "louder she screamed, the harder he whipped..."

Both Douglass and Truth are giants in the halls of history, and though Douglass also should be considered something of a towering giant in the literary field, he's not there yet, at least not formally. But for any student who reads his scholarly, descriptive and smoothly presented narrative - from an historical perspective or otherwise - will see that this man deserves far more recognition than he receives. His writings are required readings in most Black History courses, but they should also be required in every American History class, bar none.

Works Cited

Douglass, Frederick. Narrative From the Life of Frederick Douglass. University of Virginia

Library, Electronic Text Center. Retrieved 11 March, 2007, at http://etext.virginia.edu.

Truth, Sojourner. Ain't I a Woman? Retrieved 11 March, 2007, from Women Writers, http://www.womenwriters.net/domesticgoddess/truth.htm.