Frederick Douglass

Image from Library of Congress

In  A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845), Frederick Douglass describes literacy events throughout his narrative. At one point in the narrative, for example, Douglass says that he read the Columbian Orator.


He not only explains how he learned to read and write but also notes literacy in more subtle ways. For example, when he writes of slave songs: "The mere recurrence to those songs, even now, afflicts me; and while I am writing these lines, an expression of feeling has already found its way down my cheek" (p. 349). Here is a powerful linking of memory, emotion, body, song, and writing.


I call these instances examples of "explicit" literacy--e.g., the pen in the crack of his foot, Mrs. Auld's teaching, the street children and writing, and the title page self-authorship note. All of these are specific mentions of literacy in the narrative.


Douglass also uses "implicit" literacy throughout his narrative via literary devices--chiasmus, metaphor, dialog, narrative structure, and intertextuality. By looking at these literary devices, we see the profound writing abilities of Douglass. In the end, Douglass both tells and shows his literacy abilities.


My Bondage and My Freedom is available from the University of Virginia Library. Life and Times of Frederick Douglass is available from the University of North Carolina. The Library of Congress has a useful collection of Frederick Douglass materials.


Note: It was not initially illegal to teach slaves to read and write in the South. After 1740 and the Stono Rebellion, states such as South Carolina enacted laws limiting literacy. By 1830, Southern states such as Alabama (1833) passed the anti-literacy laws that we think of today when we think of prohibitions on slave reading and writing. PBS provides a useful timeline of laws related to slavery in the U.S.