Research Paper on:
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Analyzed

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of African-American literature. Douglass proved to be as moving a writer as he was a stirring orator, and his words still resonate among all who read them, whether they  be black or white. He was an eloquent anti-slavery spokesman, an ardent abolitionist who was dedicated to humanizing the practice of slavery so that it would not remain as  an abstract concept in the minds of the American establishment. While Douglasss text was certainly the most celebrated, it was only one of many slave narratives published prior to  the Civil War. These firsthand recollections were an effective weapon white abolitionists could use (and perhaps exploit) to attack the issue of slavery. In other words, if slavery  had a face, citizens might be more likely to see it for what it really was -- the ultimate violation of human rights. In his lectures, Frederick Douglass  may have been too articulate, for there were those who openly challenged his credibility, doubting he had been born into slavery or lived as a fugitive, as he claimed (Schaub  86). This motivated Douglass to write his tell-all autobiography, in which he named names and candidly recounted what it meant to be a slave (Schaub 86). He explained  in a mater-of-fact way that since he knew no other life, the term slavery meant nothing to him. He had become used to being separated from his family and  working for his white master and mistress. Douglasss narrative can be regarded as an important teaching tool because it transforms the illusion of slavery that has been depicted in  films like Gone With the Wind, in which there was an affectionate relationship between slave and owner, into a brutal reality of abuse, humiliation, oppression, and illiteracy. Slaves never