Continue reading Frederick Douglass- The Nature of Slavery (2) →

     In the previous post, we reviewed a speech by Henry Ward Beecher. The speech was presented in 1859, titled “The Nation’s Duty to Slavery”. The resource text for this speech is from “Classic Speeches” (Copyright 1965, Philosophical Library Inc.) We reviewed the speech and made a few conclusions to help answer the question- “Is membership in Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) a type of slavery?”.  After 16 years of being under the indirect and direct influence of Jane Whaley, leader of WOFF, my search for answers continues. In this post, we will review a speech from the same resource text, by a man who escaped slavery and sought to educate others as to its evils.  

    “Fredrick Douglass was born a slave in Tuckahoe, Maryland in 1817, presumably in February, and died, a figure of national importance, at Anacostia, D.C., on February 20, 1895… He was self-educated…. His intelligence, his greatness of spirit, and his determination to become free—a determination conceived when he was nine years old—made him a difficult slave and he was sent for a time to a notorious slave-breaker. .. but he would not be broken.” (page 181) Later, Douglass would escape slavery in a sailor’s suit. He began to tell his story and even lectured abroad in England and Ireland. “From 1871 to 1891, Douglass held various appointive offices, among them the post of counsel-general to Haiti.” (page 181) 

      Continue reading Frederick Douglass- The Nature of Slavery (1) →