Frederick Douglass Fights for Freedom

Teaching Activity PDF. By Bill Bigelow. 7 pages.
A lesson to introduce students to the numerous and varied ways African Americans resisted their enslavement, using the autobiographical Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, published in 1845.

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The lesson described here asks students to empathize with Douglass’ desperate confrontation with slave owners and their agents by drawing on their own experiences resisting those who would seek to control them. This is not to suggest any parity of oppression between slavery and students’ lack of independence. But our imaginative capacity is limited by our experience, and it’s that experience we must use as a resource if we’re to attempt to comprehend the lives of others.

Published by Rethinking Schools.

Key words: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, slavery, freedom, African American.

African American, Individuals in US History, Slavery