Education = Human Freedom

     In the "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas," the slaves did not have any freedom, and they were not allowed to get an education. They had no freedom whatsoever, even their minds and spirits did not always belong to them. I think that the lack of education and human freedom relate to each other in many ways.

     Most humans have a very strong drive to live, which is partly due to their education. They have learned so much about the world, and they can read and write and more. Slaves did not have this. They did not have that drive to live and escape, except for the slaves who, like Frederick Douglas, had somehow recieved an education. Education gave slaves the will to live, and the drive to escape.

     The skills of reading and writing are unique to humans, and most people are taught to read and write at some point in their life. But slaves were not humans in the eyes of the slaveholders, and they were not allowed to acquire that skill, because it would separate them from cattle and land, and make them more "human;" more like the people who were taking their freedoms.