Fredrick Douglas Preface Outline

Preface Outline on Fredrick Douglas

Claim: What Fredrick Douglas writes in his narrative is probably true and not falsified.

Proof: In the preface William Lloyd Garrison writes that he has endured a lot and when he talks about life as a slave it is greater than Patrick Henry himself speaking of the revolution. For someone to speak with such feeling as him you have to have feelings and emotion, those which are very hard to fake while lying.

Proof: William also speaks of that Fredrick Douglas wishes to share no information of where he was born or who was his master. Why would he not want to share this information and tell of the man who hurt him so? It shows that he was definitely hurt but he deals with his grief in a different sense than getting revenge, he deals by burying the past and starting new.

Analysis: There are many I'm sure who don't believe that some of what Fredrick Douglas has written is true or maybe that he made everything up, but even if that is true didn't he make this world a better place to live in for all African Americans lies or no lies?

Claim: Without Fredrick Douglas and the release of his narrative, the accepting America you know today might not be so accepting.

Proof: In the preface William says that, after hearing Fredrick's very moving speech on his life as a slave, he recruited him as an anti-slavery promoter so that he could help Americans rethink their prejudice against blacks.

Proof: Fredrick touched the hearts of many because of his perfect combination of heart and mind in his speeches, some which might have still been prejudice of blacks in America had they not heard his tear jerking speeches. He was a very inspirational speaker and the fact that he also wrote a narrative on his life just added to the flames of abolitionists.

Analysis: Were there still many people after Fredrick Douglas who inspired many Americans to believe in an America where nobody was judged by the color of their skin? Of course there was, but from the effect he had on this nation, he was that one of many pushes that the people of the nation we have today needed.

Claim: If a white man had become enslaved just like the blacks were, they would too become degraded and seem inferior to other races.

Proof: In the preface William states of a case where a white man was shipwrecked on the coast of Africa and enslaved for three years and during this time he had forgotten how to speak his native language and his morale's.

Proof: Many Americans back then believed that African Americans deserved to be slaves because they were just inferior to the superior white race but if you were tortured, stripped of rights, dragged from your homeland to toil on land in a foreign country tell you practically died from