Freedom, Liberty, and Meaning in the Slave Narrative: Comparison of Works by Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington and Olaudah Equiano (Page 2 ; Return to ◄Page One)

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Interestingly, where Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington are different is in their ideas about white influence. Although Frederick Douglass did not directly state that he would have preferred minimal white influence, he was able to do almost everything throughout his life on his own. Obviously, with the founding of Tuskegee, Washington had to works through (as opposed to against) the system in order to obtain his own unique view of freedom and liberty. It is even more fascinating that both narratives begin with essentially the same complaints and early recognition concerning inequality. For instance, the author states in one of the important quotes from Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington, “In the days of slavery not much attention was given to family history and family records—that is, black family records. My mother, I suppose, attracted the attention of a purchaser who was afterward my owner and hers. Her addition to the slave family attracted about as much attention as the purchase of a new horse or cow.” He too has the same lack of knowledge about his family and thus seems to have suffered the same feelings of displacement as Douglass did. As one scholar notes, this lack of family and sense of community was one of the reasons he went on to form Tuskegee and become the “patriarch” of the black community of freed slaves. “Washington’s efforts to establish and maintain Tuskegee Institute were not so much the acts of a man who wanted to become a political or economic leader but rather or a man who wanted to become the all-embracing, unencumbered father that neither he nor any other blacks in America had previously enjoyed.” Therefore, to Washington, part of freedom and liberty is the ability to have a family or at least create one. While there are certainly more obvious statements about freedom, this one is important in all of the slave narratives in this study, especially since all of these men were taken from one family and forced to create a new one. In other words, in order to be truly free one must have a reliable base of people to count on. Eventually Washington finds that and so does Douglass, even when he is afraid of his own people and wondering if they will turn him in.

In the case of both Booker T. Washington in "Up From Slavery" and Douglass in "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass : An American Slave, education and working hard are the keys to freedom. This education will allow slaves, both free and in bondage to at least have freedom of thought and escape the paradigm that states, “no white American ever thinks that any other race is wholly civilized until he wears the white man’s clothes, eats the white man’s food, speaks the white man’s language, and professes the white man’s religion” (98). Armed with this education, both men feel that true freedom is the ability to express this learning for a greater purpose, namely to motivate others of their race. Freedom through education seems to have worked for both of these men and although they endured a long period of trials before they reached a more comfortable end, most of their enlightenment at the end of each text comes as a result of having been educated and making that the secret to their success. Freedom is nothing by itself without education and when speaking of those newly freed slaves who did not have an education Washington states it would be “very much like turning a youth of ten or twelve years out into the world to provide for himself” (21). He takes over as a father figure and gains even more freedom and self worth by helping others become educated.

For Olaudah Equiano, freedom in its purest form was located in his memories of childhood. Unlike Washington and Douglass, he was an African aristocrat who tasted the joys of freedom and luxury before being transported away from his home. The son of a village elder, the author retrospectively views his childhood in Africa in one of the important quotes from "The Interesting Narrative" by Olaudah Equiano as his “former happy state” during which he “basked in the warmth of his mother’s love, was cradled in the awareness of his aristocratic father’s wealth and prestige, and was nourished by the knowledge that his parents were committed to securing for him a place within their community through which he too would gain the mark of grandeur and distinction that was borne by his father and brother.”Although he does eventually buy his freedom, this is not a completely liberating experience since he does not yet have all the elements of happiness that truly make one free. He is intelligent, witty, and able to survive as well as formally educated. Like Washington and Douglass he too realizes the importance of education and this remains, just as to them, the key to his later success and enhanced rate of acceptability into white culture. When he finally settles down and adopts the manners of a white person, he is truly free. Although it is not directly stated in the text, he is very reliant on this action of conforming to white society to secure and maintain his freedom. In this sense he is a bit like Washington since he uses the white system to get his requests. Instead of subverting the system entirely as Douglass did, both Washington and Equiano seem to understand the importance of this conformity. Neither submits entirely to white culture and maintains an abolitionist spirit, this is an important difference.

In sum, if there were a conversation between these three men Douglass might tell the other two that the only true way to freedom from slavery is to work incredibly hard to learn how to read and write. This coupled with rebellious and defiant acts is the only way to attain true freedom. In response, Washington might agree with his assessment about education but suggest that instead of gaining freedom through speaking out and being a revolutionary figure, it is best to work with the United States government and its institutions to gain funding and public support. Equaino would agree with both men about education and would likely find himself in good company with Washington, especially as far as combining capitalist and abolitionist interests. These two saw that the only way they could gain freedom would be working through the system. The conversation might conclude with all of them expressing sentiments about their families whom they were taken from and agreed that part of freedom is having a support base and people whom they are always connected to.

Washington, Booker T. Up From Slavery Penguin, New York.

Hedin. "Paternal at Last: Booker T. Washington and the Slave Narrative Tradition." Callaloo no. 7 (1979): 95

Equiano, Olaudah, and Vincent Carretta Ed. Interesting Narrative and Other Writings. New York: Penguin Classics, 1998: 97

Samuels. "Disguised Voice in The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African." African American Review 19.2 (1985): 64

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