Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass- Life of an American Slave
Welcome to my Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass- Life of an American Slave book summary!
One-Sentence-Summary: Published 20 years before the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery, Frederick Douglass details his time as a slave in America and, ultimately, escaping to freedom in the North on his second attempt.
booboo real-time book rating: ★★★★★ (percentage of books with this rating: 8%)
An astoundingly easy read for having been written nearly 200 years ago. I felt compelled to read this book day and night until I finished it on day two. Frederick Douglass is a fantastic writer!
In 2020, I was shocked to learn that people thought America was racist. Granted, I’m from California. So, I read to educate myself. After having traveled to 41+ countries, it’s difficult for me to accept that America is racist. Let me be clearer: America is the least racist country on the planet and is meaningfully not racist. It’s hard for me to accept the arguments of the 21st century, however valid they may sound, when all my favorite heroes growing up were black, the commander in chief for eight years who received a record number of votes in American history was black, and where all around me are prosperous black people. Nevertheless, it’s important for me to educate myself on the past of my once greater country.
At the same time, I am reading Sufferings in Africa by James Riley also published in the early 1800’s.
American Statistics at the time of publishing:
- Northern population: 19 million
- Southern population: 9 million
- Percentage of the white population in the South who owned slaves: 4.8%
You are reading my book review and summary by Frederick Douglass. Be sure to check out my digital bookshelf for 100+ book summaries.
An argument for slavery was that God cursed Ham, a biblical interpretation that I think infers Ham is African (Admittedly, I still don’t get it).
Did you know I’m an author? I wrote four books on real estate investing, travel, and language learning.
While reading, I am researching 1800s America and slavery:
- James Riley is mentioned at the beginning of the book. He was a white Navy sailor who shipwrecked on the African coast and was taken as a slave for three years. He was treated similarly to how slaves were treated in America. He was freed after a ransom was paid.
- The case of Celia is exceptionally tragic. She killed her owner in self-defense out of sexual aggression after having 2 of his children. She was hung, given that self-defense laws did not apply to slaves who were considered property.
- Valid objection against the argument that Africans in America today have it better, even after slavery, than if they were to still be in Africa: this assumes that Africa would not have developed differently and more prosperous without the slave trade.
- There were no wars from Western powers against African nations to acquire slaves.
- In Africa there are 0.01% (136k) black millionaires. In America, where there are the most black millionaires, that number is 3.7% (1,760k) or 370x more as a percentage of the black population or 13x more as a total quantity. Interestingly, Nigeria is number two, with 10,000 millionaires or 0.004% of the population.
Date Started: Sunday, October 13, 2024
Date Finished: Monday, October 14, 2024
Thanks for visiting and thanks to Frederick Douglass for writing Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass- Life of an American Slave!
| Support Me ⇒ |  |
