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4.14 AVERAGE
4.14 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
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informative
medium-paced
challenging
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slow-paced
This book was written nearly 180 years ago, but the appendix could have been written last week. Everyone should read this. This should be required reading in high school. It’s a short book of only 96 pages and Douglass’ writing is beautiful and heartbreaking. His story is like so many hundreds of thousands of enslaved people that is often never told from the perspective of those who actually experienced it. Douglass’ criticism of Christianity (not unlike the “Christians” of our current time) was spot on, and in reading this, it’s unbelievable that “Christians” continue to use the same “biblical principles” to continue to persecute and condemn. He goes into detail in the appendix and it’s as applicable today as it was then.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Xenophobia
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism
The way he writes this, the descriptive dispassionate words arranged together, and his sarcasm. You can feel the boiling anger.
challenging
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emotional
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inspiring
medium-paced
I expected this to be a compelling read but wasn’t quite prepared for how moving I found it. Douglass is a brilliant writer and his narrative is full of such moral clarity that it’s easy to see why he became a leading figure of the abolitionist movement. I’m surprised that (as far as I can remember) I never read this in school, but I’m glad I’ve finally read it now.
No comment because it was an average reading. However, there was shown to be a lot of emotion and good descriptions for everyone who can only read about history.
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
I had read excerpts of this for school but somehow had never read the entire book. It's an absolutely vital work, and should be required reading in high school as far as I'm concerned. I was particularly struck by Douglass's observation that if slavery were truly biblically sanctioned based upon the "descendants of Ham" argument, it would already have ceased to be biblically sanctioned by Douglass's day since white slaveowners were continually raping slave women and thus adding their own bloodlines to that of Ham. In general, his scathing criticism of Christian slaveowners was one of the most powerful parts of the book, although learning of his personal experiences in his own words was also invaluable.
I read this after watching a Civil War documentary that mentioned Douglass. A short but amazing narrative by a brilliant and eloquent man. Nothing else I've read about the slavery experience made quoted the impression that this autobiography did. The schools should retire Huck Finn from the curriculum and replace it with this.
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
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tense
medium-paced
emotional
informative
medium-paced