Similarities and Differences between Douglass and Washington - Essay Example

Black people could only tell planting-time, harvest time, and spring-time but white children could tell their ages. Black slaves held the same rank as horses, sheep, and swine while white people held high human ranks. Washington was also a slave born and raised in a small shanty, slept on the floor, and started working at a small age. They attended Negro schools and studied at night after working during the day. Slave patrols that were carried out to control the colored people were more brutal than Ku Klux Klan vigilante night raids.

Black children did not have full names compared to white children. Washington was given only one name and picked his surname and first name during his teenage years (72).Booker Washington campaigned for equal education opportunities for both the black and white people in America. He opted for the establishment of industrial education that could help black men provide necessary services to themselves and the community. Blacks attended schools to learn how to read and write the English language.

Industrial education would give blacks the opportunity to acquire skills that would make life more attractive and endurable. According to Douglass, education would give blacks the chance to work far from plantations and would give them some freedom from manual labor. Educated slaves moved into cities where they were well clothed, fed, and enjoyed more privileges than slaves in plantations. Blacks had to rebel against their white masters in order to access education and get the inspiration to achieve freedom.

Freedom and liberty required several factors but education was the main requirement.Douglass advised young people to agitate their masters and rebel against them in order to gain their freedom (73). White masters showed black slaves several injustices and the only channel to freedom was a rebellion against white rule. They had to fight for their rights such as education and access the friendly northerners and urban blacks who had more progressive lives away from plantations.