Literacy in search of freedom

(This is an excerpt from a paper I wrote ... mild ranting ... but I thought I would share. Enjoy!)

“I can’t read. I don’t know how to spell that. Can I sign my name with an ‘X’?”
These are not statements confined to the nineteenth century or third world countries. The struggle for literacy and knowledge is a widespread occurrence unrestricted to geography, gender, age, or ethnicity; the dependant variable of literacy is socio-economic power. As clichéd as it is ‘knowledge is power,’ and without it one becomes subject to the whims and desires of those who possess it. The craving and battle for literacy is evidenced in a large number of texts by disenfranchised writers, however, the slave narrative manages to clearly illustrate the link between literacy and socio-economic freedom. Frederick Douglass’, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, exhibits the manner in which slaveholders utilize forced ignorance to maintain their political and moral superiority as well as the communal rebellion on the part of the slaves in the form of songs. Douglass articulates his movement from oppression to freedom by means of gaining knowledge as well as a grasp of all forms of literacy. The songs of his fellow slaves in the fields plant the seed of hope in his heart; combined with the knowledge of the ABCs, and the self-determination, Douglass is able to reject the education of his early life, in the form of brutality and cognitive disarmament, in search of freedom and knowledge to the north.
Douglass is able to cast off the restraints of slavery by first unshackling his mind. In order to set himself free, Douglass has to first cast off his early education and socialization into slavery as well as incorporate and develop an ideology of freedom and independence. Literacy and freedom was planted in Douglass among his peers in the fields of the Great Farm House and followed him to Baltimore, through the streets and down to the ship-yard where his dreams were realized on old beams and pavement. Once his mind was set free, it was only a matter of time before he would realize his physical freedom. Douglass attempted to share his knowledge with other slaves in schools set up on farms he worked during his incarceration and although he never realizes the effects of his teachings, the cycle of knowledge was carried through him; the hope of more manifested itself in the hearts of his friends and loved ones. Although the abolitionist movement and the political purpose of slave narratives complicates the direct connection between literacy and freedom, the fact that Douglass wrote his own narrative in his own words speaks volumes to the power that literacy and knowledge has. Douglass is able to unite his struggle between mind and body with “the pen with which [he writes] ... laid in the gashes [of his feet]” (pg. 59). The march towards freedom is both a movement of the pen as well as with the feet. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass helped to further the abolitionist cause and the end of slavery, however, the lack of widespread literacy and the disenfranchisement of those who suffer illiteracy remains a problem. Slavery, in the intellectual sense of the word, remains a problem in every unread document, misspelled word and double ‘X’ on the dotted line. In order for the world to even appear to be a place where democracy and meritocracy rules, we must first arm all of the inhabitants with the necessary tools for participation. “Literacy in Search of Freedom” must be adopted as a slogan for all of those who feel the constraints of intellectual elitism and exclusion. Douglass was given the tools to achieve freedom in the 1800s and was congratulated for his efforts, why then are the social structures and hierarchies that allowed his story to be a heroic one still maintained and accepted?

If you are unfamilliar with either the text, or slave narratives in general, this may not make any sense ... but thanks for reading ...
~V