Life Of Frederick Douglas And Benito Cerano Essay

Education Frees the Mind and Body â€Å"Until justice is blind to color, until education is unaware of race, until opportunity is unconcerned with the color of men s skins, emancipation will be a proclamation but not a fact† (Lyndon B. Johnson). Frederick Douglas and Herman Melville lived in the same time for almost the same length of time. Herman Melville lived from August, 1819 – September 28, 1891, while Frederick Douglass lived from February, 1818 – February 20, 1895. Yet these two narratives couldn’t have been more different. While taking a look at the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas and Benito Cerano we can see these two insights of their world. I will be delving into how these two narratives show the condoning of racialized slavery, the endorsing of rebellion, and their individual perspectives. There is one thing that combines these two and that is their education. Education is what shifts the mind from the mind of a brute regardless of color to the level of where color a nd racism don’t exist. If there is one thing that racism needs it needs support and to be condoned because without it this, it no longer exists and both Frederick Douglass and Herman Melville show how racialized slavery at this time was condoned and accepted and why. Herman Melville shows how the use of stereotypes condoned racism and this quote supports this. â€Å"If on a voyage he chanced to have a black sailor, invariably he was on chatty, and half-gamesome terms with him. In fact, like most