Today we had a conversation on the excerpts we read from the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. You made some great observations and connections to the text in our discussion. I'd like to extend the conversation just a bit further. In a comment to this post, please answer the following questions. Think deeply and use the text to support your response:
How and where is Douglass's narrative still relevant today? What are the threads that still remain in the contemporary texts we've read recently- ie; Crash, Recitatif, Twilight L.A. How does Frederick Douglass continue to inform our understanding of race relations in this country today?
Please post your comment by 9am MONDAY JANUARY 31st.
Douglass's narrative s still relevant today because as we talk about the history of slavery, we still can refer back to this man's experiences. His experiences are also still used to fight for black independence today, and to show why they should have it (even though they already do). The threads that still remain, I would say, are: the songs that the slaves sang, and why they would sing it, the places they would go to, and what would happen there, and finally, the thought of showing what has happened to the black race. Douglass continues to inform our understanding of race relations in this country today by having our kids read his stories in History classes or English classes, and having them understand what has happened to the black slave, what they endured, and most importantly: why Douglass made these stories. He also continues to inform our understanding through the many teachers and historians that teach others about his works, and his experiences.
ReplyDeleteI think that this ties into the other documents because in the narrative that Frederick Douglass wrote, he explains how he was treated as if he were unintelligent and lower than the white community. He proved this assumption wrong by learning how to read using any surface to write on as well as getting lessons from other poor white boys who were willing to help him. Like in Crash, the tv director is a black man who has made a career for himself, and he ended up going past bad jobs and found himself a higher education than we might assume. In Twilight LA, each interview was played by Anna Deavere Smith, and I thought this was a good perception of the riots because the audience can't make deep rooted assumption about the people giving the interview. Recitatif is the same as Twilight LA; the two main characters are described but not given a skin color to define them, making it seem impossible to determine who was black and who was white. Having the characters show similar traits to black and white culture can make it difficult to seperate the two, because both races are intelligent and can have the tendency to pursue the same career goals.
ReplyDeleteI think that Frederick Douglass's narrative still shows people today that assumptions about a certain race are not based on facts but personal opinion. Appearances are not what they seem, and people should not be judged based on skin color or outward appearance.
Many aspects of Douglass’ story are still relevant in present day America. I think the most obvious part is racism. The idea that black people are inferior to the white race is a widely spread issue. Racism can be traced back to white people having slaves in the time that Douglass’ story took place. This was also shown in the movie Crash when the white women grabbed her husband’s arm as she passed two black men on the side walk. Douglass’ stories continue to inform our understanding of race relations today by showing us a firsthand experience of racism from the beginning.
ReplyDeleteDouglass' narrative is still relevant today throughout the world, racism is still as big as an issue then as it is now anywhere in the world. In the movie crash which is totally based on the idea of racism shares a common thread on the assumptions that we make about people through race. When the white cop played by Matt Dillion comes up and harasses the black woman, right in front of her also black husband, this happens because the constant assumption is who will they believe a cop or black people? It is quite sad that situations like this happen because justice will not be served if the people in power use it to take advantage of their position in society along with their race. Douglass continues to inform us today about racism when we read through his narrative and conduct further research into his life and the struggles he had to face by being a slave.
ReplyDeleteI think that Frederick Douglass's is still important because even today we look at race and make decisions based on it. I think that most people reading Douglass's work would think that racism and slavery were horrible things, but those things still happen today. For example, in the movie Crash Sandra Bullock has a maid who she treats poorly, and she also makes assumptions about the two black men. In Recetatif we kept making assumptions about who was white. There were prejudice and discrimination being made. In the Power of Illusion, the students thought that their DNA would be closest with someone of their own race. Douglass continues to inform us today about racism because his stories and experiences show us what would happen if racism gets out of hand. It shows us that we are all equal and we need to act that way.
ReplyDeleteDouglas's narrative is relevant today in that his experience is still felt everywhere as an echo. Even though slavery has already ended, racism hasn't completely. This narrative gives us some insight into the hardships of a slave and reminds us why we value freedom. Douglas' narrative shows that race is not a real barrier to achieving things in life. For example, from the narrative he says "...making friends of all the little white boys whom I met in the street. As many of these as I could, I converted into teachers." In addition, before her husband's pressure, Douglas' master's wife treated him "...as she supposed one human being ought to treat another." This thread follows through with Crash, Recitatif, and Twilight L.A. in that the race barrier between the people were shown to have been meaningless in light of the reality around them. To emphasize, Crash's officer Hansen (Ryan Philippe) shot a young hitchhiker because he feared him as being a danger for being black pulling something out of his jacket which turned out to be a small statue. Recitatif's two mothers were seperated by their children's busing but eventually sat down together again. Twilight L.A. had a similar situation where an random innocent man was pulled out of a truck and beaten by a riot. Frederick Douglas displays this thread that race as a barrier is meaningless. When it comes down to it, race division doesn't matter. It's through his own experience, that we understand race relations today.
ReplyDeleteI think that Douglas' narrative is still relevant in the world today. Although slavery is basically unheard of in the United States now, racism is still a huge issue. Although it may not be deemed this way in law, Douglas' idea of blacks being of lesser equality than whites is still prevalent. Also, his narrative is read in schools all over the country, therefore it shows that people want us to take in his ideas still. If the narrative no longer mattered, then it would not be a significant part of of race unit. All of the other texts that we have read in class demonstrate the same ideas regarding that Frederick Douglas mentioned in his narrative. We see stereotypes and inequality all over the country! It is going to take an extremely long time to rid the world of any kind of racism, and I believe it can be done, just as slavery was diminished.
ReplyDeleteFredrick Douglas' statements are still relivant today due to the fact that racism is still as common in some areas as it was when slavery was still prominent. Although the words have been changed and the delivery of the message has changes as time goes on the message of Fredrick Douglas still remains in Twilight LA for example is a pile of first hand accounts from the riots of LA while Douglas' were also first hand accounts. If this narrative was absolite then it wouldn't be taught in the schools today. If the students of today didn't learn from the mistakes that were made in the past then those mistakes are going to be repeated as been shown in many ways throughout history so yes this narrative is still a big part of society today.
ReplyDeleteI think Frederick Douglass' narrative is still relevant to today because it is about race and racism is still happening today. This narrative is still read in schools everywhere and I think we are suppose to read it because we need to stop the cycle of racism. Students will see what has happened in history and may have an impact from it. Looking back on history, slavery was abolished and if something that bad can be gone, racism will take time, but we can do the same as a whole country. Frederick Douglass' narrative is proof to everything thing we have learned in class. Frederick informs us of race relations in this country today, by being proof of slavery.
ReplyDeleteI think it is still very relevent today. He goves an inside on what we know and study because he wrote an autobiography. He told us stuff that people never had said before because he was able to read and wrote and not many slaves knew how to do that so he gave us a lot of insight. It also shows us how people stood up and how to fight through prejudice. It shows up because it sometimes shows us how it happens in movies and in writings. In recetative it showed by her daughter wanting to collect everything and how she said that people living there would not be able to move on.
ReplyDeleteI agree.
DeleteI still think Douglass' narrative is relevant today because much like today, he was a black male, and was stereotyped and considered unintelligent, but proved people wrong. Much like today, people fail to accept the fact that a black person could gain a scholarship from Harvard or could have a highly successful career in business. Douglass' went above and beyond and despite all odds taught himself how to read and write. The tale he wrote was a description of the horrible life of a slave, from the cruel beatings to the harsh reality of most slaves not knowing their real age. I saw a connection between Crash and Douglass' narrative, especially when the white woman saw two black men coming towards her on the street and she grabbed her husband close for protection. I thought this was a good comparison because the woman is judging the men without knowing anything about them, but she assumes two black men must mean trouble so she seeks safety. I thought this unfair assumption was also like Douglass' story when they basically assumed all slaves weren't people, and should be property. Both scenarios show an example of people not gaining respect completely due to their skin color.
ReplyDeleteI think Fredrick Douglas' Narrative is still relevant and mostly seen in school settings today. In classes it is most relevant to the slavery unit because it shows a slave who defied the odds and showed every body that the color of his skin did not matter. In this modern age, many people in America are blind to the racism that the country still faces. Although we may not discriminate against blacks as severely as we used to, they still face racism like many minority groups face today. The movie Crash definitely shows this to be true. In Crash, when Jeane assumes that the hispanic locksmith is a "gang-banger" she is being racist. Also, in Recitatif, the author shows us how racist we still are by setting us up with stereotypes for each race, while making us continuously contradict ourselves. It teaches us that we continue to judge people by race today. We think that because a girl cant read, she must be black not white, but Fredrick Douglas was a slave and he taught himself to read. That is why Fredrick Douglas' story is so incredible. It shows us that no matter what race you are, you can do whatever you set your mind to. Today, it helps us understand that the stereotypes we label people with are not always true. And if they are not always true, then why should we label any person before getting to know them? We shouldn't.
ReplyDeleteAll the more recent examples we have looked at prove that Douglass's story is still relevant today. He was put down because of slavery and told he was dumb and not good enough for anything. He learned how to read and write and wrote his story to try and change peoples perception of a typical black male. And even though the stereotypes have changed they still put people down. Twilight L.A. shows how continued stereotyping and discrimination can eventually build up and turn into hate. The story Douglass tells is trying to prevent that from happening. Recitaff and Crash both play stereotypes so that we have to reevaluate how we look at people. These have the same affect of Douglass's story because they try and point out how looking at people a certain way is wrong.
ReplyDeleteDouglass's piece of writing is still relevant today to understand history. When reading this text people understand the true life of a slave through his own eyes. This creates readers to have sympathy and possibly break down some stereotypes. When a person can feel sympathy for another there is a more personal feeling and attachment. This is used in current day pieces of work, such as Crash. When a black woman is molested by a white cop this creates awareness of reality. The abuse from white to black people is still occuring throughout the large time period. Douglass makes people face what they like to think is not true, that people are racist and black people have dealt with cruelty for years. His work reminds us of the actual equality between the two races.
ReplyDeleteDouglas' narritive is still relevant today because even though some people see every race as equal many still do not. Many black people are still looked down upon today as not being as smart as other races. This relates to Douglas' narritive because slavery as a whole is looking down at black people not being treated humanely. Today, blacks and many other races are looked down upon and struggle, and there are still people from those races that prosper and beat the odds.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Douglas' narrrative is still very relevant today from all the pieces we have looked at. Douglas was a slave most of his life, and he told his story to get it out there, how slaves were treated and i think it woke people up, because they saw the reality of how bad slavery was. Douglas' autobiography may be telling everyone that there is no need for discrimination between any groups, and that it shouldn't be happening. Crash is an example of how discrimination is still happening today, there are conflicts between all types of groups black, white, Asian, that discriminate against each other. I think Douglas' story is meant to show people how crazy things can get when one is discriminated upon, so it will not happen again.
ReplyDeleteFrederick Douglass's narrative is still relevant today because there is still racism all around the world. People may not see it or realize that it is still a heavy weight around them, but it is and Frederick Douglass was sort of an example back then. Blacks still seem to have a little less support/respect in the world around us. Douglass gave us a first hand story about his experience in during the slave era. What he went through has changed not only his life, but all of ours as well because he was one of those brave souls to continue his slave life day after day. He watched his own aunt be beaten by their master. The threads that still remain are that there is still a lot of tension and differences between race and ethnicity in the world. For example, in the movie Crash, the store owner would not believe that locksmith that he needed to change his whole door and he thought that the locksmith was making him pay for something he didn't fix yet. The tension led to further problems because the store owner went to his house with a gun to shoot him down. Frederick Douglass continues to inform our understanding of race relations in this country today because he is an example of strength. He suffered through beatings because he was black. He has helped us reach our point where there is less and less racism of blacks and whites.
ReplyDeleteDouglass’s narrative is still relevant today because it shows where exactly racism and stereotypes came from. Blacks from the start have always been discriminated, being believed that they were only 3/5 of a person. When blacks were free from slavery there was still racial tension that blacks weren’t equal to whites there for shouldn’t have the same freedoms as whites. As time grew on, blacks gained the same amount of freedom as whites, but still were racial tension. Even today we still have racial groups like the KKK. The reason why it’s relevant is because racism and discrimination still happens today. In the movie Crash, we saw what would be a stereotypical ghetto black kid, and just a normal man who happened to be black. The normal man who happened to be black was treated unjust fully from the cops just because he was black, but if he was any other color the same situation wouldn’t have gone down like it did. The same thing happened in Twilight LA, where a simple black man minding his own business was beaten almost to death by LA cops. That’s two examples how racism still happens today.
ReplyDeleteThis narrative shows different views/aspects of slavery. He encounters cruel people, hopeless people, and people who want to help. This is a timeless story, where a person can help you or can make your life a living hell. This relates to our world today because there are still the roots of slavery...racism. In the movie Crash, the white upper-class couple, (Saundra Bullock and the guy from the Mummy), walk by two black men. The woman cringes and pulls in tighter to her husband, clearly showing fear. This scene represents all of the people that have racism towards a race that they feel will put them in danger. This happens everyday... some of our classmates even admitted that they did this. This narrative also puts us in a view where people where a race is treated so badly and does not get all the assets that they need. This is also seen in the more recent short story Recetiff that we read. After reading this, my classmates and I discovered that there are no things tied to race. Anyone can be cruel, smart, rich, poor, fat, or religious. Race is only the color of your skin and ties nothing to superiority. In the video that we watched (Power of Illusion) we learned that we are more similar to one-another than we think DNA wise. This is similar to how in Douglas' narrative, he opened up to show us all the different people that he encountered, and how in the end, one was in fact not more superior to another.
ReplyDeleteBased on the narrative we discussed in class, I feel that Fredrick Douglas' writing is nearly as effective today as it was back then. As janelle said, it is helpful in schooling systems such as our own because it helps us learn of our country's awful past. One thing that stuck out to me was the minimal amount of clothing and food they recieved as monthly rations. He speaks in such a way that can affect everyone that reads it, and can make them feel for what the blacks went through, and what some are still feeling to this day.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the narrative written by Fredrick Douglas. This narrative is still relevant today. When looking at black history and the history of racism. Fredrick Douglas has shown that he has seen the worst in some people and the best in some people. He has also shown that black people today have been discriminated against.
ReplyDeleteHe has shown all people the reality of being a slave and how badly slavery was. These ties into the movie twilight LA and how each stereotype had shown how they felt about this event during this time regarding Rodney king a black African American. Fredrick Douglas has shown the past in his narrative but the sad part is blacks are still treated differently today. Not as much but they still are.