Land of the Free?: A Look at Oppression in America's past
             Throughout the past, oppression has been a part of Human relations, from the treatment of siblings to the enslavement of an entire race of people, to everything in between. This is empirically proven through the non-fictional autobiographies of two men; Benjamin Franklin and Frederick Douglass, both of which tell about the oppression of their time, due to several factors. These two people had quite an interesting perspective on the tragic institution of 'Oppression,' Frederick Douglass being a former slave who escaped to freedom, and Benjamin Franklin being a young white man from a slightly abusive family who struggled, and finally made it out on his own. So, by comparing and contrasting these two great figures of American thought and reason, I will talk about oppression throughout the history of America. So, despite the differences in the family life of the two men, their obvious racial differences, and the lack of real-life education that both of these men both suffered through, they each suffered through oppression.
             First off, I am going to talk about the family lives of the two men, starting with Frederick Douglass, then moving on to Benjamin Franklin. The family life of Frederick Douglass was rather, shattered, he didn't even know his own age, "I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it." (21) . This is a sign of oppression, in that they used the lack of knowledge to keep the slaves down, and make their history uncertain giving the farm where they worked the only sense of home they'd ever know. While Benjamin Franklin did know his age, his brother physically abused him, "for the blows of his passion too often urged him to bestow upon me" (86) . This brings about the topic of siblings, something which Douglass was fairly certain that he had, being a half-breed in t...