Frederick Douglass was born in Maryland as a slave not knowing his parents. Being overcome by a superior force from infancy, Douglass needed to break free from slavery. "It is a sermon on how slavery corrupts the human spirit and robs both master and slave of their freedom. (Thomas, pg. 3)His mistress Mrs. Auld introduced reading to Douglass. Before being hypnotized by the extremely horrid effects of slavery, Mrs. Auld had already taught Douglass to spell small words. That small inch of knowledge was all he needed to acquire a success to freedom. "If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell."(Jacobus pg. 128), were the exact words of Mr. Auld for which he spoke of them not knowing that he mistakably gave to Douglass in a conversation with his wife right in front of him. He took that bit of wisdom from both of his mistresses and ran with it as a runner would run with a baton in a four hundred meter relay. A determination is one of Douglass's strongest qualities; he used his abilities to read and write becoming one of the greatest African Americans in his century. He had morals, beliefs, and most of all a personality that the other slaves didn't have caused by the harshness of slavery.
             Young Americans under the age of thirty now days do not have the same qualities or strong desire for high achievement as Frederick Douglass does. One factor that could support this assumption is that America has advanced in the last century extremely. People read on a need to know basis. From the people that I have asked, some responses are because there are so many leisure activities available to them now unlike in Douglass's time. Music has made a dramatic impact in the last half century. People devote a lot of their time to television because it gives them the information faster. Most of them are not watching informational channels. People under the age of thirty only read if needed to get an education for higher pay. Most of the...