A famous statement that Frederick Douglass made was that without struggle, there is no progress. This was definitely true with regards to the life that he lived. He was a man who desired freedom, and realized that education was the path towards attaining it. He focused all of his energies on making his goal achievable. Unfortunately there were many obstacles. The main obstacle was that he was a slave, and thus not afforded the benefit of education or freedom. There also was a man by the name of Benjamin Franklin who self-educated himself in order to improve his life in pursuit of the American Dream. The ways in which Benjamin Franklin and Frederick Douglass became educated were different in many respects but both men valued them equally.
             Frederick Douglass was born a slave in Maryland. He did not know when his birthdate was because slaves were not told when they were born. This was part of the dehumanization process. Benjamin Franklin was born a free citizen in the state of Massachusetts. He lived in a family with both parents as well as other siblings. Douglass only knew his mother for a short time because they were separated from each other and she died when he was about seven years old. Because Douglass was not old enough to work in the field, he was taken care of by one of the older slaves who could no longer work in the field.
             Freeborn children were afforded the opportunity to go to school or were taught by family members. Slaves were forbidden to learn to read or write for various reasons. The main reason was to keep slaves ignorant of their condition.
             Douglass got his first taste of education when Ms. Lucretia began to teach him his ABC's. The overseer then forbid her to teach him anymore and explained the magnitude of which it would affect him in regards to slavery. Douglass then realized how important it was to learn to read and write and continued to find ways to learn.
             ...