This essay explores two historical accounts on racial injustices and slavery against the black community to evaluate their role in promoting equality in America –
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, by Frederick Douglass, and The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin. At first, the titles of these two authors’ works seem distant in ideologies, but a closer examination reveals the shared ideologies and motivation in the advocacy for black freedom. Although both Frederick Douglass and James Baldwin were important social critics and reformers, they lived and produced their works in two distinct socio-historical contexts. The existence of Douglass is connected with an era when the anti-slavery movement was dominant in the socio-economic and political rhetoric in the American society. Despite the differences in these authors, their lives and works reveal many similarities. Both adopted similar means in the quest to achieve the same objective. This was the eradication of the rampant racial prejudice and the improvement of life among the black community. This paper tracks the parallels between the works of these two men by deliberating on their approaches to and understanding of race and religion. This paper shall shed light on the evolvement of racial and religious attitudes as a form of social and political activism for equality.
Frederick Douglass’s Narrative captures various themes that show the agony of slaves in the hands of the white people. Among the themes, include ignorance as a tool of slavery, knowledge as the key to emancipation and the effects of slavery to both the slaves and their masters (Bosnicova 12). Douglass illustrates the way slave masters perpetuated the vice by keeping their subjects uninformed. During his time, many people accepted the myth that slavery was a natural phenomenon. Many white people falsely believed that the black people could not participate in the civil society, and thus could be kept as workers. The Narrative
describes the methods and tactics that the whites used to gain and keep power against the blacks throughout their lives. The white people kept the slaves uninformed on primary facts about themselves such as their dates of birth and their real fathers (Bosnicova 12). By enforcing that ignorance, slave children lost their natural sense of identity. As they grew older, the white people barred them from obtaining education. This was done because learning to read and write could have given the slaves a sense of self-capability and competence (Bosnicova 12).
Through the Narrative, Douglass further illustrates the role that religion played in exacerbating the vice of slavery. In an effort to contrast between fake and true Christianity, he noted that the white Americans’ Christian practices did not embody the fundamental tenets on which it is based. This is because the slave masters, particularly in the south, were Christians. According to him, Christianity was “an ideal system of beliefs and behavior “, which differed significantly from the general practice in the society (Bosnicova 14). Douglass was battling religion, especially in the South because it was characterised by widespread hypocrisy. Throughout his book, Douglass takes a pragmatic approach to religion. Douglass did not wait for God to deliver him and the community from slavery passively. Rather, he took an active role in fighting for his freedom and that of his community (Bosnicova 15). The religious ideology that God will help those who help themselves first seems to stand well behind the thinking of Douglass. Douglass took a practical role as an agent concerned with the enhancement of life among the black community members (Stone 192).
Similar sentiments arise from Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time in the essay, “Down at the Cross”, that expresses the relationship between race and religion in differentiating his experience with the church in his youth and the Islamic principles in Harlem. Baldwin portrays the white Americans as trapped in a God-given ‘purity’ that makes them blameless to the crisis of racial discrimination. Baldwin illuminates the hypocritical nature on which the Christian religion is rooted, which has been used to oppress the black people throughout history. In the same way, Baldwin rejected the Black Muslim movement because it sought to reverse hierarchy, instead of putting an end to it. Overall, Baldwin’s experience with the Christian church and the Nation of Islam makes him discard religion as a reliable means to relieve the racial tensions that dominated the society in the 1960s. According to him, the key to the redemption of America and the perfection of the race problem was the abandonment of the Christian doctrine because it served as a tool for white supremacy, instead of showing love. Just like Douglass, Baldwin exposes the forgotten aspect of religion, which makes the whites subject the blacks under their oppressive control.
Nonetheless, these accounts do not invalidate the role of religion in the society. Actually, it is imperative to note that historically, religion played the role of motivating and containing the struggle for black freedom. Many activists in the civil realm typified the black church in the pretext of love and nonviolence to propagate the while belief that the black body is dangerous. Baldwin notes, the whites “could deal with the Negro as a symbol or a victim but had no sense of him as a man” (Baldwin 58). According to him, Christianity was a religion predominantly used to label the black people as impure, while at the same time providing the institutional space for resistance. Therefore, as Douglass did, Baldwin detached himself from the church and wrestles with religion at personal level. This enabled him to deal with things that defined racial identity and establish the foundation for his extensive critical analysis of the concept of racial identity.
Baldwin shares his adolescent experience in a black church, which he rubbishes for its doctrine and hypocrisy. He represents the Christian church as a sterile storehouse of deception where preachers speak about love, which is conspicuously absent from the church. He exemplifies the religious conversion he underwent at fourteen as a ‘gimmick’. According to him, church was a place where he could escape from lustful temptations and danger in Harlem. He Exemplified preachers who spoke from the pulpit as actors in a theatre who knew “how the illusion worked” (Baldwin 37) behind the scenes. Baldwin appreciated the ideology and teachings of Christianity, but he frowned at their application in the road to racial equality.
It is worth noting that both Douglass and Baldwin critic the Christian religion based on their real experiences of serving in the church. Douglass led the Sabbath school on his master’s farm to mentor his fellow slaves spiritually. Douglass attacked the incompatibility of slavery with Christian ideals. As such, he saved souls by publicly denouncing the vice of slavery and requesting for its eradication. In the same way, Baldwin admits to have taught Sunday school, but apparently, he felt like he was sinning by talking about Jesus’ love and repentance (Baldwin 39). This was because the love preached in church seemed partial, while the injunction to love applies to everybody in the Christ’s family (Baldwin 40). He concluded that religion was exclusionary in the sense that it allowed racial identities to continue in a society devoid of love.
In his activism for the abolition of racial identities and equality, many people helped Douglass. He particularly pointed out that women played a paramount role in his emancipation. Douglass notes that women who surrounded him brightened issues in his activism and outlook for race, human rights, gender and himself. According to him, these women dealt with similar issues as he did, and they hoped to achieve certain objectives by navigating the obstacles along their way instituted by the body and conditions in which they existed. Douglass and the women could sympathize with one another, which helped them coexist as collaborators, rather than competitors, as was the case with his male counterparts. This shows that Douglass did not only champion racial equality in his work, but he also advocated for gender equality, which is symbolized by his willingness and ability to work with women in advocating for humanity. His encounters with the feminine space taught him critical lessons.
First, Douglass acknowledged the importance of family in advancing his political activism. The Narrative begins with a family torn in slavery and the establishment of a new one rooted in freedom. In the 19th
century, the whites usually broke black families apart. Further, they depicted them as incapable of creating and upholding the emotional union of marriage and parenthood (Stone 194). The right to marry, sire children, protect the family and raise the next generation was a socio-political issue because it had everything to do with the fight against racism. Douglass admits that he could not have made it without the support of his wife, Anna. He expresses that she too faced limited opportunities for marriage and childbearing in a society that looked down upon her. This shows the degree of respect and adoration that Douglass had for women. Black families faced substantial cultural hostility and stereotypes that attacked the sexuality and moral-construct of the black community.
Besides, Douglass involved himself with the control of boundaries between public and private life. Privacy was a privilege that was not granted to members of the black community. Slave masters claimed entitlement and access to all aspects relating to the lives of black people, which they used as means of exercising total control over them. Douglass claimed his privacy and that of his family as a right by repulsing people who could pry into their lives and make judgments on their family. This prevented him from being in contact with people whose utterances would bring him dishonor him, or the African-American community at large. Furthermore, privacy allowed Douglas to think, read and write. Therefore, he and his wife, Anna, controlled the degree to which other people could access their privacy. Therefore, Douglass’s life was a demo of how people should oppose restrictions in their lives. Douglass’s Narrative is an attestation of the fact that his activism for equality was not limited to racial identities. Douglass sought to change the thinking that black was inferior and any other thinking that restricted the ability of the black man, woman, or child to live a dignified life shaped by a reality of what must be, rather than what was. He also sought to break the restriction of movement and the stereotypes levelled against the black community, and prevented the people from realizing their potential.
Education was of great significance in the path to freedom of the black people. Douglass condemned the knowledge deprivation of the slaves by their masters, which prevented them from making social progress. He learned from Hugh Auld that knowledge was the key to freedom. Auld forbid his wife from teaching Douglass because education ‘ruins’ slaves (Ferriter 127). Immediately Douglass became aware of the tactic used by the white slave masters to keep slaves. Douglass discovered that the slaves to free up themselves could use this tool. Personally, Douglass presents his self-education as the fundamental means by which he frees himself from slavery (Ferriter 128). Nevertheless, he does not oversimplify the connection between self-education and freedom. He has no delusions that knowledge is central to emancipating slaves. This is because it helps them express the injustice of slavery among themselves and to other people, as well, which helps them view themselves as humans, rather than slaves.
In The Fire Net Time, Baldwin stresses the issue of equality from an entitlement angle. The essay, which was initially written as a letter addressed to his nephew on the 100th year of the emancipation of black America, sought to encourage the young man not to give the fight against discrimination. In the second last paragraph, Baldwin writes, “This is your home, my friend, do not be driven from it; great men have done great things here, and will again, and we can make America what America must become” (Baldwin). The essay depicts the issues that the society of the day faced, especially those to do with police brutality against the black people. For instance, the 1965 Selma protest was characterised by women, children and activists seeking to stop the widespread violence that the black community faced from the police (Ferriter 130). He even gives an account of how to police officers frisked him when he was ten. While they were doing this, Baldwin notes that they made funny assumptions concerning his ancestry and possibly sexual prowess. Baldwin acknowledges the role of photojournalism in giving civil rights movements the attention they deserved. This helped in transforming people’s attitudes in the entire country (Ferriter 30). This facilitated the creation of mass awareness about the ills of slavery.
Baldwin expresses the conditions in which the black community lives. In describing the situation, he notes that black people either look down, or look up, but rarely do they look at each other or the white people (Baldwin 30). This is an indication that the community lacked solidarity, which is key to democracy, which is a sign of a great community. Baldwin wanted the concepts of race and religion to be open to the needed or useful reform, especially because evolvement of their understanding could have increased the openness, inclusivity and democracy. Baldwin takes a pragmatist view of his opinion. He perceives race as a complex and evolving construct, which means that he acknowledges the shifting nature of race as a political tool. Further, his essay presents the dangers of unified views regarding racial identity. According to him, race is an American imaginary projection that carries real and dire outcomes. He exalts the uniqueness of the American Negro in that they do not exist anywhere else in the world. This implies that the American Negro is only a white Americans’ fabrication of racial identity with dire consequences.
Baldwin’s letter cites that the white people have held the belief that the blacks are inferior to them for many years on baseless grounds. He rejoinders and says that the white people cannot act on what they know due to the fear of losing their identity (Baldwin 8). Baldwin refers to the white views of race and identity as a “collection of myths” (Baldwin 101). He further notes that the perception that whites are good and pure gives them the power to continue clinging on the myth of racial superiority. This system of thinking prevents the blacks from accepting themselves and achieving equality. He throws the ball in the white peoples’ court by asserting that when they come into terms with who they are and love themselves together with other people, the Negro problem with abate, because it will be irrelevant (Baldwin 22). To dismantle the propagated myths of whiteness and blackness rests on a shift in attitudes to an affectionate and inclusive society. This is because the current attitudes concerning blacks and whites are based on essentialized identity seeking to put one community ahead of another. Baldwin cautions that unified racial identity is likely to affect black people physically, emotionally and spiritually. Believing what whit people say about black people makes the victims lead terrible lives because they suffer emotional defeat. In the same way, if the modern African-Americans internalize the white concept of the Negro together with other myths, they are likely to feel defeated. Ultimately, these beliefs become deeply embedded in their brains to the extent of feeling helpless and believing that they can do nothing to change their identity. He suggests that the black people in America are preconditioned to look down on themselves since their births. For this reason, Baldwin writes to his nephew, “…take no one’s word for anything – but trust your experience” (Baldwin 8).
In his Narrative, Douglass responded to his place and the themes that dominated the society at the time such as the fight for freedom. His coping and resistance tactics were defined by religion and gender (Stone 198). Douglass advocated for the ability to speak in public besides the basic literacy. This is because literate male narrators exhibited their place as men and their right to self-dependency in a democratic society. Besides championing racial equality, Douglass supported women movements with shared ideologies (Stone 198). He inspired women with his activism by choosing to work alongside them. The women considered themselves partners in protests because the meaning of the issues they were addressing could only be validated if they had significant meaning to the men. Black women could work with Douglass in challenging attacks directed at black families. In the same way, white women could work with him when challenging an issue affecting black men and white women. By doing this, their middle-class statuses equipped them with respectabilities that provided immunity to class biases (Stone 200). In these cases, the women were not just following Douglas, rather, they worked together to eradicate a certain aspect of racial inequality despite the attacks hurled at them.
Slave narratives present the idea of equality from different perspectives that factor in the elements of race and religion. By exploring seemingly different, but closely related works as the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, by Frederick Douglass, and The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin, this essay has attempted the extent to which these works played the role of promoting equality in light of widespread racial discrimination and religious hypocrisy. Although rooted in different ideological springs and leading activism from two distinct socio-historical contexts, both Frederick Douglas and James Baldwin share various parallels in their approach to combat inequality and its reflection in their works. Both authors believe in religious values that promote the good values taught by Christianity. However, they do not see the black church as playing an active role in combating racial discrimination. According to them, the church is simply a repository for doctrines that are not put into practice to characterize the true nature of love. Further, both authors believe in knowledge as the primary tool for bring about change in the black community. Douglass was against the idea that slave masters used the ignorance of the black people to oppress them, and their families for years. A deeper and more extensive study on works of African American authors, activists, and reformers from different eras, class, and professional backgrounds can produce a firm and objective comprehending the role of slave narratives in promoting equality.
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Quoted material – 73words
Works Cited
Baldwin, James. The fire next time. Vintage, 2013.
Bosnicova, Nina. "God is an Activist: Religion in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and the Autobiography of Malcolm X." Americana: E-Journal of American Studies in Hungary 5 (2009).
Douglass, Frederick, and Ira Dworkin. "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave." (1854).
Ferriter, Courtney D. "The Uses of Race and Religion: James Baldwin’s Pragmatist Politics in The Fire Next Time." James Baldwin Review 2.1 (2016): 126-139.
Stone, Albert E. "IDENTITY AND ART IN FREDERICK DOUGLASS'S" NARRATIVE"." CLA Journal 17.2 (1973): 192-213.
