The Birth of African American Identity in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself

Abstract

[Abstract] The object of study of this end-of-degree project is the autobiography of Frederick Douglass, titled Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself, and written in 1845. The aims that I want to demonstrate are two: that the conceptualization of African American identity is inextricably related to the slave narrative genre and that Douglass’ Narrative is a literary masterpiece, both formally and thematically. Throughout this paper I will also study the concepts of “identity,” “race,” and the general characteristics of slave narratives. Moreover, I will analyze the content of Douglass’ book by focusing first on its themes and finally on its form. Regarding the methodology I followed for the elaboration of this study, the first step was to search for information on the various topics I wanted to address. To do so, I collected some articles from academic sources such as JSTOR or Dialnet and also consulted dictionaries and books in search of definitions of some key concepts—e.g. Oxford English Dictionary and Critical Terms for Literary Study. Furthermore, I also used as secondary sources of information some publications from the Encyclopedia Britannica and the original text of the “Declaration of Independence.” All of these sources deal with topics such as African American identity and the genre of slave narratives; moreover, several of them are focused on analyzing exclusively the works of Douglass. Before beginning to write this paper, I did a close reading of the book in which I took notes of the most important issues addressed, trying to focus on race, identity, and literacy. Additionally, for the thorough analysis of the form, I also selected several rhetorical figures and two complete passages that I will quote in the corresponding section. Most of the key concepts addressed in this B.A. thesis belong to the field of African American Studies. Some of these include the experience of people of African descent in the United States, race-based oppression, and the formation of an African American community and culture. Therefore, the study of Douglass’ Narrative from an African American Studies perspective helps the reader to understand the abuses that black people have suffered for centuries.