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“Learning to Read and Write,” was written by Frederick Douglass about himself when he was a slave. Frederick Douglass was born as a slave but during his young age, he tried as hard as he could to learn to read and write whenever he has the opportunity to. He thought that being able to read and write will make him not ignorant like other slave, and he also believed it could set him free. The less ignorant he gets, the more he understands his place and regrets his own existence.
He had an opportunity to run away but he chose to stay for the sake of gaining knowledge, he remained as slave but an educated slave. In “Coming to an Awareness of Language,” Malcolm X writes about the time when he learns to read and write by himself. Malcolm X was an African American male that dropped out of school when he was in the eighth grade, not realizing how important education was. When he was in prison and wanted to write letters, he then realized how frustrating it is to not being able to express himself.
He had no other way of learning besides taking out a dictionary, and he would read then Mite down the words. Days by days he finally knew how to write, and realize how big of a difference being able to read and write makes. Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass learned to read and write for themselves but one had a better opportunity than the other. Frederick Douglass was not as blesses as Malcolm because Douglass a was born as a slave and the fact that he wanted to read and rite was already such a crime for him, but he managed to pass all the obstacles life gave him and reached his goal.
Frederick Douglass at a very young age that only an education can set him free by bearing his ignorant with education unlike Malcolm X, he was already blessed enough to not be born as a slave but he also had an opportunity to attend school. He never knew how important reading and writing was until he was older, and it was also.