Douglass and Resilience – Quinton

Part A: “If a slave ran away and succeeded in getting clear, or if a slave killed his master, set fire to a barn, or did anything very wrong in the mind of a slaveholder, it was spoken of as the fruit of abolition. Hearing the word in this connection very often, I set about learning what it meant. The dictionary afforded me little or no help. I found it was “the act of abolishing”; but then I did not know what was to be abolished. .”

“If a slave ran away and succeeded in getting clear, or if a slave killed his master, set fire to a barn, or did anything very wrong in the mind of a slaveholder, it was spoken of as the fruit of abolition.” – Blame was directed towards the abolitionist movement when slaves disobeyed, resisted, or attempted to escape their owners. “Hearing the word in this connection very often, I set about learning what it meant.” – Frederick Douglass heard the word in the context of slavery, so he tried to find it’s meaning. “The dictionary afforded me little or no help.I found it was “the act of abolishing”; but then I did not know what was to be abolished.” – He was unsatisfied with what he could find in a dictionary because it didn’t help him understand the connection between the word ‘abolish’ and slavery.

Part B: Staying focused on class was a challenge during remote learning. I found learning less engaging because it was largely just watching a screen. In person, school typically required more participation from individual students. As a result, I paid closer attention and took better notes in class. Additionally, school is a less distracting environment to learn in. In a classroom, everyone is there to listen to and learn from the same person. At home, I found focusing more difficult because other people were doing things that were loud or distracting in other ways.

As a coping strategy, I used headphones to listen to class meetings. This allowed me to ignore some disturbances around me. If necessary, I would also move to another part of my house. Furthermore, taking breaks to fulfill tasks that were unrelated to school helped me focus on learning. It created disruptions in hours of looking at my computer. These strategies helped me develop resilience against barriers to my virtual learning.