Douglass and Resilience – Valon

Part A:

“I often found myself regretting my own existence, and wishing myself dead; and but for the hope of being free, I have no doubt but that i should have killed myself, or done something for which i should have been killed. While in this state of mind, I was eager to hear anyone speak of slavery. I was a ready listener. Every little while i could hear something about the abolitionists, it was some time before i found out what the word meant. It was always used in such connections as to make it an interesting word to me. 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.” (Pg. 3 paragraph 2) After reading ‘Learning to Read and Write’, by Frederick Douglass, you can evidently see that he has painted a vivid image of what true resilience is to us readers. To consider the time Frederick was living in, which he was labeled as a slave for his existence, he had to undergo several hardships on a daily basis. As a slave Frederick was treated differently, stripped of human rights, unable to receive proper education, and was stuck under a slaveholder who had his mistress, a woman in position of authority, turn from a “kind and tender hearted woman” to ” a tender heart became stone” (pg.1 paragraph 2). The mistress soon started to express evil actions that were influenced by the slavery and power she held over him. To follow up, the unfortunate circumstances that Frederick was dealing with led him to a state where he felt like giving up and taking his own life was his only option. He had a dream to be more than just a slave and have the ability to read and write but without attending school, being taught by a teacher, and not having books to source from, it was very difficult. He took things in the matter of his own and did everything he could to reach his desired level of intelligence. In the quote providing in the beginning, Frederick shows how determined he was to understand what the word abolition meant. In the quote he expresses the strategy of using context clues by providing examples of situations where the word was often used to assist in defining this term. This strategy he developed has helped him in achieving his goal.

Part B:

Throughout my personal educational journey, i wish i could say that i got by in a breeze, every person experiences different or in some cases similar issues that may seem impossible to overcome. My journey consisted of me constantly searching for ways that would help me stay consistent in my work and focus on gradually improve my abilities to read, write, solve problems throughout different subjects, communicate with my peers, understand the curriculum i was being taught, and staying on track. I seemed to have struggled with some of these within my education but it brought me to the realization that i wasn’t the perfect student i aspired to be. Over the years i spent in school trying to learn as much as i could, i felt that working with my classmates and seeing their different ways of interpretation on certain things I struggled with has positively effected me. For example, i’ve struggled with math since the subject was first introduced to me, whenever time came to work independently I was always lacking confidence in my answers, the solutions I came up with, I usually assumed they were just wrong. But whenever I was placed in a group or went over a lesson with a teacher, each time i was introduced to different methods on how solve a problem. The reassurance and assistance of the people around me benefits me to this day.

As working with my peers has seemed to be the best way for me to learn, whether it was during group discussion, peer revision, etc… I had to make a major adjustment once the pandemic of Covid-19 hit. Peer work was out the window for me since everything was shut down, students weren’t allowed to attend school forcing us to take classes virtually. After being isolated and not being in a physical classroom sitting at a table together with former classmates, i wasn’t able to ask for help or advice. This led me to using the current technology i have as a way to cope with this, i learned to utilize the internet where full lessons and almost every topic you can think of can be found. Watching a simple short video was beneficial to me especially when i was expanding my knowledge outside of my virtual classrooms. What i can say about my resilience to overcome the obstacles several students and I have encountered during this educational journey, is that with hard work and determination, you can conquer and succeed in whatever you put your mind to.