Cassidy Fesmire is our 1st place winner in the 4th and 5th Grades Category of the 2012 Spark READiness Freedom to Read Essay Contest. Students in this category were asked to respond to the following passage and instructed to cite any sources they consulted.
Frederick Douglass said: "Once you learn to read you will be forever free." Who is Frederick Douglass? What do you think he meant? How can reading make a person free?
Below is Cassidy's entry:
Reading for Freedom
Frederick Douglass was the most influential black man in America during the Civil War. Frederick Douglass had two goals at the beginning of the Civil War. The first goal was that he wanted the war to end slavery. Secondly, he wanted blacks to be able to enlist in the Northern Army. Mr. Douglass began his life as a slave in the state of Maryland. His mother died during his childhood and he was never sure of whom his father was. He watched his friends and family beaten as slaves and he was determined to be free from the bonds of slavery. Mr. Douglass enjoyed learning and knew that learning to read would give him the opportunity to reach his goals of freedom. Frederick Douglass did achieve his goal of freedom in a very distinct way.
Have you ever heard about the path that Frederick Douglass took to achieve his freedom? This path was based heavily upon his views on education and literacy. Frederick Douglass realized the importance of literacy when he declared, "Once you learn to read, you will be forever free." He was taught to read by a distant relative who was later ordered to stop teaching him to read. His master knew that if Frederick learned to read that he might figure out a way to escape slavery to the north where it was illegal. Frederick did understand this quickly and was even more determined to continue learning to read and write. Mr. Douglass now understood that literacy was his path to freedom. He was going to do everything within his power to continue learning each day to achieve this goal of freedom. Frederick's opportunity to learn to read allowed him to learn more about the world around him and how to better himself and his fellow slaves. This knowledge put Mr. Douglass on a path to the north where he would finally escape slavery by utilizing another man's documentation through his ability to read. This escape from slavery may be what Mr. Douglass meant when he said "Once you learn to read, you will be forever free."
Just as reading gave Frederick Douglass a path to freedom in the 1800s, reading today is important because it gives us all the freedom to succeed in life. Reading is mandatory in our world today in order to attend school, attend college, get a job, have a family, and just live day to day in our world. If I did not know how to read, I would feel trapped in a small world much like Frederick Douglass felt when he was a slave. It would be equal to or worse than having a disability such as being blind in our world. Reading is how we continue to learn everyday. It is through our ability to read that we learn about the happenings in our world today. Reading gives us a sense of strength, power and independence which makes us confident in who we are as individuals. Once your eyes are opened to the window of reading, it is hard to imagine the confines that people who cannot read deal with each day.
References:
1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick Douglass
2) http://voices.yahoo.com/once-learn-read-will-forever-free-3314210.html?cat=2
3) Gomez, Peter J., Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, New York: Signet Classics, 2005.
Cassidy is a 5th grader at Crockett Elementary School. She is very proud to be a 1st place winner in the Spark READiness Essay Contest. Cassidy excels at school. She is creative and likes to write short stories. She plays travel soccer and spends a great deal of time training and playing soccer across the Southeast Region for the Tennessee Soccer Club U11 Premier North Team.
Judges called Cassidy's entry "exceptional -- beyond her years." As the 1st place winner in her category, Cassidy won a $50 gift certificate to Parnassus Books in Green Hills and a certificate honoring her achievement. Congratulations to Cassidy! Keep writing!
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