Booker T Washington

Fredrick Douglas argued that African American should stop trying to move to the north because of multiple reasons. He felt as though the north couldn’t handle large increases of new people, the jobs that the African Americans were used to were in the south and the African Americans could demand better pay, and also moving to the South wouldn’t be enforcing the idea of freedom in the South. Washington also supports the idea of staying in the South instead of moving to the North to get away from everything. He makes the argument that plowing fields is just as useful as using our brains. African Americans are almost embarrassed to use their hands because they think that their old jobs are less worthy than going to the north and learning to write poetry or use their brains in other ways. He talks about the how the African American race will never be able to succeed until they learn that there is as much dignity in working in the fields as doing anything else. He also talks about how African Americans can’t just automatically start at the top. They have to be able to work up their ranks in order to succeed. These are the arguments he used to encourage African Americans to stay in the South instead of automatically moving to the north because they feel like that is the better place to live, and the place they will be guaranteed to succeed.

Venture Smith and Equiano

Venture Smith and Equiano are alike and different in many ways. Both of them are the sons of very important men in their tribes. They both also share the same love of their tribe and countrymen. In the beginning of both of their stories, there is a section briefly describing some facts about their tribe. In Equiano’s story, this section is much larger. He goes into great detail about every aspect of his tribes life, from what the tribes rituals look like, to the type of clothing the tribe wears. He even talks about examples of what of the magicians did from curing sickness to hunting out the guilty. From reading both of these stories, the impression is given off that Equiano is much more attached to his tribe than Venture Smith was to his, but that isn’t saying that Venture Smith didn’t love his tribe. Also, both men took more than memories from their tribe. Venture Smith took the trait of being trustworthy, however this trait soon faded. When he was first captured, he was an extremely trustworthy boy, just like his tribe was. He kept his masters keys, and later returned back to his plantation after running away. This trait soon started to fade away because after he gained his freedom, he started treating others around him poorly. Equiano said that his tribe was known for being friendly and cheerful. After Equiano got over the shock of being captured, I would say he kept this trait as well. This is especially true once he reached London. These men also learned a lot from the environments they were forced to live in, however what they chose to learn was much different. They both learned how to write. Venture Smith learned, throughout his many years as a slave, the value of the dollar. Once he gained his freedom, he began caring about money and how important it was just like his masters did. He began buying people’s freedom, only to have them work for him, and when they disappeared or died he would be upset about how much money he lost. Equiano decided to learn in a different context. He learned the language of the people, and about their traditions. This was especially true once he made it to England, where he even began learning about their religion. These men are also different in that Venture Smith went almost directly to North America, whereas Equiano stayed in different parts of Africa before he went to Barbados and then to North America briefly, but he spent a majority of his time in England. These men are smiliar in the fact that they both started in the same general spot, and were forced into servitude, but how they handled the situation was different.