Many great achievements can be traced back to overcoming disadvantages. Frederick Douglass was born a slave and he had no legal rights. He was taken from his mother shortly after birth, he was uneducated, and oppressed by society, but he did not let his disadvantages in life keep him from his ambitions. Frederick Douglass escaped slavery and became an acclaimed abolitionist speaker and published author. Richard Wright was born a Negro in the South during segregation. Although he was not denied an education, he was denied the same rights as white members of society, but he did not let his disadvantages stop him from becoming an acclaimed author, publishing several books. Helen Keller had different disadvantage in that …show more content…
Fredrick Douglass’ disadvantage in life was that he was born a slave in 1818. Only through determination was he able to escape slavery and go on to become an acclaimed abolitionist speaker as well as a published writer. Frederick Douglass was determined to read and write and taught himself. His mistress taught him the alphabet, but no more. In Douglass’ essay he describes his plan, “The plan which I adopted, and the one by which I was most successful, was that of making friends of all the little white boys whom I met in the street. As many of these as I could, I converted into teachers” (152). Through reading and writing he gained knowledge which gave him choices and he was determined not to be a slave for life. Richard Wright was born in 1908, but because he was a Negro and born in the South in a time of segregation, he was not afforded opportunities that were given to white members of society. He was fortunate that he was able to go to school and knew how to read. He had a love for reading and a longing for knowledge, however; because he was a Negro he was not allowed to patronize the library to check out books. He was determined to find a way to do so. He not only had to find a way to check out books at the library, but he explains that he had to be careful in doing so. Richard Wright