Question

Frederick Douglass wrote, “When the true history of the antislavery cause shall be written women will occupy a large space in its pages.” Was Douglass correct? Explain the role women played in the abolitionist movement. Then analyze how that experience influenced the feminist movement.

Answer 1

Answer:

Explanation:

First of all, you have to accept that the statement was utterly true at the time that Douglass uttered it. He could have picked any civilization or any culture and any time period up until the late 1900s and it would have been true.  

Douglass influenced the feminist movement because he was a man, an influential one, who recognized historical truth for what it was. It was particularly true of black women although they had hardly anything to do with the feminist movement. Black women of influence like Sojourner Truth and Harriett Tubman were few and far between.

You could look at the old testament to see how the law tried to protect women. By and large, I'm not convinced it worked. Women were respected and revered, but they were the property of their parents and then their husbands. Their bloodline was far more important than they were as human beings.

So man like Douglass saying anything at all was going to be taken seriously by the feminist movement.