Category Archives: Douglass

Earning and Education

Posted on October 13, 2016 by

The importance of earning was apparent in both American Citizenship by Judith N. Shklar and The Life of Frederick Douglass written by Frederick Douglass. In each reading, the inability to earn is compared to having a lack of freedom. Shklar … Continue reading →

Posted in Citizenship, Douglass, Shklar | 2 Comments

The Meaning of Freedom

Posted on March 15, 2016 by

Freedom- (Noun) The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom has many different meanings to different people. Some teenagers may think that freedom is moving out of their parents house or … Continue reading →

Posted in Douglass, Jacobs, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

Black Lives Matter

Posted on March 22, 2015 by

We have read in the Classic Slave Narratives the lives of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs. These narratives form an important part of African-American identity formation as well as demonstrate the considerable adversity past African-Americans have experienced. The shadow of slavery … Continue reading →

Posted in Citizenship, Democracy, Douglass, Jacobs, Law and Difference | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Citizenship and the Deaf in America: Part 2

Posted on November 27, 2011 by

Welcome back! Thanks for all the positive feedback of the first part of my look into the deaf culture of America. In this second part, let’s focus on the protests  that occurred in 1988 at Gallaudet (The college for the … Continue reading →

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Earning My Way to Freedom

Posted on November 6, 2011 by

Over the course of the past few weeks we have been discussing the idea of citizenship.  More particularly we have been discussing how Shklar believes that earning is one of the most important aspects of citizenship.  While reading Douglass we … Continue reading →

Posted in Citizenship, Douglass, Shklar | 7 Comments

What is an American?

Posted on November 5, 2011 by

For the past few weeks, we focused on how to understand citizenship. While Shklar makes a compelling claim that it is essentially about standing – one’s social place, Douglass seems to be challenging that notion by arguing that it is … Continue reading →

Posted in Citizenship, Douglass, Shklar | 3 Comments

Religious equality

Posted on November 3, 2011 by

Alexis de Tocqueville has some interesting thoughts on the role that religion and the Catholic Church play upon the concept of equality in the United States. Tocqueville claims in the passages of “Democracy in America” that the Church has “erroneously … Continue reading →

Posted in Douglass, Jacobs | 2 Comments

What to Frederick Douglass is Affirmative Action?

Posted on November 1, 2011 by

I read “What to the Black Citizen is the Fourth of July”[1] and it made me think about Douglass and contemporary Black America. The blogger recalls how Douglass said the holiday could not be celebrated the same way in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Douglass | Tagged | 2 Comments

Citizenship as Standing vs. Participatory

Posted on November 1, 2011 by

In many countries there is a mandatory military service. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_service#Countries_with_mandatory_military_service However in countries without a mandatory military service, you may say that volunteering for service is an act of devotion, patriotism to the country. They may in fact be participating … Continue reading →

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Are you ready for a fight? Do you care? And what the heck does “citizenship” have to do with anything?

Posted on October 30, 2011 by

Judy Shklar claims that to be a citizen, you have to earn and vote. You can infer from reading Douglass that he believes another element, action, may be necessary to be counted as a citizen. I hold a different position … Continue reading →

Posted in Citizenship, Douglass, Shklar | 3 Comments