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Literacy’s empowering potential may make Frederick Douglass’ arguments about reading and writing appear controversial at first glance. Douglass contended that the outcome of learning to read and write was more like a ‘curse’ than a blessing (Douglass 40). He suggested that literacy offered incomplete empowerment, making it curse-like. In his own words, reading offered a view into his ‘wretched condition, without the remedy’ (Douglass 40). That is, despite his intellectual insight into his social position, he lacked the tools to overcome his identity-based oppression under White supremacy (Jenkins). Additionally, this ‘eternal wakefulness’ and awareness of one’s freedom or lack thereof can create intellectual dilemmas (Douglass 40). In today’s world, the word ‘woke’ captures this sense of awareness (“woke” adj 2”). Just because one is ‘alert to racial or social discrimination and injustice’ does not render them capable of solving social ills (“woke” adj 2”). Douglass’ preoccupation with the relationship between identity, literacy and power will shape my discussion.
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