Study On Frederick Douglass’s Feminist Thoughts

Frederick Douglass(1817-1895)was a famous black leader in the United States in the19 th century.After he fled from the South to the North in 1838,he became an abolitionist.Through continuous speeches,writings and social activities,he declared war on slavery and all its forms of protection until its death.At the same time,as one of the pioneers of the American feminist movement in the 19 th century,Douglass gradually derived his thoughts on feminist reform from the interaction with white women.During this period,the tide of industrialization and the religious revival movement changed the traditional roles of women,enabling them to participate in the social reform movement and gradually realize the inequality they suffered,and then organized spontaneously to fight for women’s equal rights.In addition,Douglass derived his hatred of slavery and sympathy for women during his slave career and his experience of fleeing to freedom.He connected slaves with the oppressed status of women and spoke for women’s rights with the concept of freedom and equality in the Enlightenment.As an important initiator of the feminist movement,Douglass applied the experience and strategies he learned in the antislavery movement in the feminist movement to strive for a larger scale of equality in human society.He founded the "North Star" newspaper and took the lead in proposing the idea of "right is of no sex".At the Seneca Falls Conference,he spoke for women’s rights and promoted the success of the first women’s suffrage movement in the United States.Later,Douglass delivered speeches everywhere to fight against gender discrimination in American society.However,in the process of fighting for women’s rights,Douglass had differerences with the main leaders of the feminist movement.Starting from the reality of American society at that time,he advocated giving priority to blacks in obtaining the right to vote.Around the 14 th and 15 th Amendments of the Constitution,the two sides engaged in a debate.After several divisions and recombinations,Douglass cooperated with white feminists to strive for the realization of women’s right to vote and the adoption of the19 th Constitutional Amendment after the approvement of the constitutional amendment for black people to obtain the right to vote.Douglass’ thoughts on feminist reform were mainly embodied in supporting women’s right to vote,as well as supporting women’s rights in the economic and educational fields.These concepts reflected Douglass’ noble pursuit of gender equality.From the perspective of pragmatism,his ultimate goal was to cooperate with middle-class women to fight for the right to vote for black men.Therefore,he adjusted his struggle strategy flexibly and compromised according to the circumstances.In addition,in the process of fighting for women’s suffrage,he focused more on the result rather than the process.It was undeniable that women played an important role in Douglass’ s life course of reform,but Douglass seemed to have overlooked the value of these women.He had a one-sided understanding of women’s rights,and there were discrepancies in actions and ideas.However,his thought on feminist reform had a guiding significance for the feminist movement at that time,and this spirit was also inherited and developed by the later feminist movement.