How did learning to read save Frederick Douglass?

As a slave, Frederick Douglass was prevented from receiving an education out of fear that he and the other slaves would eventually become aware of their despicable conditions after reading moving pieces of literature and rebel or run away. However, Frederick Douglass was able to exchange items of food for brief lessons on how to read from poor, educated white children. Eventually, Frederick Douglass became one of the few slaves who learned how to read as an adolescent and immediately began reading The Columbian Orator, which is a collection of political essays. Frederick's mind was instantly awakened to his harsh life as a slave and literature provided him with arguments against his horrific condition. Frederick Douglass's spirit was also moved to loathe his dreadful condition, and he writes,

The moral which I gained from the dialogue was the power of truth over the conscience of even a slaveholder. What I got from Sheridan was a bold denunciation of slavery, and a powerful vindication of human rights. The reading of these documents enabled me to utter my thoughts, and to meet the arguments brought forward to sustain slavery; but while they relieved me of one difficulty, they brought on another even more painful than the one of which I was relieved (53).

Learning to read also gave Frederick Douglass the ability to vividly articulate his arguments against slavery, which he used to help educate other slaves, who then agreed to run away with him. Learning to read also gave Frederick the ability to forge documents and better understand his masters. Overall, reading ignited Frederick's spirit, allowing him to escape from slavery, and provided him with the tools needed to formulate a successful escape from the inhumane institution.

According to Frederick Douglass, slaveowners denied their slaves the ability to read and write because they feared that literacy would provide slaves with knowledge and self-sufficiency that would threaten slaveowners' abilities to control their slaves. Additionally, keeping slaves illiterate ensured it would be nearly impossible for slaves to control the national perception of slavery because they would be unable to contribute their own narratives. Douglass believes his education was crucial to freeing himself for these reasons. Additionally, the texts he used to become literate provided him with intellectual defenses against slavery that he used throughout his career as an abolitionist. Specifically, Douglass references a speech about Catholic emancipation in The Columbian Orator that inspired much of his anti-slavery writing throughout his life.