For Frederick Douglass, learning to read was more difficult because he had to hide that he was learning to read and write. It was difficult for him because slaves were forbidden to know how to read and write. He started learning to read to help him at first. Then he started asking white boys to help him learn without them knowing what they were doing. Another way he learned was to read a book when he was shopping for his mistress. Frederick Douglass learned to write by walking around a shipyard and learning the letters written on wooden plaques. He started by copying the letters L, A, S, F on wood found at the shipyard. But at the end of his journey, he achieved his goal with the unknown help of people he valued. For Malcolm, it was a little easier because he had books from the prison library available to him whenever he needed them. He also had notebooks and pens with which he could write. Malcolm learned to read and write by copying the entire dictionary and then repeating what he wrote to himself. He read a lot of books to improve his vocabulary and because they made him feel free. Frederick liked to read to find out what was going on between him and his fellow slaves. He began to hate being a slave and think that white people were cruel once he began to understand what was happening through learning about