ipl-logo

Current Profile Of African Americans In Frederick Douglass 'White' America

894 Words4 Pages

Current Profile of African Americans in ‘White’ America In Frederick Douglass’s 1865 speech, “What the Black man wants,” shed light to the social life of African Americans in contrast to ‘whites’ in ‘free’ American states. During this period in African American history and consciousness they were still in legal slavery, facing racial discrimination in every aspect, marginalized by state policies, but most importantly they lacked suffrage and faced many inequalities that prevented them from sharing the same civic rights as ‘white’ citizens of America. Even though, the declaration of independence in 1776 viewed African American as ‘citizens,’ it failed to state that they enjoyed the same protection as ‘whites’. As a result, slavery became …show more content…

The master ‘whites’ lived a distance from the housing of the slaves and in some cases not even on the plantations that they owned. In contrast to the living situations of the African Americans in America that is housed in ‘low-income’ housing projects. These housing projects were created for immigrants but eventually were filled with migrants from the south. According to Hoffman, the constituency for public housing in the 1960s became lower-class rural migrants from the south. This has progressed pass the 1960s into the twenty first century, where in America the African Americans are still housed in low-income housing projects in the rural areas that are situated in …show more content…

During Douglass’s time the African American were subjected to all sorts of severe whippings and in some cases death. As shown in Douglass’s analysis of the value of slaves on the plantation, “it was worth half-cent to kill a "nigger", and a half-cent to bury one” is one such quote that Douglass compare the cost of black lives. However, Douglass has witnessed many horrible things done to slaves even to his aunt Hester and himself. These injustices to African Americans were not properly address by the state because black lives did not matter and the slaves had no

Show More
Related
286 Words | 2 Pages

According to the materiel Of The People, Frederick Douglass was born as Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey in Talbo Country, Maryland, in 1818. He was born into slavery and at the age of seven he was sent to Baltimore and became a ship caulker. He hired out his labor, paying his master three dollars a week and keeping the rest for himself per their agreement. Frederick planned his escape when his master told him to pay him all his earnings rather that just the three dollars a week. After he escaped to the north he started attending and speaking at antislavery meetings.

Read More
1508 Words | 7 Pages

Fredrick Douglass, a slave who escaped into the north and started a life for himself, wrote a narrative called “The Life of Fredrick Douglass” (1818-1895) about his life as a slave. In his narrative Fredrick Douglass says, “There was very little said about it all, and nothing done. It was a common saying, even among little white boys, that it was worth a half- cent to kill a “n****r,” and a half-cent to bury one.” (Douglass 4) Whites thought slaves were worthless.

Read More
1393 Words | 6 Pages

In 1776, the United States became a free nation independent from Great Britain. It represented a world where all individuals were equal and had the opportunity to start anew. However, that was not the case for African Americans. They did not receive the same opportunities as white citizens and did not get their “freedom” declared until 1865 with the creation of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery (The Library of Congress). To this day, the portrayal of African Americans is used as a tool to enhance the image of a white man or woman.

Read More
214 Words | 1 Pages

In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass tries to change what his readers believe about what it means to be dedicated to the American idea that “All men are created equal”. Through a clear and direct description, he conveys the reality of living as a slave, describing the harsh conditions he went through. As Douglass explains to the readers the effects of slavery, it begins to be seen as proven he and the other enslaved were deprived of basic human necessities. They had many orders they had to follow, and were often punished for even the slightest mistakes. In chapter 1, Douglass states, “The white children can tell their ages.

Read More
720 Words | 3 Pages

After telling this tale, Douglass gives his condemnation of how it was handled, saying “His horrid crime was not even submitted to judicial investigation. It was committed in the presence of slaves, and they of course could neither institute a suit, nor testify against him; and thus the guilty perpetrator of one of the bloodiest and most foul murders goes unwhipped of justice, and uncensured by the community in which he lives'' In this quote Douglass brings up the point that because the only witnesses of the murder were slaves, they couldn’t testify in court, nor could they even express disapproval. This is a direct example of Douglass using examples from his life to show that both legally and in day-to-day practices, some people, specifically enslaved people, were not “created

Read More
496 Words | 2 Pages

Frederick Douglass was a boy who was born from slavery and his mother was a slave woman and his father is a unknown white man. Frederick’s originated name was Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey but known as Frederick Douglass.. Frederick was born in February 1818, on Maryland’s eastern shore. He spent his early years with his grandpa and with an aunt and seeing his mother four or five times before her death when he was seven years old and all Frederick knew about his father as he was an unknown white man. During his early years, he was exposed to slavery and brutal whipping and spending much time in the cold and starving.

Read More
785 Words | 4 Pages

Although the “free” North abolished slavery, the idea of white supremacy was dominant. ‘“...We are of another race and he is inferior. Let him know his place - and keep it.’” (Doc B) The spread of the abolition of slavery throughout the United States began in 1777 through 1865 and sparked the limits of determining a black person’s freedom.

Read More
1049 Words | 5 Pages

Group Essay on Frederick Douglass “That this little book may do something toward throwing light on the American slave system”, and that Frederick Douglass does in his eponymous autobiography. Douglass throws light by dispelling the myths of the slave system, which received support from all parts of society. To dispel these myths Douglass begins to construct an argument composed around a series of rhetorical appeals and devices. Douglass illustrates that slavery is dehumanizing, corrupting, and promotes Christian hypocrisy. Using telling details, Douglass describes the dehumanizing effects of the slave system which condones the treatment of human beings as property.

Read More
1236 Words | 5 Pages

African Americans face a struggle with racism which has been present in our country before the Civil War began in 1861. America still faces racism today however, around the 1920’s the daily life of an African American slowly began to improve. Thus, this time period was known by many, as the “Negro Fad” (O’Neill). The quality of life and freedom of African Americans that lived in the United States was constantly evolving and never completely considered ‘equal’. From being enslaved, to fighting for their freedom, African Americans were greatly changing the status quo and beginning to make their mark in the United States.

Read More
753 Words | 4 Pages

Frederick Douglass’s narrative provides a first hand experience into the imbalance of power between a slave and a slaveholder and the negative effects it has on them both. Douglass proves that slavery destroys not only the slave, but the slaveholder as well by saying that this “poison of irresponsible power” has a dehumanizing effect on the slaveholder’s morals and beliefs (Douglass 40). This intense amount of power breaks the  kindest heart and changes the slaveholder into a heartless demon (Douglass 40). Yet these are not the only ways that Douglass proves what ill effect slavery has on the slaveholder. Douglass also uses deep characterization, emotional appeal, and religion to present the negative effects of slavery.

Read More
392 Words | 2 Pages

Douglass encountered multiple harsh realities of being enslaved. For example, the ex-slave was practically starved to death by his masters on multiple occasions. In fact, “[He was] allowed less than a half of a bushel of corn-meal per week, and very little else... It was not enough for [him] to subsist upon... A great many times [he had] been nearly perishing with hunger” (pg 31).

Read More
1294 Words | 6 Pages

SUMMARY Frederick Douglass was born into slavery, taken away from his mother as an infant, and raised on Colonel Lloyd’s large plantation, under Captain Anthony. He was not allowed to know his birthdate, as slaves were to be treated as less than human. Even as a child, he knew of the brutal treatment of slaves, particularly by Mr. Austin Gore and Mr. Severe. The slaves were given the bare minimum required to survive, and beaten, whipped, and, on one particular occasion that Frederick Douglass mentions, shot dead.

Read More
1574 Words | 7 Pages

Douglass is a African American that was a slave and did a Narrative about his time being a slave and in his Narrative he “threw light” at the American slave system. African American slave Frederick Douglass lived through a time of racism and how slavery was a natural thing to do but was a very awful thing. And slavery is when families who had colored skin were separated and sold of to a person that can do anything to them, the slave is pretty much like the slaveholder’s property. And in this essay I will talk about how Douglass’s position differs from those who supported slavery and also I will be talking about How Douglass used his Narrative to share his position. How Douglass “throws light” on the American Slave system is by showing

Read More
1147 Words | 5 Pages

Have you ever imagined what it was like for an African American person back in the 1800’s when they were considered “free”? Back then, black people were used as slaves, and they didn’t gain their absolute freedom from slavery until 1865 when it was completely abolished. They gave Africans certain rights that weren’t completely fair. It really makes you question whether black people were really free in that time. When all blacks were released from slavery, what rights did they really have?

Read More
1716 Words | 7 Pages

The African – American 's Assimilation into White America America is often considered the land of opportunities, a place where people can have a fresh start, a clean slate. America is a land that is made up of immigrants. Over the centuries America has been a place where people dream to live in, however the American dream wasn 't as perfect as believed; there were issues of race inferiority, slavery and social inequality amongst other problems. When a person arrives into a new society he has a difficult task ahead of him- to assimilate into that new society- which includes the economical, cultural, political and social aspects. In the following paper I will discuss how the African American, who came as slaves to America, has fought over the centuries to achieve equality in a white society that discriminated them.

Read More

More about Current Profile Of African Americans In Frederick Douglass 'White' America

Related Topics

Open Document