Era Of Slavery In America Essay

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The era of slavery in America is a very sad and mournful period of time. The hate, animosity, torture, and the treating of slaves as if they were not even human, all separated the people of America. Far worse than the physical scars left, are the emotional scars that still to this day affect the citizens of this great nation. Although slavery has now been abolished, todays people still look back at the acts that took place many years, and mourn. Many people focus on the gruesome physical pain that slaves had to endure. Although the physical beatings and torture is what most think of when they find themselves pondering on the days of slavery, many times the other side of this atrocity is overlooked, the mental abuse and anguish. Slave owners lived and carried out daily tasks in such a hypocritical way, …show more content…

The thought of their slaves possibly escaping was a slave owner’s greatest fear, and for this reason they refused their slaves the right to education. Beneath the surface, slave owners also knew that by education becoming available to slaves it would completely change their mindsets and outlook on life, only fueling their desire to escape even more. The power of knowledge is something that can take a person far in life. If a slave was to become educated and know of the life he could have with this knowledge, if he wasn’t held by the bounds of slavery, would more than likely inspire him to do whatever it would take to obtain freedom. The thought of a slave having a chance to become educated and find a passion for something other than working for their masters infuriated, and simply stated, troubled their owners. The sheer thought that someone would want to keep somebody from advancing themselves as a person with an opportunity to better their life is horrible. Even worse though, is that someone could act and feel this way when they freely have access to this powerful object, called