Frederick Douglass Narrative Of Life As A Slave

“Frederick Douglass Narrative” Essay Frederick Douglass is still remembered today as abolitionist, he wrote this narrative of his life to give a first-person account of life as a slave. He began his narrative by saying that unlike the white children, he doesn’t have the privilege of knowing his age. All he knows about his parentage is that his mother was named Harriet Bailey, and that his father was a white man, presumably his master. This would make sense since often masters would rape their female slaves and impregnate them. Douglass, then writes that all children born from slaves are separated from their mothers at birth. The separation destroys any relationship that could exist between a mother and her child. “For what this separation is done, I do not know, unless it is to hinder the development of the child’s affection towards his mother, and to blunt and destroy the natural affection of the mother for the child. This is the inevitable result.” (pg. 1182)

They were beaten or whipped for any misdemeanor and were subject to dehumanization. White masters did not believe that the slaves were capable of being intelligent, and would not allow them to learn to read or write. They thought it was dangerous to allow a slave to learn. “To use his [Mr. Auld, his new master] own words, further, he said, “If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master—to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world.’” (pg. 1196) Douglass had to learn and teach himself, he would also try to get others to teach him as often as