To be a slave in the 1800s was to be undervalued and underappreciated. Frederick Douglass’ autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, is a first-person account of the trials and tribulations suffered by African American slaves. Douglass struggled with his life as a slave from birth. He was believed to be the result of a relationship between his enslaved mother and his white master, which instilled in him from an early age that the practice of slavery was more complicated than he could understand at the time. As Douglass grew, he started to notice how his treatment differed from that of white children and ultimately came to the realization that skin color would be a barrier he would have to endure his whole life. Slavery caused Douglass to be physically and mentally separated from …show more content…
The autobiography depicts several instances where slaves are dehumanized and severely punished. Slaves did not receive the basic necessities for life from their slave owners. The narrative states, “There were no beds given to the slaves, unless one coarse blanket be considered such, and none but the men and women had these.” Douglass, growing up as a slave without nourishing food, sufficient clothing, or a bed to sleep on, didn’t see any of this as odd or indecent. Something like a bed—a white child his age may never have had to question it; they just had one. However, slaves were left to sleep on the floor and some were considered lucky if they were given a blanket. Good sleep is fundamental to life; a lack of adequate sleep can interfere with your daily work and stamina. Southern slaves were expected to work from sunrise to sunset in the fields, day after day, if their work wasn’t sufficient, these slaves were then punished. Furthermore, insufficient sleeping conditions were not only a