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Frederick Douglass Research Paper Outline

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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.
When Douglass was between seven and eight years old, he was given to Captain Anthony’s son-in-law, Hugh Auld, and his wife, Sophia, in Baltimore. There he was treated very well, with Sophia Auld even beginning to teach him to read. …show more content…

However, he had resolved, after Covey, to fight back if beaten, and he did. Unfortunately, four white caulkers teamed up on Douglass and beat him to the ground. When Auld took Douglass to report the assault, he was told nothing could be done, unless a white man came forward and testified for his case. As Douglass noted, “If I had been killed in the presence of a thousand colored people, their testimony combined would have been insufficient to have arrested one of the murderers,” and because no white man was very likely to come forward and testify, Douglass’ account had no value …show more content…

His want to learn everything he could is what eventually gave him the ability to find an escape from slavery. Douglass shows that slaves owners knew how important it was to keep slaves uneducated in order to keep peace on their land. Slaves became discontent only when they had the knowledge that there was a better way of living for them. Owners knew that in order to have a successful household, slaves had to be reduced from knowledgeable humans into lifeless workers, knowing nothing and without the want to learn. This way, owners could use and abuse slaves without fear of uprisings, as they were beaten into being brutes with no spark. This changed my views because, while I knew that slaves were unable to receive basic education, I still felt that many slaves were able to understand that their way of being treated was wrong and

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