Role Of Slavery In Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass By Harriet Jacobs

Between the years 1840 and 1860, slavery was a widely discussed topic. People were analyzing the morality of slavery, and talk of emancipation and secession began to break out across the United States. At the onset of the Civil War, many slaves had already escaped to freedom, although this was a small portion of the mass amount of slaves in the south. Some of these slaves decided to be the voice for the slaves that could not defend themselves. They wrote books, lectured, and participated in the abolitionist movement in various ways. The autobiographies 12 Years a Slave written by Solomon Northrup, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass written by himself, and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl written by Harriet Jacobs examine the perils of slavery and share similar themes of black education and the anguish of women slaves. The book 12 Years a Slave describes how Northrup’s life changes

Douglass was born into slavery and separated from his mother almost immediately. At the age of seven, Douglass is given to Hugh Auld, the brother of Captain Anthony’s son-in-law. He moves to Baltimore, and his life there is much better than it would have been with Captain Anthony. However, the kind Hugh and Sophia Auld slowly turn into cruel masters. Douglass is then sent to live with Thomas Auld. Auld dislikes Douglass and sends him to work for Edward Covey who is one of the cruelest masters and eventually gets into a quarrel with Douglass. Then, Douglass is lent to William Freeland who is a much more sensible man. While with Freeland, Douglass creates an escape plan with several other slaves; however, one of them betrays the group and Douglass ends up in jail. Afterward, Douglass is sent back to Baltimore to learn ship caulking. He eventually earns enough to escape to New York and marries Anna