Many minority groups were vulnerable to enslavement placed upon them by white Americans throughout the 19th century. In the episodic autobiographies Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, An American Slave written by Fredrick Douglass and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl written by Harriet Jacobs, both authors present the physiological manipulations associated with slavery. Douglass's and Jacob’s experiences suggest that slaves endured a continuous treatment of brutality, loneliness, and sexual abuse. Slave-owners deprived slaves of positive human qualities because they (slave-owners) became divested from their sense of identity. The dehumanizing institution of slavery caused slave-owners to conform to social roles instituted by society and forced slaves to suffer from learned hopelessness. …show more content…
1). If one did not attribute traits, like intelligence or emotions to others, then one perceived one’s cruel actions as acceptable. Society supported this idea by enforcing little punishment for the senseless acts of slave-owners. Slave-owners did not have to worry that they would be convicted of murder, manslaughter, or harassment. Hence, Fredrick Douglass and Harriet Jacob’s wrote about their experiences to suggest that slavery harmed people who would normally act in moral ways. The Auld Family, Fredrick Douglass’s owners, and Dr. Flint, Harriet Jacob’s owner, are prime examples of the effects of slavery on slave-owners. Through recognizing “the white men’s power to enslave black men” (Douglass 235), Thomas Auld, Sophia Auld, and Dr. Flint lose their sense of humanity; they conform to the social roles given to them by the rest of society. Society (other people of high prestige) allows them to maintain a superior status to their slaves, so they take advantage of this