In 1854, slavery became a lifestyle in the South; farmers relied on these human beings as their sleepless servants. Mary Ann Shadd Cary wrote concerning the situation of fugitive slaves and their opportunities in the north. She used personal anecdotes and experience as a guide to help other freed or fugitive slaves. In her writing Why Establish This Paper? Mary Ann Shadd Cary utilized figurative language and meaningful correlations to persuade her audience ardently to establish the utter significance of her newspaper.
At the age of five, she witnessed the atrocity of a male slave being whipped to death. This monstrosity can be seen in the picture of a slave’s scarred back; seeing this, one can only imagine how it affected Sarah. Only three years later, the slave girl her father had assigned “constant companion,” suddenly died. Sarah was compelled to lobby for equal rights for women because of her lack of education as a young woman. She dreamed of continuing her education, but this was denied to her by her father because she was a woman.
Slavery has been a problem in the United States for centuries. And for centuries nothing was done about it, until the beginning of the abolitionist movement led by white Northerners. Frederick Douglass, a previously enslaved Black man, was the key to unfolding the lies in Southern propaganda. Douglass was essential to countering the proslavery agenda by writing about his stories in his autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. This paper will discuss the moral, economic, and racial issues Douglass discusses in his narrative and how he uses these experiences to counter the proslavery lies pushed by the South.
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass delves insightfully within the life of a slave, revealing the natures of power and how it affects those who are incapable of handling it properly. In this record, Douglass demonstrates that the system of slavery not only pulverizes the slave, but also the slaveholders. The power that the slaveholders possess, one which is devoid of responsibility, has a dehumanizing impact on them; annihilating their ethics and sense of self-conviction. It breaks the frailest hearts and finest emotions transforming them into those of a devil.
In many cases slave-owners, o even overseers, were not concerned with a slave’s wellbeing. The death of a colored man is described as unimportant and easy to settle with money, sometimes just an excuse, “… that killing a slave, or any other colored person, in Talbot county, Maryland, is not treated as a crime, either by the courts or the community. ”(Douglass 34). It’s a striking fact that helps us understand the author’s undeterred determination to escape slavery and abolish it later in his
In this passage Frederick Douglass describes his grandmother, using her as an allegory to represent slavery and the hearts of the people enraptured by it. Depicted in his words, is the presentation of slavery as a whole, drawn together by his grandmother’s end, which he considers to be the deepest conviction of the “infernal character of slavery”. In the passage he claims that the experience has fueled his hatred for slaveholders and their cruel ingratitude, capturing the attention of the readers. Through his clever use of rhetorical devices and language composition, Douglass conveys the cruelty of slaveholders.
Douglass expressed that during the time of his life when he had been sent to live with Mr. Covey he was broken in not only body, but in soul and spirit as well (Douglass 1210.) When Douglass says,”You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man,” (Douglass 1211) the theme of perseverance is most evident. After he had been broken down to almost nothing, Douglass rose from the ashes and fought back; he fought Mr. Covey with all of his might just as if he were fighting slavery itself in human form (Douglass 1214.) This highlights again the key differences of the struggles of a male and a female who are reaching for the same gift of freedom. His main fears were only whether he would win the fight, since to preserve his reputation Mr. Covey could never send him before others.
Kathryn Lind Mr. Spears English 10 29 March 2023 Chapter 1 Family history shapes a person’s identity because in historical situations such as slavery, producing offspring is crucial to the environment and leaves individuals in a ruthless cycle. Douglass’ mother “was taken from [him]”, before he was even a year old (Douglass 2). Mothers were often taken from their children to break family bonds and create new ones on different plantations. The likelihood of a slave having multiple children increased with the number of owners because it increased the chance of sexual abuse.
On one hand, the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” is a narrative of a slave attempting to become free. On the other hand, it is a narrative of how African Americans are mentally and physically turned into slaves—moreover how white men manifest their superiority. Firstly, Frederick was separated from his mother as a young child, leaving no time for the two to build a relationship; “I received the tidings of my mother’s death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger” (Douglass, 6). Secondly, Edward Covey, one of Fredericks slaveholders, strategies in establishing his dominance was through making him work relentlessly and punishing him when he felt necessary—which almost never was necessary. Frederick understands how slaveholders can make their slaves feel inferior and degrade them through physical power however is intrigued with the idea of how slaveholders dominate their slaves minds.
Slavery has vastly impacted the lives of humanity since the time of the fall. Civilization will forever be marked by the implications and impacts of slavery, as the stings of it still exist even today. The personal stories of slaves have the power to reshape thinking and to influence the mind of modern civilization. No one is exempt from the horrors of slavery- not even the Church. In the Narrative and Life of Fredrick Douglass, Frederick Douglass brings attention to the effects of slavery even within Christianity and the Church of America.
“Letter to My Master, Thomas Auld” explores Frederick Douglass’ view of slavery and Thomas Auld, his former slave master, in a smart and emotionally charged letter originally written in 1848 and published in the abolitionist newspaper North Star. Throughout the letter, Douglass uses his own experience as a slave to drive his views, often using sarcasm and a dark recognition of his trials to drive his own view of slavery; that slavery should be abolished and that it is inhumane and cruel. Douglass’ decision to publish this paper in the North Star allowed him to bring to light his experiences to push other readers of the newspaper towards an abolitionist stand point by bringing his first-hand accounts of slavery forward and explaining, at times
The Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass shows the imbalance of power between slaves and their masters. In his book, Douglass proves that slavery is a destructive force not only to the slaves, but also for the slaveholders. “Poison of the irresponsible power” that masters have upon their slaves that are dehumanizing and shameless, have changed the masters themselves and their morality(Douglass 39). This amount of power and control in contact with one man breaks the kindest heart and the purest thoughts turning the person evil and corrupt. Douglass uses flashbacks that illustrate the emotions that declare the negative effects of slavery.
Frederick Douglass’s narrative provides a first hand experience into the imbalance of power between a slave and a slaveholder and the negative effects it has on them both. Douglass proves that slavery destroys not only the slave, but the slaveholder as well by saying that this “poison of irresponsible power” has a dehumanizing effect on the slaveholder’s morals and beliefs (Douglass 40). This intense amount of power breaks the kindest heart and changes the slaveholder into a heartless demon (Douglass 40). Yet these are not the only ways that Douglass proves what ill effect slavery has on the slaveholder. Douglass also uses deep characterization, emotional appeal, and religion to present the negative effects of slavery.
Finally, Douglass ends with addressing concessions and providing well reasoned rebuttals that progressively support his central claim that the conscience of the country should be roused to protect the rights of slaves as men. Facing inquiries like the abolitionists should “argue more and denounce less,” Douglass analyzes why his claim is not arguable layer upon layer. First, salves are men who are entitled to liberty and should not be seen or treated as brutes. Furthermore, slaves do the same jobs, live in the same way and believe the same religion as all other American citizens do. Finally, slavery is inhuman and therefore should not be divine.
World war 2 was a turning point in the starting of many countries, some countries were propelled forward into prosperity and some were sent back to the stone age. World war 2 was mainly in Europe with the Nazi power in Germany, their leader, Adolf Hitler, and Great Britain’s, Winston Churchill. Eventually the Germans decided to move east into the Soviet Union.(Facing History) Before the war, Adolf Hitler and the leader of the Soviet Union, Stalin, made a pact towards each other stating no conflict between the two.
