Frederick Douglass Main Blog

Why Slavery is Dehumanizing

Frederick Douglass was born a slave in Tuckahoe Maryland in the year 1818. However, he didn’t know the exact date of his birthday. His mother was a slave and he never knew for sure who his father was, but rumors said it was his master. He grew up being cared for by his grandmother, and his mother passed away when he was very young. Throughout his life Douglass wrote multiple works of literature dealing with slavery, racism, and his life. His literary works were widely read and very popular with the abolitionist movement at the time. Many personal and political factors influenced his writings. In The Norton Anthology American Literature Volume B Nina Baym and Robert S. Levine describes that “he also had a clear-eyed understanding of the hurdles that slavery and racism placed in the way of African Americans. Regularly invoking the principles of the Declaration of Independence, Douglass throughout his life challenged the nation to live up to its founding ideals” (1170). He grew into a very intellectual, self sufficient and influential person. In The Norton Anthology American Literature Volume B Nina Baym and Robert S. Levine state “By the time of his death, Douglass was thought of, in the United States and abroad, as the most influential African American leader of the nineteenth century and as one of the greatest orators of the age” (1170).   

                

Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself, was written for the purpose of showing how dehumanizing slavery was and to persuade his audience to end slavery. Douglass shows how slave owners are hypocritical because they would go to church but still treat their slaves in un-Christian ways. Douglass writes an autobiography of how he was taken away from his mother as a baby and cared for by his grandmother, who was in charge of all the children of the younger women of the plantation. He only saw his mother at night, when she walked 12 miles to see him after working hard all day. Douglass stated “For what this separation is done, I do not know, unless it be to hinder the development of the child’s affection toward its mother, and to blunt and destroy the natural affection of the mother for the child” (1182). The slave system made it hard to keep in touch with family and build relationships. Many of the masters were also the fathers of slaves, and would have to sell their own children to pacify their wives. Also, the masters wouldn’t show favoritism to the slave to avoid repercussions. Douglass gives a nauseating description of witnessing a whipping that would stay with him for the rest of his life. The poor living conditions for slaves are detailed to show how horrific the treatment was for many of the slaves. Douglass explains “There were no beds given the slaves, unless one coarse blanket be considered such, and none but the men and women had these” (1186). To work at the Great House Farm was an aspiration for many of the slaves because of the many privileges that those slaves received such as getting a monthly allowance. Douglass explains “Few privileges were esteemed higher, by the slaves of the out-farms, than that of being selected to do errands at the Great House Farm. It was associated in their minds with greatness” (1187). Douglass claims that city slaves had better living condition than plantation slaves because owners in cities didn’t want others to look at them as the people who don’t take of and feed their slaves. Douglass explains how the slaves would often sing songs while going to the Great House Farm. Nevertheless, these songs were not of joy but instead demonstrated the true attributes of slavery. Douglass writes “I have often been utterly astonished, since I came to the north, to find persons to speak of the singing, among slaves, as evidence of their contentment and happiness. It is impossible to conceive of a greater mistake. Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy” (1188). Douglass illustrated how his master, Colonel Lloyd, owned so many slaves that he didn’t know them on sight and the slaves did not recognize him either. During an encounter with one of his slaves on a road, Colonel Lloyd questioned a slave and asked who he belonged to and how he was treated. The slave replied honestly that he was treated poorly by Colonel Lloyd. Two weeks later, the slave finds out that man he had talked to on the road was his master and that he was being sold and ripped away from his family for answering him with the truth “This is the penalty of telling the truth, of the telling the simple truth, in answer to a series of plain questions” (Douglass, 1190). Douglass went to live with a new mistress, Mrs. Auld, that had never owned slaves before. She was a tender hearted woman. Douglass claimed “the meanest slave was put fully at ease in her presence, and none left without feeling better for having seen her. Her face was made of heavenly smiles, and her voice of tranquil music” (1196). She taught him the alphabet and to spell short words until her husband forbade her from teaching him anymore because it was against the law. Mr. Auld explained, “If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master….He would at once become unmanageable, and no value to his master” (Douglass, 1196). Slavery deprived slaves of learning things such as reading and writing on purpose. After being a slave owner, Mrs. Auld changed from sweet and caring to cruel and nasty, showing how slavery also dehumanizes slave owners as well. Douglass was not allowed to read but was determined and would be creative in finding ways to learn. He would make friends with poor street kids and exchange his bread for their knowledge. He learned how to write by copying shipyard carpenters and using old copy-books of his little Master that were left behind. With learning came anguish of knowing what was out there but not for him. Douglass states, “As I writhed under it, I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing. It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy. It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy. It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out” (1200). Douglass’ new knowledge exposed him to the outside world but because he was a slave he was trapped.

            Fredrick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself, exhibits the dehumanizing effects of slavery, not only on slave themselves, but also on slave owners. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself, relates to From Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs. Throughout both of these literary works, they express the cruel and harsh realities of slavery. They each give detailed descriptions and examples of just how horrible the life of a slave can be. These texts show how manipulative people are to slaves. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself, when Douglass was helping some Irishmen unload stone on the docks, they got into a discussion about Douglass being a slave for life:“They both advised me to run away to the north; that I should find friends there, and that I should be free. I pretended not to be interested in what they said, and treated them as if I did not understand them; for I feared they might be treacherous. White men have been known to encourage slaves to escape, and then, to get the reward, catch them and return them to their masters” (1200-1201). In From Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl it states “She had laid up three hundred dollars, which her mistress one day begged as a loan, promising to pay her soon. The reader probably know no promise or writing given to a slave is legally binding; for according to Southern laws, a slave, being property, can hold no property. When my grandmother lent her hard earnings to her mistress, she trusted solely to her honor”(923). She lent her money out of the goodness of her heart but her mistress did not keep her word and she never paid her back. Along with this, both Douglass and Jacobs write about the conditions of women slaves; how they are both physically and sexually abused by their slave owners. Douglass and Jacobs wrote their accounts as a slave and they tried to persuade their readers that slavery was negative and that it should end.

Works Cited

Baym, Nina, and Robert S. Levine. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. Print.

Douglass, Frederick. “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. Vol. B. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. pp 1170-1239

Jacobs, Harriet. “From Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. Vol. B. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. pp 920-942

Picture Links:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/19/politics/Douglass-5-things/

http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1841228_1841749_1841739,00.html