Essay Number Two

Kalyn Smith

Professor Lee

English 244

7 March 2017

Slaves are Entitled To Liberty:

Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in February,1818 in Talbot County Maryland. His mother's name was Harriet Bailey and his father was a white man said to be his mother's owner. Douglass learned how to read and write despite the fact that his owner was against it. His owner believe that if Douglass was literate, he was to be " forever  unfit as a slave." Douglass greatly believed in equality and strongly advocated for the end of slavery in both his speeches and writing. Douglass soon began to teach other African Americans to read and write, but was caught and sent to a poor farmer, Covey, where he was regularly beat. After many years of torture both physical and psychological, Douglass rebelled against Covey, which stopped the beatings. After previous failed attempts to escape slavery, Douglass fell in love with a free woman by the name of Anna Murray, who restored his faith in freedom. On September 3, 1838 he took a train from Philadelphia to the North and successfully escape slavery.

In The Narrative of The life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave, Douglass claims that African Americans deserve equal rights. He evokes emotion from his readers by telling gruesome stories of unfair beatings which he witnessed and also felt. He also mentions how biblical justification of slavery is invalid and why. Lastly, Douglass proves that the complexion of his skin does not make him any less human than a white man, and blacks deserve equality and liberty just as much as any white man or woman does.

Christianity was a popular justification to why slavery was pracaticed, but it is false logic. Douglass shows this by stating that, "I assert most unhesitatingly, that the religion of the south is a mere covering for the most horrid crimes,--a justifier of the most appalling barbarity,--a sanctifier of the most hateful frauds,--and a dark shelter under, which the darkest, foulest, grossest, and most infernal deeds of slaveholders find the strongest protection. Were I to be again reduced to the chains of slavery, next to that enslavement, I should regard being the slave of a religious master the greatest calamity that could befall me. For of all slaveholders with whom I have ever met, religious slaveholders are the worst. I have ever found them the meanest and basest, the most cruel and cowardly, of all others" (1209). Douglass writes this passage to show he is not against Christianity, in fact he is Christian. But, instead he wanted to clarify his hatred for hypocrisy; for one could not be truly Christian and also own a slave. To prove that you cannot be Christian and also be a slaveholder because it is hypocritical, he says, " Dark and terrible as is this picture, I hold it to be strictly true of the overwhelming mass of professed Christians in America. They strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel" (1237). This reference comes from Matthew 23:24 where Jesus is punishing the Pharisees for being hypocritical. By including this quote, Douglass shows how hypocrisy is frowned upon by Jesus, and slavery is hypocritical because it is discriminating only one race; therefore, the Bible provides no justification for the beatings and unfair treatment of slaves.

Another way Douglass shows that slaves are entitled to their liberty is by provided stories of awful beatings to give his reader an idea of just how mistreated African Americans were. For example, he says, " I have often been awakened at the dawn of the day by the most heart-rending shrieks of an own aunt of mine, whom he used to tie up to a joist, and whip upon her naked back till she was literally covered with blood. The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped; and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped the longest. He would whip her to make her scream, and then whip her to make her hush; and not until overcome by fatigue, would he cease to swing the blood clotted cowskin. I remember the first time I witnessed this horrible exhibition. I was quite a child, but I remember it well" (1184). By stating that these hurling screams were coming from his very own aunt, Douglass gains sympathy from his reader. These beatings are horrible done to anyone, but the picture he paints in the readers head by mentioning his aunt is the one being beat, is going to make it even more terrible. In addition, Douglass's word choice is so vivid that it helps to give the reader a visual of just how awful this racial discrimination was. Also, the last sentence were Douglass mentions he was just a child really pulls on the reader's emotional strings. As horrifying as it would be for an adult to witness these crimes, it is even more morally upsetting to think Douglass was just a child. Another way Douglass proves his point emotionally is when  he tells how he is not sure of his birthday, or even his exact age. He says, “ By far the larger part of the slaves know as little as their ages as horses know theirs… the white children could tell theirs” (1182). By making this comparison of slaves to horses, Douglass again uses the appeal to emotion to show the reader how rough life as a slave is considering they are closely compared to a horse, but, how they do, deserve their liberty and freedom from this discrimination. In addition, in order to further prove his point about hypocrisy, Douglass includes that all of the white children knew their ages and birthdays, and how it was not fair for African Americans to be deprived of that same right.

In conclusion, all humans, black, white, male or female, deserve the same right to chose their own path, to succeed in life, and make their own decisions. We are all free people, entitled to the life we chose to live and this right was overlooked during the times of slavery. Frederick Douglass does a great job in advocating to abolish slavery and racial discrimination. I would argue he was the most influential writers during the times of slavery.

Works Cited:

Krupat, Arnold. Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Robert Levine. 8th ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 1-1756. Print.