Narrative Life Of Frederick Douglass Essay Research

Narrative Life Of Frederick Douglass Essay, Research Paper

In larning about the history of America from the colonisation to the Reconstruction I decides to read The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass. Frederick was one of the really few literate slaves. He was an improbably of import character in American and Afro-american history. Though he was blessed with intelligence most slaves were non, he still lived the same sort of life of the typical slave.

Fredrick Douglas was born in Maryland ; he does non cognize the day of the month of his birth, as did most slaves. He ne’er truly had a opportunity to cognize his female parent, merely holding seen her four or five times. Fredrick taught himself how to read and compose despite it being against his slave-owners wants. He could non allow cognition be known to anyone except for other slaves. Fredrick saw his cognition of words both as a approval and a expletive. White work forces were given supreme power over their black slaves and it corrupted their character.

Most African Americans of the early to mid-nineteenth century experienced bondage on plantations similar to the experiences described by Frederick Douglass ; the bulk of slaves lived on units owned by plantation owners who had 20 or more slaves. The plantation owners and the white Masterss of these agricultural communities sought to guarantee their personal safety and the profitableness of their endeavors by utilizing all the tactics-physical and psychological-at their bid to do slaves obedient. Even Christianity was manipulated in a manner that Masterss communicated to their slaves that God had commanded them to obey their Masterss. Peoples like Frederick Douglass who preached abolishment of bondage, merely had to foster the already bing spirit within slaves to endeavor for freedom.

Merely a bantam fraction of all slaves of all time took portion in organized Acts of the Apostless of violent opposition against white power. Most realized as Frederick Douglass did that the odds against a successful rebellion were really high, and acrimonious experience had shown them that the usual result was decease to the Rebels. Consequently, they devised safer ways to defy white laterality. For Frederick Douglass, it was clear that his manner of contending the power was to go educated so that he may break understand his state of affairs. However, he described that cognizing that: & # 8220 ; humor? [ was ] the tract from bondage to freedom. & # 8221 ; ( Pg. 20 ) & # 8220 ; ? Reading? enabled me to express my ideas, and to run into the statements brought frontward to prolong bondage ; but while [ it ] relieved me of one trouble, [ it ] brought on another even more painful than the one of which I was relieved. The more I read the more I was led to loathe and hate my enslavers. & # 8221 ; ( Pg. 24 ) The cognition, which Frederick Douglass gained, did non free him from his atrocious state of affairs, but instead compounded his discontentedness as a slave. It is difficult to find how other slaves were able to keep a sense of individualism and worth, despite non holding the chance or possess the resourcefulness to obtain the cognition of

Frederick Douglass.

Miraculously, they broke off from the instructions that their white Masterss had bestowed upon them, which taught them that inkinesss were commanded by God to obey their superior white Masterss. This is what Douglas refers to as the? slave owners faith? ( page 45 ) . Douglas perceives a large difference between Christianity and the slave owners? faith, ? to have Christianity as good, pure and sanctum, is of necessity to reject the slave owners faith as bad, corrupt and wicked. ? ( Page 46 ) . Religion came to trust upon the slave owners for financially support ; ? The trader gives his gory gold to back up the pulpit. ? ( Page 48 ) Douglas describes this company by saying, ? Here we have faith and robbery Alliess of each other. ? ( Page 48 ) The goodness of God was interpreted in such a manner by these churches as to give the slave owners a sense that slaveholding is right. Religion was the kernel of the freshly rising African American subculture. Borrowed from the ardent revivalism of white participants of the first Great Awakening and their ain African faiths, slaves created their ain version of Christianity. Their new faith stressed family, brotherly love, equality, and redemption from bondage. The true faith was practiced at dark, frequently in secret, and was led by black sermonizers. The belowground slave faith was a extremely emotional matter that consisted of vocalizing, shouting, and dancing. For Frederick Douglass and all other slaves, the vocalizing of vocals and faith were more of an avowal of the joy in life instead than a rejection of secular pleasances and enticements. They spoke out against the hazards of bondage and asserted their right to be free.

Thomas Auld, the maestro of Frederick Douglass in Baltimore, said & # 8220 ; A nigga should cognize nil but to obey his master-to bash as he is told to do. & # 8221 ; ( Pg. 57 ) He was mentioning to the wrongfulness of his married woman & # 8217 ; s try to educate Frederick Douglass. This was the position held by most Whites toward African Americans. Consequently, other adjectives such as: lazy, irresponsible, childlike, and simple-minded were used by Whites to depict the African American character. This portrayal stole the African American sense of independency and created the false image of black childlike dependance on their white Masterss. That combined with the fact that most African Americans were born into bondage disallowed them any experience of freedom or of Africa by which they may do comparings to their state of affairs of entire bondage.

The slave proprietors struggle to command the slave brought out an immorality in them that can non be brought out by any things. The slaves? battle for freedom and the suppression by their Masterss broke their spirit, which is a big portion of human character. America would non hold grown to be so great in such a short clip without bondage, because of the economic value of it. But, it would non hold been such a violent society so or such a violent society now if bondage had ne’er existed.