Autobiography Of Frederick Douglass

During the 19th century, America participated in the African slave trade in which thousands of Africans were taken from their homes and sent to America to be sold. During this time about seventeen percent of the population were slaves in which only a handful lived in the north. (Lee) Most slaves, however, lived in the south working on plantations as field hands. Also, during this time in history, there was a separation of the north and south which was known as the Civil War. In the south, slavery resided; however, the north was starting to industrialize which created no need for slavery. These major facts played a huge role when reading the biography of Frederick Douglass because they created the foundation for which the whole story was…show more content…
They were viewed as property, and treated like animals. Slaves were bread like animals, housed like animals, and fed like animals. Under no circumstance did a slave ever receive sympathy of any kind from their masters because they were seen as individuals that were not capable of making their own decisions. No matter how long or how hard they worked for their masters, nothing was ever good enough. Overall, the white slave holders saw slaves as utterly worthless if unsuited for work or unable to obey simple commands. For instance, when Frederick Douglass’s grandma was too old to help out with the children on the plantation, she was forced to live alone as an outcast until she died. (Douglass 2000-2010) However, since slaves had this appearance of being unintelligent, Frederick Douglass was able to easily trick white people in many ways. While learning how to read and write, Douglass would fool kids his age to spell words for him. He would compete with the little boys to see who wrote a word better, and by initiating a competition with these kids, he slowly learned how to write. Also, Douglass would use the stereotype of slaves to his benefit when he planned both of his escapes. While living with Mr. Freeland, he convinced his master to let the other slaves and him join together for Sabbath school every week. However, little did his master know that during that time they would hold…show more content…
Many slaves were beaten with whips almost every day for no reason at all. Some slaves were even beaten to death by their masters. Frederick Douglass even recalls when one slave disobeyed his master, and he got shot and killed right on the spot. (Douglass 2000-2010) Also, by law these killings were not seen as a crime in the south because they felt that if a slave’s master killed them, they had a good reason for doing so. Therefore, a slave’s life seemed worthless in the world, and this stopped many slaves from trying to escape because they knew that if they were caught they would most likely be killed. As a result, slave owners dominated slaves by using fearful antics and by severely punishing slaves. This complete domination over slaves caused the ruling class to be very confident in their social status. However, only clever slaves realized that the benefits of escaping slavery outweighed the consequences. Clever slaves knew that if they did not try and free themselves that their social standing would always remain the same and nothing would ever change. On the other hand, they knew that if slaves fought for their freedom and expressed their thoughts, they would create more people to listen, and the more people listening draws more people to question the idea of slavery. In the end, this is why Frederick Douglass was so determined to become a free