I do not like to get reminded of how dark and terrible slaves spent their pure life suffering by their cruel punishments like whipping or getting killed to stop the problem right away. Masters were so cruel. I do not understand what kind of heart God had them at birth. I wonder what thoughts masters had in mind during a torture of slaves. It was money and power that took over their minds.
Walker was a free black man living in Boston who had a unique view of slavery. He felt so deeply about this subject that he seemed to almost promote violence. He thought that slaves should do anything in their power, even kill, to stop the establishment of slavery. Walker accused the nation of not living up to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence. He was particularly not very fond of Thomas Jefferson, who he thought to be a racist.
Douglass’s key demonstration of the corruption of slave owners is Sophia Auld, a woman who had never been a slaveholder before her husband attained Douglass. In the book when she first meets Douglass she is kind to him, but she in time becomes cynical and unsympathetic. She was corrupted when her husband said to her, “If you teach that nigger (Frederick Douglass) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no good, but a great deal of harm.
Unlike her mother, Always try and find ways to survived and destroy the slavery of America at that time. Cooper used a small family of Clora representing whole families of African Americans who were enslaved. Slave master were inhuman to abuse a slave and have many children in order to sale for money, for property. The story in the family makes us feel deeply about the hardships endured
The slave era can be agreed it was a terrible atrocity upon our fellow man, and it cannot be brought into a light of just, but it did give birth to some true characters who we can look up to and live alike. The characters in both Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, and the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass are ideal examples of true characters as they pushed through slavery and gained freedom but did not stop there. Jacobs’ spent her freedom getting her families’ freedom and Douglass went on to help others escape and spread knowledge on the cruelty of slavery. The last thing, and most powerful thing this book left me with is that each slave was an individual unalike any other, and these individuals were in fact an individual, individuals who lived their life for the betterment of others and accomplished an impossible
Perspectives on slavery I think everyone can agree that slavery is wrong. As Americans we can only look back with regret, at the acts that took place. Slaves were treated poorly they were beaten and were not well fed. Kids 12 and younger were slaves, families were separated, and slaves would even get beaten brutally and without mercy. As with every crime you need evidence, and to prove to those who are naïve and do not believe in what happened it is necessary.
Daniel McCormack History 1100-04 William G. Lewis 16 April 2012 Frederick Douglass’ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass The life of a slave was excruciatingly difficult; they dealt with cruel, numerous whippings; they were separated from loved ones; they had to endeavor hours of harsh work for such little pay; and above all, slaves were denied freedom. These barriers causing slaves to suffer were caused by the mindlessness of white slave owners. However not all whites made slaves lives miserable, some whites helped blacks even if they weren’t abolitionists. Frederick Douglass’ Narrative is an excellent source of exemplifying the genuinely austere relations between whites and blacks and even abolitionists and slave owners.
One story that goes in depth about these things is about a slave who worked his way up towards a house-slave. These slaves got to stay in the house, and more often than not, these slaves would be REALLY hated by the other slaves. Anyway, this slave, even though a house slave didn't just betray his fellow slaves to the master. This slave self-taught himself to read so that whenever the master and another helper were talking, he could understand them. You see, whenever the master and someone else were speaking, and they didn't want the house slave to know, they would spell out whatever they're trying to say.
Slavery was common practice at the time of the writer’s captivity; however, Equiano was a spirited voice against such savagery. Later in life, he was given an official post to resettle poor blacks in Sierra Leone, Africa; but, he made accusations of misdeeds against some officials and thereby lost his post in trying to do his work honestly. Also, Equiano found fault in the inequality under Christian religion. Further, he recalled the golden rule of Christian conduct, “do unto all men as you would men should do unto you” (Equiano 769) which seemed sorely lacking in the slave trade. These matters of contention went against his enduring African values and prevented him from being fully assimilated by Western society.
Teachers, such as John Chavis from Raleigh and Margaret Douglass in Norfolk, ran night schools to avoid being discovered of illegal education to slaves. Douglass, however, was convicted for her crimes of educating black children and slaves, and was thus imprisoned for her actions. Sophie Auld, the wife of a southern plantation owner was the one to begin teaching the youthful Frederick Douglass. Upon her secret being discovered, she quickly became resentful and bitter toward Douglass, and he was subsequently forbidden from any further education. This, as history has shown, was not the case.