If the African Americans didn’t obey or perform to the expectations of the slave owners they were viciously beaten. The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglas, an American Slave was a brief story on what it was like to be a slave. It explains the demanding labor to the vigorous beatings with little food or rest the slave were put through. It was like the slave owners thought of them as working machines. They made them get up at the crack of dawn and work till sundown.
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.
Family were part of each slave has to suffer from their slave master. They suffered when slave master abuse them, they suffered when give birth for baby, they suffered when their children sale to another place at three or four years old, and they suffered when their children died. The exploitation of slave lave for the slave master too cruel. The slave masters lose their mind when doing things too immorality for that human race. Clora generation's family has suffered for many cruel thing slave masters did for Clora mother's family, the family of Clora, and children families of Clora.
Smith believes that the worst of those that he traveled with were the ones who wanted to make “all men their slaves” (paragraphs 2). They were overconfident, unrealistic, and seemed to lack the ability to treat other human beings with dignity and respect. Many colonists were also brought in as criminals who were simply taking up room in England. Many of these men went down south, to Georgia. Another important fact that I need to recognize is that the composition of the people that came to America was inherently different.
Douglass’ narrative is a recount of the tough life on the plantations before his escape to New York. Douglas describes in this narrative the senseless acts of cruelty on the part of the masters as well as the debased lives of the slaves. In this book he also stated how his master forbade Mrs. Auld to teach him any further, because he felt that once Frederick Douglass learned to read, it would do him no good, but a great deal of harm, it would make him discontented and unhappy, it would forever unfit him to be a slave, and there would be no keeping him. This very much, somehow inspired Frederick Douglass to learn at whatever cost of trouble. Frederick Douglass would bring bread from his home and give an exchange for knowledge with the poor white boys, who was contribute to him being
(McKay, Chap 21, pg 570) In order to get a good perspective on what being a slave was like, we will look into a narrative written by Olaudah Equiano. Equiano was a native of Iboland who was captured at the age of eleven. He describes how some villagers would wait until the adults would go out in the plantations to work to abduct their younger children. Once Equiano was sold to the Europeans he says that they were treated horribly beaten and cramped on a very small boat. The reason that the slaves were treated badly could have been due to the fact that the Europeans had to pay a high price for them or just due to a lack of space.
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.
To conclude, the Middle Passage is clearly the roots of the slavery that occurred in the United States. Learning about the Middle Passage, gives us a better understanding of the long journey that the slaves endured. How being treated as cargo made them less superior and the torture and living conditions were unimaginable. Hopefully we can end the road, which racism has paved in this country. But more importantly, that no other human being should ever have to go through what the African slaves
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.
She told us that he met the Native Americans (who had darker skin and different appearances). Mr. Columbus then enslaved them. He made them harvest cotton and sugar. He also forced them to find valuables. I was disgusted when Auntie told us that if the Nave Americans disobeyed, they would get their limbs cut off.