His refusal to give up and even die for the sake of this “holy cause” is very moving and brought people to oppose slavery. “All men are created equal” as stated in the Declaration of Independence was not entirely true and Garrison stood by that and the truths of divine revelation (Document E). Another important piece of literature that brought attention to life as a slave was a narrative from a slave himself, Frederick Douglass. Douglass was a former slave who fought with a white man who oversaw him. This specific fight made Douglass very eager for freedom.
But as time passed, people started to believe that slavery was unconstitutional. Debates were fought, muskets snapped, and cannons roared in order to secure the future of our country. After a war that separated the country for the first time in her short history, slavery was abolished; but laws and manuscript can only do so much. For the generations that were imprinted with this natural racism, it would take an equal amount of explanation and understanding to have any hope of a change in their mindset. Langston Hughes’s poem depicts this as the “Negro bearing slavery’s scars”, stating that no matter how much time has or will pass, the social and mental damage has already been done (20).
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.
The author of these pages wanted us to focus our attention on all the hardship that African Americans had to endure whether slave or free. The author stayed to the facts of the Fugitive Slave Acts. I have picked this subject matter to write about because I can’t put myself in this time of history. Going to school in Ohio, we studied about Oberlin and Wellington. These two places helped a slave escape a federal marshal so he couldn’t return the slave back to the South.
The first time Douglass fully understands this is when Hugh Auld gets mad at his wife for teaching Douglass how to spell some small words. Hugh tells his wife that, “If you give a nigger an inch, they will take an ell” (Douglass 78), which expresses his view on how quickly things would turn around if a slave were to learn how to write. Hugh doesn’t realize, but by saying this, he gives Douglass a clear vision of what is really going on with slavery. Douglass then understands that by keeping the slaves illiterate, the slaveholders are actually manipulating slaves into thinking that there is nothing for them but slavery. With this vision, Douglass begins to pursue the idea of knowledge.
Derrick Williams Prof. Sackley History 199 9/30/2011 “For my own part, I felt indifferent to my fate. It appeared to me that the worst had come (the separation of him and his family), that could come, and that no change of fortune could harm me.” Charles Ball was born into slavery. He encountered the same punishment and had to live the same hard and cruel life similar to any other slave. However, Balls story differs due to his never ending ambition to be active in his attempts to expose, change, and better the lives of slaves. As a young man, Ball was sold and separated from his wife and children to a slave trader.
Even though the slave masters would know of this complication, it would even bother him. They would expect than their maximum input will result in a severe flogging of the whip. Some slaves aren’t so fortunate with whipped but according to the white masters, are only punishable by death. Douglass recalled a moment of his past of a little slave named Demby, who happen to be getting whipped due to his lack of work. He states “He had given Demby but a few stripes… to get rid of the scourging, he ran and plunged himself into the creek.. Mr. Gore gave him 3 calls, the first call was given, Demby made no response… The second and third call was given… then without no
Twain puts a young white boy in a grand journey with an enslaved black man, running for his freedom. Such circumstances are enough to set people off by itself, but Twain goes one step further to show the malice of the time, stereotyping a race. The thought of explaining Mark Twain’s book to students is enough to make most teachers shutter because of the ferocity of actions taken against those who cannot properly present the information. However, it is their job to introduce students to a true literary work of art. If we have no faith in our educators, then we lose hope in future generations’ capacity to judge right from
A slaves life was one of reoccurring torture; they were deprived of the right to leave, to refuse work, or to demand compensation for the work they did. For most slaves their one dream was to become free, and, for the most part, the only way for that to happen was using The Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was a network of people who helped fugitive slaves escape and become free, which successfully moved hundreds of slaves to freedom. Knowledge of The Underground Railroad inspired slaves to write such songs as Follow the Drinking Gourd. Although for slave
In the series of Slave Narratives described by Bruce Fort and Randall Hall, some slaves support the idea that freedom was the solution to all their problems and that being a slave was the worst experience that life could possibly create. Charity Anderson, for instance, recalls “seeing slaves torn up by dogs and whipped unmercifully”. This demonstrates that for many, the Emancipation Proclamation provided them with opportunities to make up their lives and have a fortunate future. Maria Jackson also described her story for the slave narratives, and said that she was separated from her family by slavery and had the chance to reunite with them again after the Emancipation Proclamation. Emma Crockett also benefited from being free, because she recalls that “after emancipation, she learned to read a bit of printing...” Also, a slave from North Carolina called Tempe Herndon Durham stated that he rented his master’s plantation until his family saved enough money to buy their own farm.