Frederick Douglass Essay
Frederick Douglass was born into slavery, then escaped and became a free man. He decided to write this text to present his idea that all free men are created equal, and that slaves are not ⅗ of a person. In The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass violence is key feature. The violence changes the reader’s view of slavery, and describes how slaves were abused.
In the early 1600’s to mid 1800’s slavery was actively happening. The basic idea of slavery was to keep someone as property and have them do your farm work, housework, tend to the children, run errands, etc. The majority of slaves were African American, but there were other minorities involved. The amount of violence used to keep the slaves “manageable” …show more content…
Many of the slaves learned over time, what type of plants acted on different problems. “If healing skills were an advantage to both slave and owner, they also posed a threat” (Slave medicine, Christine Andrae). For example, some of the slaves that had been impregnated, learned what plants would abort pregnancies, which could also potentially cause death. Some slaves were even convicted of poisoning or trying to poison their masters. The fear of slaves overcoming owners or doing themselves harm encouraged laws to be made. Any slave that was to give medical care without master approval would be punished.
Punishment given to the slaves was extremely violent. There were not only whippings, which is the most known form of punishment,but hangings, shackles, different torture devices,and chains with the purpose of causing further harm . The more serious the crime was deemed, the more serious the punishment was. Often times, slaves were forced to watch the punishment happen in the hopes that the other slaves would continue to work and not slack …show more content…
The logic behind this was that if slaves could not read or write, they could not refuse to work or read about a better life. Frederick Douglass had one master by the name of Sophie, who began to teach Frederick to read, but has to stop when her husband finds out and tells her to stop. Frederick did not want to stop learning, so he would go to Baltimore and have some of the other boys teach him how. Douglass knew that the way he was treated was not absolutely terrible, however,was later moved to another master who began to beat him, something he was thankfully unaccustomed to. which he was not used
Frederick Douglass was born into slavery, then escaped and became a free man. He decided to write this text to present his idea that all free men are created equal, and that slaves are not ⅗ of a person. In The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass violence is key feature. The violence changes the reader’s view of slavery, and describes how slaves were abused.
In the early 1600’s to mid 1800’s slavery was actively happening. The basic idea of slavery was to keep someone as property and have them do your farm work, housework, tend to the children, run errands, etc. The majority of slaves were African American, but there were other minorities involved. The amount of violence used to keep the slaves “manageable” …show more content…
Many of the slaves learned over time, what type of plants acted on different problems. “If healing skills were an advantage to both slave and owner, they also posed a threat” (Slave medicine, Christine Andrae). For example, some of the slaves that had been impregnated, learned what plants would abort pregnancies, which could also potentially cause death. Some slaves were even convicted of poisoning or trying to poison their masters. The fear of slaves overcoming owners or doing themselves harm encouraged laws to be made. Any slave that was to give medical care without master approval would be punished.
Punishment given to the slaves was extremely violent. There were not only whippings, which is the most known form of punishment,but hangings, shackles, different torture devices,and chains with the purpose of causing further harm . The more serious the crime was deemed, the more serious the punishment was. Often times, slaves were forced to watch the punishment happen in the hopes that the other slaves would continue to work and not slack …show more content…
The logic behind this was that if slaves could not read or write, they could not refuse to work or read about a better life. Frederick Douglass had one master by the name of Sophie, who began to teach Frederick to read, but has to stop when her husband finds out and tells her to stop. Frederick did not want to stop learning, so he would go to Baltimore and have some of the other boys teach him how. Douglass knew that the way he was treated was not absolutely terrible, however,was later moved to another master who began to beat him, something he was thankfully unaccustomed to. which he was not used