Examples Of Dehumanization In Speech About The Fourth Of July

Slavery was an institution that stripped men of their human rights, their familial ties, and ultimately their own sense of humanity. During the time period, men, women, and children were beaten, starved, and killed without mercy whatsoever. Slaveholders, especially in the South, had a reputation for being ruthless and unfeeling when it came to the treatment of their slaves. Indeed, it often appeared that the slaveholders simply did not have any morals or sense of right and wrong. How could one human being treat another with such brutality? Slaves were thought of as mere animals, without traits to make them human, and accordingly, slaveholders did not see their mistreatment as fundamentally wrong. Dehumanization was the ultimate factor that allowed slaveholders to act without morality. If they saw the slave as an …show more content…
In some cases, horses were taken better care of then slaves themselves. In Source D, a speech about the Fourth of July, Frederick Douglass argues “while [slaves] are reading, writing and ciphering, acting as clerks, merchants and secretaries . . . living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives and children . . . [slaves] are called upon to prove that [they] are men!”. His argument is that if slaves are acting and working just like free men, then they clearly are equal to men themselves. However, in order to preserve the lack of humanity in slaves, slaveholders would not allow them to accomplish these normal human actions. For example, slaves were not permitted to become educated in any way, or to live as families. Consequently, they were not educated enough to think critically, they did not have the time or energy to plan escape, and they could not be husbands or wives. Instead, they continued to be viewed as less than human and not subject to the basic human rights given to other