Frederick Douglass: Are Blacks Inferior To Whites?

Are Blacks Inferior to Whites? Frederick Douglass had extremely hard battles for any black man, but he had to stand up for blacks and their rights against one of the most influential people of all time in Thomas Jefferson. He once said, “…It appears to me that in memory they (blacks) are equal to the whites; in reason much inferior . . . and that in imagination they are dull, tasteless, anomalous . . . I advance it therefore as a suspicion only . . . that the blacks . . . are inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind.” Contrary to what Thomas Jefferson said, Frederick Douglass shows that skin color is just a difference in the eyes, but in reality it has nothing to do with what’s on the inside. Douglass proves that blacks …show more content…
Covey’s. He was to young to work on the plantation where he grew up, and he got the chance to go live in Baltimore before working age. After his first day at Mr. Covey’s, he absolutely dreaded being whipped, being treated terribly, and finally understanding why slavery was so terrible. Fear is essential to human life, without you are emotionless and without emotions you don’t …show more content…
His rebellious side was one of them, and it came from his time in Baltimore. It allowed him to take brutal beatings, but still be able to fight Mr. Covey for well over two hours and even draw blood from him. After that fight, every once in awhile Mr. Covey would say, “…He didn’t want to get hold of me again.” While Frederick thought to himself, “No, you need not; for will come off worse than you did before” (78). He never laid a finger on Frederick the last six months he was there because he knew if he would try to do anything again that it would turn out much worse for him. His second time in Baltimore was his last effort to escape slavery and it was very successful. He ended up in New Bedford where he thought, “…A degree of safety, and to prepare ourselves for the duties and responsibilities of a life of freedom” (110). This gave him great happiness and also gave him a wife. His efforts of escaping slavery finally paid off with help from never losing hope in escaping especially during his time at Mr. Coveys and in jail for four days all by himself. His self-motivation and perseverance are a few of the main reasons he escaped and stayed free. However, Frederick’s revolutionary motivation didn’t come into effect till he started reading the “Liberator.” He was afraid of what could happen to him as an ex-slave, but he knew there were millions of others that needed his help and at the Nantucket