Tao Te Ching

The second chapter of a people’s history of the United States by Howard Zinn is named drawing the color line. In this chapter, Zinn specifically talks about the start and rise of slavery in the United States, and the process through which slavery was able to occur and eventually flourish. At the end of the article, he talks about 6 specific conditions that allowed and were needed for slavery. The profit is depicted in Lao-tzu’s Tao Te Ching and the control is resisted in Frederick Douglass’ Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. Profit is one of the conditions, which is described in Lao-tzu’s Tao Te Ching. The philosophy of Lao-tzu through the Tao Te Ching lie in natural, balance, merge, integration of nature and human, as well as all creature’s relations. Considering man and nature create each other in the “Tao”. Lao-tzu understands that people will be blind in front of the profit. Thus in his book Tao Te Ching of the chapter nineteenth, he describes that “ throw away holiness and wisdom, and people will be a hundred times happier. Throw away morality and justice and people will do the right thing. Throw away industry and profit, and …show more content…
As a slave, Douglass has a hard time in learning read and write. The slave owners determine that it is unlawful and unsafe to teach a slave to read and write. According to Douglass’ book, he describes that “ If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master—to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world”. In order to maintain salve owners’ labor supply, the salves are impressed with the idea of white people are superior to them. Only following the order, slaves are treated as cattle with no interest and individual need. Using his own experiences, Douglass shows people the unfair treatment in