The Importance Of Slave Narrative Of Fredrick Douglass

The Importance of Slave Narratives Personal accounts of slavery provided a case for abolition and showed the brutality of slavery in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Today these accounts provide us with not only documentation of the tragedies that happened, but an inspiring example of perseverance. Mary Prince was a West Indian slave sold into slavery early in life. Her first two slave masters treated her with kindness and simply bought her to keep their children company, but the third time she was sold was when she experienced the true agony of enslavement (understandingslavery.com). Mary gave accounts of being brutally beaten by her owners. "To strip me naked--to hang me up by my wrists and lay my flesh open with the cow-skin, was …show more content…
Douglass was faced with many trials and obstacles, but never gave up. He realized that knowledge was one way to freedom, which motivated him to learn how to read and write without the benefit of a teacher. By teaching other slaves to read and write, Douglass was able to bring other slaves hope and serve as a leader to them. Even when Douglass was faced with extreme abuse, he was able to gain the courage and strength to fight back against his abusers and eventually become a free man. Douglass ' great achievements show that anything is possible as long as you are determined to reach your goals. Douglass is noted as a remarkable individual for the goals he was able to meet (Brendan …show more content…
"This mediative voice was vital to the success of the slave narrative, as ultimately the narratives ability to tell a remarkable story of survival and escape was secondary to its intended function as an anti-slavery document which would compel white northerners to subscribe to the abolitionist cause" (Brendan Johnson). The voices of Mary Prince and Fredrick Douglass spoke for and gave hope to the thousands of men, women, and children who were still enslaved and were a prime example of courage, strength, determination, perseverance, and leadership to the people of the eighteenth and nineteenth century. These narratives show the people of today that if you fight your hardest and give every bit of effort you have toward the goals you are trying to meet, there is nothing that can stop you from reaching those goals. The importance of slave narratives will never die. They are key documents for studying the events of the eighteenth and nineteenth century and greatly contributed to the beginning of African-American literature (William L. Andrews). Most importantly, slave narratives took the first step in creating equality between blacks and