While advancing civil rights, Martin Luther King Jr. stated, “We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.” We all come from different beliefs, race, religion, and in his case countries but we all are facing hardships and have battles to overcome. By validating each other’s feelings and realizing we’re all human like slaves and slaveholder occasionally did, we could all be as one. In the slave narratives, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs, the slaves and slaveholders feel the same emotions. Throughout both narratives, the slaves and slaveholders encounter physical struggles, face mental barriers, and deeply feel emotions. To most, slavery is an
…show more content…
Relationships aren’t simply seen but real emotions are shown behind the scenes. We blame the slaveholders for being so cruel to their slaves but, at times they risked many things and were very understanding. Jacobs wrote, “On her deathbed her mistress promised that her children should never suffer for anything; and during her lifetime she kept her word.” (2) When her grandmother was dying, her mistress promised to keep her children save and she did. Making a promise is easy but keeping one, especially one like this, is hard to do. The relationship between the two was so strong the mistress committed her whole life to keeping these child slaves safe. “I loved her for; for she had been almost like a mother to me.” (2) claimed Jacobs. The love between a mother and a daughter is unbreakable, to see this between a mistress and a slave is beyond believe. A slaveholder and a slave felt almost as though they were family. When Douglass ran away from his master he explained, “Master Hugh.. He kept me himself, and his wife dressed my wound till I was again restored to health.” (16) By the time Douglass got to Master Hugh’s he was tired and all beat up. Master had the heart in him to help him heal and let him stay with him. Also, his wife always made sure he was okay and he was cleaned up and bandaged. Having relationships with your slave seems odd when we look at it from the outside in, but in reality we’re all human and we all feel emotions. Slaveholders felt emotion and showed empathy toward their slaves like most people
Relationships aren’t simply seen but real emotions are shown behind the scenes. We blame the slaveholders for being so cruel to their slaves but, at times they risked many things and were very understanding. Jacobs wrote, “On her deathbed her mistress promised that her children should never suffer for anything; and during her lifetime she kept her word.” (2) When her grandmother was dying, her mistress promised to keep her children save and she did. Making a promise is easy but keeping one, especially one like this, is hard to do. The relationship between the two was so strong the mistress committed her whole life to keeping these child slaves safe. “I loved her for; for she had been almost like a mother to me.” (2) claimed Jacobs. The love between a mother and a daughter is unbreakable, to see this between a mistress and a slave is beyond believe. A slaveholder and a slave felt almost as though they were family. When Douglass ran away from his master he explained, “Master Hugh.. He kept me himself, and his wife dressed my wound till I was again restored to health.” (16) By the time Douglass got to Master Hugh’s he was tired and all beat up. Master had the heart in him to help him heal and let him stay with him. Also, his wife always made sure he was okay and he was cleaned up and bandaged. Having relationships with your slave seems odd when we look at it from the outside in, but in reality we’re all human and we all feel emotions. Slaveholders felt emotion and showed empathy toward their slaves like most people