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Victimization In My Bondage And My Freedom By Frederick Douglas

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In the autobiography of “My Bondage and My Freedom” by Frederick Douglass”, the word victimization use by Frederick, is describing a particular person being a “victim”, a hopeless person that is unknown to the world system with no identity. As a result, slaves were people being victimized by the slavery system, including slave owners and non- slave owners. Although, African American were the main victims being discriminated by their character, why does Douglass believed that the slave owners and non- slave owners were also under the category of being victimize by the system? Is it because before African American were shipped to America, most white owners like Mrs. Auld had a kind heart towards blacks until she was told to change her …show more content…

Douglass states “the practice of separating children from their mother, and hiring the latter out at distances too great to admit of their meeting, except at long intervals, is a marked feature of the cruelty and barbarity of the slave system” (Douglass, 24). In other words, the children that were being separated from their family by the system, was not worth being with their family. Slave owners thought that they are not worth being human themselves. Meaning, they are more like animals and cargo instead of a human being. The slaves were stripped from their identity. Not knowing where to turn around they were lost in the crisp atmosphere looking confused asking “where are we?” to people that is unknown to them. Not only the slaves were taken from their family, but the maiden names from their homeland; Africa, were taken away too. The slave names given by the slave owners were now official by giving them American names like John, Emily, Isaac, and Harriet. Also, their last name was the master’s name due to the fact that they were his property. African American had little freedom to cope with on the plantation. They were never free until abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass and a white woman; Susan B. Anthony, took a stand to let African American become

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