Emotional toll during slavery
Slavery is a topic most wouldn’t like to speak on especially nowadays but in the 1800’s it was quite a different ball game. Slavery was brought over to the U.S. in the 1800s bring Africans over to here to only be sold and to be worked to death.
Within the story’s that were read there was a ton of racial things that happened on plantations causing slaves to run away hide and escape from their masters to avoid brutal beatings in one of the storylines the woman also a mom left her kids for the safety of them but only she put them in more danger and put them in harm's way as they had to become workers in the field instead of having it easy the beatings had taken a toll on their mental and physical state it demoralized
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Most of the slaves in the field were victims of this they were beaten some even witnessed it and it was all over taking a breaks or not even working hard and it was. House slaves on the other hand may have not felt with this problem but I can almost assure they felt with the racial slurs and it probably was mentally defeating for them because they knew if they fought back that would mean they would be in the fields along with the others working day and night hard as they can. Even slaves couldn’t be in public or without their master at least or else they’d be accused as a runaway and would be resold and more than likely end up somewhere else away from their families and never see them again who knows. The emotional toll taken out upon these slaves was from the fear of harsh punishment was …show more content…
Everyone looks at thing their own way you can be like every other slave and except slavery or be like Douglas and retaliate or like the story “Incidents in the life of a slave girl” The mother leaves the estate to run away. Little did her master or anyone know she hid in the attic for years hiding away from the harsh conditions and dictatorship under her master. Overall the emotional toll took away from these slaves and it ruined them as people for the rest of their lives they were probably terrified or scared of what they have seen done or even witnessed. Slavery was taken to an extreme point that is now over in modern day society but when you look and see how bad it was and see yourself getting treated like that every day of your life just getting beaten upon and disrespected as if you were not even a human being or not even a person it ruined them. Mentally they couldn't control their emotions and it was just a horrible thing for them to go through. Some slaves might have even taken their own lifes for the matter of the fact all because the conditions of work were too hard and the masters mistreating the slaves. The psychological effect of beating them upon force created a mental block for them saying they'll never be good enough or they'll never be nothing. Then you have slaves like Douglas who are crazy brave and will stand up to any man behind a weapon or not he took beating upon beating from his
Yet there were thousands upon thousands who had to go through this unfair state of living. One of the reasons slavery was hated is because it was very harsh. If you were a slave back then usually you would be beaten every week. They were not just taps to get you to work faster but they were lashes with leather rods.
The brutality African Americans faced while being taken into slavery was just the beginning of the terror. First, slave traders, or those in service of slave traders, would find, many times, isolated villages to attack. The whites would go into villages and raid them for the strong men that could be a hard worker for them. African Americans would be sleeping in their beds at night And they would be suddenly
Modern Day Slavery We will never quite understand what it was like to experience slavery. While there are many different types of slavery that exist today, such as forced labor, sex trafficking, and domestic servitude, to name a few, we are lucky to have never experienced or witnessed, the type of slavery that great American abolitionist Frederick Douglass endured. In the book Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, we as readers encounter an in-depth description of the beatings that Frederick had a testimony for. We genuinely do not realize how much privilege we hold in the 21st century. Douglass saw horrifying, blood drawing, and angry beatings of his loved ones, was unaware of how old he was, was not granted an education, and so much
The brutality of American slavery prior to the abolishment of slavery after the American civil war of 1861 to 1865 varied depending on the conditions offered by slave masters and particular historical events along with the states which slaves were in (Source A). Evidence suggests that the treatment of slaves especially in the southern region of America (which includes the states South Carolina, Virginia, Florida and Georgia) was horrendous as it included various punishments which scared slaves not only physically but also mentally. The treatment a slave received was also based on the how long the slave or slaves actually worked for a particular owner (Source B). Many testimonials from former African American slaves go on further to show
Many of them were beaten and tortured. Because of the slave trading, their family members are sold to different owners. Most of them did not have enough to eat, warm clothes or a good place to live. Almost everyone scared to be sold to the south, because the way of treating to the slaves in south was so harder than other places. Based on these facts their mind automatically generated the word “escape or run away”.
These Indentured servants, who were European, were treated much better, even though it was harsh for them also, but compared to the slaves who can be tossed around without any rights for them. (Servitude In New England) Being a slave was a lifelong, involuntary, and forced job in which one’s master gets to whip and abuse you every single day, rather than working for them for 7 years and getting the benefits at the end of one’s contract and moving on with their life like that of the servants. (Our Plantation is Very Weak) Additionally, there were even practices of slave breeding going on at this time not just at Douglass’s plantation.
Slavery had been a common trend all over the Eastern part of the world long before the United States began to transfer black African men and women on ships over to the United States for hard working and non-paying labor. Most of the slave owning occurred in the South of the United States, the slave owners were brutal and unforgiving to these slaves, many slave masters used physical tactics such as harsh whippings to the back, yelling, and in some measures, murder. Another strong and effective tactic these owners used on the slaves was emotional and mental abuse, by splitting up their families at a young age and keeping the slaves ignorant to the world, by not letting them read made the slaves easier to control and command. Frederick Douglass explains in his autobiography that he was a witness and a victim to the physical, emotional, and mental abuse by the slave masters. Mental and emotional violence towards the slaves in The Narrative Life of
This is how Douglass and other slaves destroyed the American slave system. First, along the long road to freedom Douglass and other slaves experienced a lot of physical harm done to them. The text states, “She was a field hand, and a whipping is the penalty of not being in the field at sunrise.” This means that the owners thought it was ok to beat their slaves when they are doing most to all their work. Also, the book says, “I was not so terrified and horror-stricken at the sight, that I had myself in a closet.”
Slaves were lied to and manipulated by slave owners, thinking the life that slave owners were offering would change their life. Douglass says that “to make a contented slave ... make a thoughtless one … darken his moral … feel that slavery is right… only when he ceases to be a man” (104). Douglass shows that slaves were tricked into accepting their enslavement. No one in this universe in his right mind would ever accept such a condition, there is only one thing for the masters to do and it was to destroy the slaves' minds. Douglass was a smart man and he didn’t like the feeling of being controlled by others.
Slaves were often beaten by their masters or overseers in order to keep them in line and stop them from disobeying their masters by instilling fear and a constant physical reminder
Southern slavery is most well-known for its violence and abuse. Among the countless other issues surrounding it, slavery is defined by brutality. Of course, not all slave owners were cruel and harsh, but the vast majority were that way. The abuse slaves experienced was physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. Most often times it was dealt out by their master, but also by the general population of free white Americans.
It was heinous how the masters treated all the slaves. The masters had different reasons for punishing, whipping, and discriminating against the slaves. “The wretchedness of slavery, and the blessedness of freedom were perpetually before me. I have been frequently asked how I felt when I found myself in a free State.” (pg. 82)
In this biography ,”narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass” shows how slavery doesn't only negatively affects not only the slaves but also the slaveholders too. Way back when slaves were almost necessary for a farmer in the south, the slaves acted up and the cruel harsh punishments the slaveholders did to keep the slaves in line. Slaves had a cruel terrible life but the slaveholders were almost as bad, from getting threatened when crop wasn't done to becoming a slave himself. According to Douglass in his article, biography of the life of “Frederick Douglass” slavery was one of the most popular and most expensive things on the market yet everybody had one.
Slavery can easily be determined as one of the most blatant acts of dehumanization. In the narrative titled “Narrative Of The Life of Frederick Douglass”, Douglass is easily able to portray this by quoting, “I have found that, to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason. He must be able to detect no inconsistencies in slavery; he must be made to feel that slavery is right; and he can be brought to that only when he ceases to be a man”, Chapter 10 page 45. The quote overall does illustrate to the reader the narrator’s reflection to slavery as a whole as he states they were deprived of not only their basic
Living conditions for slaves were dreadful, with long work hours and low wages. Slave masters separated families and sold off children from their parents, or vice versa. Slaves were prone to severe punishment for even trivial offenses. Whippings and beatings were prevalent. Running away allowed them to get away from all the hostility, if only for a while.