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Frederick Douglass A Hypocrisy Of American Culture

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Frederick Douglass Story
Frederick Douglass was a man who was outspoken about the abolition of slaves. He believed all men were equal as the Declaration of Independence states. He spoke of his feeling regarding the unjust treatment of the African Americans in the United States. Frederick Douglass’s book “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” allowed us to see his life at the same time as the unjust treatment of the slaves in the United States. Slaves were property. They had no value, no rights, no freedom and treated as such. Douglass also allows us to see the growth of a boy to a man who dreamed of freedom and was finally able to have freedom. He gives readers insight about how his life and his fellow slaves’ life compared to life …show more content…

The United States exalted Christian values. These values edified the culture. However, Douglass demonstrates that Christian values seemed to be only for the white man. Douglass expressed how the masters and the overseers used Christian teachings to keep the slaves oppressed into slavery. Douglass compared the Christian church to prisons: “The slave prison and the church stand near each other. The clanking of fetters and the rattling of chains in the prison, and the pious psalm and solemn prayer in the church, may be heard at the same time” (Douglass, 1275) He describing how similar they were although dressed differently. Douglass also informs the reader that the more religious the master, the worse the slaves were treated: “I am filled with unutterable loathing when I contemplate the religious pomp and show together with the horrible inconsistencies, which everywhere surrounds me. We have men-stealers for ministers, women-whippers for missionaries, and cradle-plunders for church members.”. (Douglass, 1225) White Americans never saw the black man as anything but property. Property does not have rights so what they were doing was not anything against their Christian beliefs. Douglass indicated again that slaves were a property of the …show more content…

He describes how the owners tried their very best to stamp out the slaves’ culture. An example of this is slave owners did not understand how slaves sang as they worked or relaxed. Masters instead thought that signing was a sign of happiness. The truth was they used their songs as relieving the sorrows of their condition. Douglass beautifully explains, “Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears.” (Douglass,

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