ipl-logo

Frederick Douglas's Experiences Of Racism

521 Words3 Pages

Racism has been a major problem that started slavery, causing the civil war. Slaves were constantly disrespected in the south, they would get beaten if they didn’t live up to the southern standards. Frederick Douglas tries to challenge the reader’s beliefs of what “All men are created equal” means. He tries to challenge this by talking about his personal experiences of being a slave. In his experience, slaves were treated like animals and they were not given fair work. It informs that His experiences show that Slaves were treated like animals. Federick Douglass stated, ”my new mistress did not deem it impudent or unmannerly for a slave to look her in the face.”Slaves were expected to not look their owners in the eye. Slaves believed it to …show more content…

An example of this According to, to Federick Douglass, -” Sunday was my only leisure day”.” Slaves were given no time for themselves and worked 12-14 hrs a day depending on their master’s “Kindness”. Slaves owners' only days were Sundays when they would go to church and were nice to slaves it depended on the kindness of the owners. Frederick Douglass writes, “murdered because she was not awake to take care of the baby” She went three nights without sleep, and the slaves would get beaten if they didn't live up to their owner’s standards. These examples prove that she was murdered despite being without sleep it didn’t matter if they got beaten regardless little things that they did. She had to do field work that her slave owner made her do. Fedrick Douglass preached, “The children unable to work in the field had neither shoes, stockings, jackets, nor trousers, given to them; their clothing consisted of two coarse linen shirts per year” Clothing was given to them once or twice a year and the worst kind of cotton was used for their clothing. If a kid lost their clothes or got ruined, then they had no clothes for the entire year. Going to show that it is wrong to treat slaves as less than

Show More
Related

  • Comparing Douglass Incidents In The Life Of Fredrick Douglas And Harriet Jacobs

    1502 Words  | 7 Pages

    The slave masters used various means to control slavery such as whipping slaves who underperformed in the plantation field. Those who run away were also open to being shot dead. Two of the most broadly read American slave accounts were Frederick Douglass' “Story of the Life of Fredrick Douglas” (1845) and Harriet Jacobs' “Incidents in the Life

    Read More

  • Summary Of 'The Native Of Frederick Douglass'

    938 Words  | 4 Pages

    From the reading of Fredrick Douglass, The Native of Frederick Douglass, the writer himself exposes the reader to the life of the slave and some of the things that had to endure during this era of history. Douglass, African American, made a huge impact on the people during the nineteenth In this reading, it also reveals some of the methods that slaveholders would use to keep the slaves submissive. The goal of this writing to name and reflect on the diffferent ways that the slavehholders used to keep their slave submissive. You will learn about two of the ways that slave holders used.

    Read More

  • How Does Douglass Show How Too Much Power Blinds And The Slaveholders

    442 Words  | 2 Pages

    In The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass presents a new perspective of slavery, which many people paid no attention to. He narrates several situations which prove that slavery not only harms the slaves, but the slaveholders as well. In the narrative, there are several episodes which show how too much power blinds and corrupts people, making them commit the most atrocious acts with clear conscience, which is the case of the slaveholders. In the beginning of the narrative, he talks of white fathers who constantly whip their mulatto children. In such cases, the role shifts from being fathers to being slaveholders.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Dehumanization In Frederick Douglass

    515 Words  | 3 Pages

    Frederick Douglass was born in 1818 to slavery, with a black mother and a white father who was rumored to be his master. Douglass was enslaved during his entire youth and 7 years after escaping slavery; he wrote “Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” which entails his horrifying experiences in slavery and his journey to ultimate freedom. Douglass was a well-known American abolitionist and activist. In his narrative, he used emotive, descriptive language in combination with personal anecdotes to appeal to his white Christian audience to expose the reality of the dehumanization that comes with slavery. Douglass refers to several different instances of dehumanization throughout his narrative.

    Read More

  • Frederick Douglass Slavery Vs Labor

    745 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Few are willing to incur the odium attaching to the reputation of being a cruel master; and above all things, they would not be known as not giving a slave enough to eat” (Douglass 51-52). Reputations were important throughout this time period. Slaveholders on plantations also cared deeply about their reputation, however, they did not want to be seen as “weak” or even nice. “Most enterprises probably met the minimum clothing needs of their bondsmen, but evidently some evidently employers deliberately stinted on clothing allotments just as they did on food” (Starobin 55). These plantation slaveholders gave their slaves basic necessities, but not enough for their slaves to be healthy and comfortable.

    Read More

  • The Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass

    346 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the narrative, it states, “The more I read, the more I was lead to abhor and detest my enslavers.” This demonstrates that when Douglass learned about how the slaveholders were treating

    Read More

  • When Frederick Douglass All Men Are Created Equal

    489 Words  | 2 Pages

    This explains how Douglass wanted his readers to be dedicated to the idea of "All men are created equal" for everyone to be treated fairly and the same. So that the abuse

    Read More

  • Frederick Douglass Paradox Analysis

    161 Words  | 1 Pages

    Douglass uses paradox to demonstrate that slavery degragrates the slaverholder. When Douglass under Mr. Sever’s care he described that: “He was less cruel, less profane… He whipped, but seemed to take no pleasure in it. ”(Douglass 24). Most slaveholders are characterized to be cruel and inhuman because of the whipping and the way they treated the slaves.

    Read More

  • Frederick Douglass: Overcoming Obstacles

    392 Words  | 2 Pages

    Douglass encountered multiple harsh realities of being enslaved. For example, the ex-slave was practically starved to death by his masters on multiple occasions. In fact, “[He was] allowed less than a half of a bushel of corn-meal per week, and very little else... It was not enough for [him] to subsist upon... A great many times [he had] been nearly perishing with hunger” (pg 31).

    Read More

  • Frederick Douglass Use And Abuse Of Power Essay

    498 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass shows the imbalance of power between slaves and their masters. In his book, Douglass proves that slavery is a destructive force not only to the slaves, but also for the slaveholders. “Poison of the irresponsible power” that masters have upon their slaves that are dehumanizing and shameless, have changed the masters themselves and their morality(Douglass 39). This amount of power and control in contact with one man breaks the kindest heart and the purest thoughts turning the person evil and corrupt. Douglass uses flashbacks that illustrate the emotions that declare the negative effects of slavery.

    Read More

  • Frederick Douglass Dehumanization

    1647 Words  | 7 Pages

    Dehumanization of both slaves and slave owners must occur for slavery to exist. Slavery harms everyone involved, including the slaveholders who superficially seem to profit from the arrangement. Douglass’s narrative acknowledges the damage inflicted on both sides of the institution of slavery, emphasizing that a human being’s personality and disposition form per the laws and socially acceptable practices exhibited within the society. Douglass has an excellent example how he seen with his own eyes how his mistress became demonized when she became an owner of a slave. Douglass became Mrs. Auld's first salve owner and at the begging when they first met “she [was] of the kindest heart and finest feelings” (38).

    Read More

  • Meaning Of The July Fourth For The Negro By Frederick Douglass

    1110 Words  | 5 Pages

    Douglass points to the vast unwillingness from the group of whites that refuses to fully perceive and accept African-Americans as deserving and equal citizens of the nation. Based on his personal experiences as a slave, Douglass is abundantly aware that the battle to abolish slavery is not an easy task. For the first twenty years of his life, he witnessed firsthand the abject cruelty of that institution in our country. Tactfully, Douglass seizes this opportunity to publicly highlight the unmerited and coarse differences in the treatment between the whites as opposed to the blacks living in the United States during this time period. He makes a “powerful testaments to the hypocrisy, bigotry and inhumanity of slavery” (Bunch 1).

    Read More

  • What To The Slave Is The Fourth Of July Analysis

    793 Words  | 4 Pages

    Douglass stated, “What am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow-men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters?” He successfully expresses his pain and anger in this quote by providing images of his and his people’s suffering. He tapped into the emotions of his audience, such as mothers, workers, and those who have felt physically pain by exposing them to the amplified struggles he and others had to face. Nonetheless, he continually reminded the audience, both explicitly and subliminally, that his group of people are too human, and that the only difference they share is the color of their skin. He is pleading his cases and hoping that it gets across to his audience in hope they will do the right

    Read More

  • Essay On Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass

    973 Words  | 4 Pages

    Because of this, he successfully creates a contrast between what the slave owners think of and treat the slaves and how they are. Douglass says that slave’s minds were “starved by their cruel masters”(Douglass, 48) and that “they had been shut up in mental darkness” (Douglass, 48) and through education, something that they were deprived of, Frederick Douglass is able to open their minds and allow them to flourish into the complex people that they are. By showing a willingness to learn to read and write, the slaves prove that they were much more than what was forced upon them by their masters.

    Read More

  • Role Of Slavery In Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass

    911 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the book, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass reveals his life as a slave and the valuable lessons he learned from his experience. Douglass wants the truth about slavery to be revealed and wants to eliminate the lies that portray slavery as beneficial. Douglass exposes the reality of slavery by criticizing the “romantic image” of slavery, showing the intellectual capabilities slaves had, and revealing the reasons why slaves were disloyal to each other. Douglass criticizes the southern, romantic image of slavery by exposing the harsh treatment and sadness that slaves endured. It was southerners who thought slavery as beneficial, because it benefited themselves and white society.

    Read More

More about Frederick Douglas's Experiences Of Racism

Open Document