How Did Frederick Douglass Use Of Unfair Punishment

Frederick Douglass was a man of immense courage, whose clear-cut auto biography convinced white Americans of the horrors of slavery, and gave them the ambition to abolish it. Slavery in the states had become a necessary evil to the whites, in which free labor meant growth and development of their home. Frederick Douglass’ expressions of his abhorrence for slavery are apparent in his detailed descriptions of the cruel treatment of masters to all slaves, and their forced illiteracy. The various acts of punishment towards slaves was a common gesture to all with the intentions of teaching the blacks their place in a white man’s world, and Douglass experienced this both by first and second hand experience. Frederick Douglass (1845/1995), a famous

The white masters would not want to be accused of showing favoritism to their own flesh and blood, but would rather treat him just as badly, or even worse as his other slaves (Douglass, 1845/1995, p.2-3). Nothing seemed to give a master more pleasure than the satisfaction of his whip. Countless recordings of gruesome punishments are documentedby Douglass himself of both male and female, young and old who became fatalities, due only to their color of skin. Two men, old Barney and young Barney, are examples of unfair punishment due to inabilities to control the matter (Douglass, 1845/1995, p10-11). They were given the task of taking care of their master Colonel Lloyd’s horses, and if the horses moved in a wrong manor or did not look the way it should, their caretakers would be to blame, and penalized for (Douglass, 1845/1995, p.10-11). Henny, a slave girl subject to being crippled, was seen as a waste of money and waste of space, and her master would release his anger onto her, a victim to whom had no control in her ailment (Douglass, 1845/1995, p.33).Even though physical abuse was the most common method to rebuke slaves it was not the only way.Starvation, privation of sleep,

All slaves have once had the dreams of freedom and a plot for escape, but the pathway to this freedom could come only with the ability to read and write. It was said by master that instructing a Negro how to read and write would ruin them as a slave (Douglass, 1845/1995, p.20). Once they learned these things then they would have the same knowledge as a white men, and the next thing they would want is their freedom. If slaves had this capability then their chances of escape would be much greater and white slave owner could not make a living without them. Frederick Douglass had his own way in succeeding to learn, he was first taught by his master’s wife, until her husband caught her in the act and forbid her to ever proceed in her actions (Douglass, 1845/1995, p.20). He then devised a new way in which to learn by trading his bread with white children in return for a quick lesson (Douglass, 1845/1995, p.23). In doing this Douglass was able to get a full education that he later would pass on to his fellow slave members. Frederick was now considered a teacher in his black community and spent what little spare time he had to instruct others and take them out of the hole of illiteracy (Douglass, 1845/1995). The skills acquired by taking the few minutes of free time in order to read and write were the key to freedom in which Frederick Douglass would later use to