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How Is Frederick Douglass Treated As A Crime

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“I speak advisedly when I say this,--that killing a slave, or any colored person, in Talbot county, Maryland, is not treated as a crime, either by courts or the community.”(pg22) In Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave the slaves were going through a hard time and the white people were in control. He also shows the hardships of what was happening in the time of slavery with slaveholders and the cruelty the slaves went through. Slaves did not have as many privileges as the slaveholders or people who weren't colored. The slaves tried to find light in what they did and try to overcome the fact they were being used. Frederick Douglass explains what he has to go through as a slave, what it took to get away from it, …show more content…

They worked in harsh conditions with little to no breaks and only stopped if told to. They also had little to no clothes "In hottest summer and coldest winter, I was kept almost naked--no shoes, no stockings, no jacket, no trousers, nothing on but a coarse to linen shirt, reaching only to my knees.”(pg. 23) The masters of slave wanted everything to be done the right way and if this were not done how they wanted it the slaves got in trouble and were punished. What was hard for Douglass was that his master was his father and his mother was a slave. Therefore, Frederick Douglass’ father ( slave master) was a lot harder on him because he could not show favoritism and his wife would have gotten mad that her husband was having an affair with other slaves, having kids with them. Douglass was moved around from slaveholders so he never really got to adjust to the environment he was in. He was the only kid to be picked to get traded. In result, he ended up having a new master and mistress. His mistress was really nice to her slaves because she never owned any slaves. She taught her slaves how to read and write however, her husband became mad and told her not to. Henceforth, she stopped teaching them and became violent with the slaves to make her husband happy. Frederick Douglass had to find time to teach himself how to read and

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