Slavery In 'The Autobiography Of Frederick Douglass'

Through Frederick Douglass’ autobiography you are able to see slavery in the 1800’s through a slave's point of view. When writing out his autobiography Douglass has the intentional goal to open people's eyes to slavery and its effects. Douglass wanted to show what the slave industry consisted of and how he managed to break free from the deadly cycle. I personally believe that through Douglass’ writing he was able to obtain his goal of enlightening his readers on slavery. Through Douglass’ writing we see how he witnessed of the hardening of hearts of his slave owners. For example in chapter 6 when Douglass first meets his new mistress, Mrs. Auld, he describes her as “a woman of the kindest heart and finest feelings. [...] I was utterly astonished

Slave owners knew that if their slaves had emotional attachment to each other it would hinder the work ethic of the said slave. We see an example of this when Douglass first talks about his ‘childhood’. Douglass writes “My mother and I were seperated when I was but an infant- before I knew her as my mother. It was a common custom to part children from their mothers at a very early age” (2 Douglass). Through this process the slave owner takes away such a natural and what you would think as a god given gift. Slave owners also were aware to keep slaves under control they had to keep them undereducated and unaware. Birthdays and ages are kept from slaves to keep them in the ignorance. It gives the slave owners a disoriented power over their slaves to disqualify them from simple things. For if the slaves could not read, write, have healthy relationships with family members, or know their age they would have to rely on their owners for all

To think of the destruction that the white man has created is detrimental to my heart. I honestly am surprised Christianity has survived such a critical time. Since most slave masters identified with being Christian I would easily assume that if I was in a slaves situation I would hate anything that had to do with Christianity, I would be bitter and hateful. But luckily our God is bigger than a white man's destruction and still was able to reach the hearts of slaves. Though my understanding of slavery before reading Frederick Douglass was limited I personally believe that through Douglass’ writing he was able to obtain his goal of enlightening his readers on slavery. He was able to expose the effect it had on not only the slave masters but also the slaves and the different dynamics of