Slavery By Frederick Douglass

Slavery. A conflict many African Americans like Frederick Douglass faced throughout their lifetime. Some kneeled down to slavery, and some stood up and fought against it. Douglass was one of those who fought. He fought hard every single day to become a free man. He faced many circumstances during his slave time, but let none of it get in the way of his freedom. He was a strong, determined, and intellectual African American who knew what he wanted and would let nothing or no one stand in his way of achieving it. Throughout Frederick Douglass’s narrative, he explains the inferiority not only himself, but other slaves felt to the white community. Douglass was born into slavery in or around the year 1818 to Harriet Bailey. His birth took place
This is the inevitable result” (Douglass 810). Just as people often separate animals from their parents at certain ages, the slave owners of the Pre-Civil War Era South separated small children from their parents, without putting much more thought into it than when separating cattle from their mothers (Johnson np). Slavery was the only life Douglass knew. From the time he was born he was looked down upon by the white community. His father was assumed to be a white man, some even thought it was his mother’s master. It was Douglass against the world. No mother nor father, just himself and his fellow slaves. He knew he had to fight his way through this horrible life on his own. In his narrative, Douglass describes the horrible conditions of being a slave. The white community felt as if they were better than the African Americans and would treat them horribly. His first master was Colonel Edward Lloyd. Growing up as a child
He learned this new skill by working with ship carpenters. Once he was able to form several letters, he would challenge any boy he knew could write to expand his vocabulary. Learning to write was the big turning pint in Douglass’s life. Shortly after learning the death of his old master, Captain Anthony, he and others were taken back to the plantation to be evaluated. This is where we see another form of dehumanizing African Americans. Douglass says, “There were horses and men, cattle and women, pigs and children, all holding the same rank in the scale of being, and all were subjected to the same narrow examination” (Douglass 830). The masters treat them the same as livestock. Later on down the road, Douglass is still planning for freedom. While on a ship heading back to the Easter Shore of Maryland, he pays close attention to the direction of the ships, particularly the ones heading toward Philadelphia. Throughout the rest of his life as a slave, he is sent to Edward Covey’s farm. There, Douglass is beaten almost weekly. He is punished severely, over and over. These last few months as a slave of Covey’s, Douglass almost gave up his hope of being a free man. The problem he was faced with by society were almost too much for him to handle. After physically fighting Covey, Douglass states, “This battle with Mr. Covey was the turning-point in my career as a slave. It rekindled the