What It Was to Be a Slave in the United States - Research Paper Example

Douglass paper Introduction In the 1800s, slavery was a major issue in the United s, dealt with by the South Americans on a daily basis. The Douglas book reveals much about American past during the slavery period and expounds arguments for its abolition. As a historical document, the book conveys information about work, the slave family, the master-slave relationship, and living conditions and treatment of slaves. It also argues against widespread beliefs about the slavery morality and its benefits, making strong views for abolishing slavery. Douglass illustrates, through the narrative he tells, the meaning of slavery for both the individual and the State. What it was to be a slave in the United States Slave families were always torn apart by their masters. Before babies reached a year old, their mothers were taken away, an action that probably intended to break the affection bond between the mother and the baby. Consequently, many of the slaves grew up not knowing who their real parents were. For Douglass’s case, he never knew his parental side. Moreover, enslaved women were harassed and abused sexually. He is not aware of his birthday, and his mother was separated from him when he was only a year old, yet unfortunately she died when Douglass was seven years and saw her son only three to four times in her life time. He speculates that his father was Anthony Aaron, the master of the plantation that Douglass worked on, since it was usual for slave owners to rape or have affairs with enslaved women in detention. Children born of such affairs could not be told who their real fathers were, and when they grew up, they would join the enslaved population in working on the plantations. This describes the total lack of the sense of self, which characterized the slaves in the American south. Slavery in the US was an intrinsic injustice, bondage in itself, not necessarily how the master inflicted on the slave insofar as clothing, shelter, religion, food, life, and discipline were concerned. The whole system was unjust since the slaves were innocent to deserve all the punishments and brutality. Given inequality of power and human nature, evil treatment of slaves was unavoidable. On the plantation, Douglass witnessed the cruelty of enslavement. He witnessed the first whipping when he was seven years and this left a lasting impression in his mind. He writes, “It was the first of a long sequence of such angers, of which I was fated to be a participant and a witness. It was a blood-stained gate, an entrance to the hell of being a slave, which I was about to pass through (Douglass 62).” Unhealthy low nation regions caused numerous slave deaths especially because of the poor working conditions. All the slaves shared the pain of a life without freedom, though key differences existed between house servants and the lives of field hands. Slaves worked from sunrise to sunset in every facet of farming from planting, weeding, land preparing, the harvest and transportation to the market. Following the harvest, field hand slaves mended faces, repaired tools, dug ditches, and constructed structures needed on the farms. With little clothing, food, or rest to keep them going, this was a hard and grueling life at its best. When slave owners established families, they brought some women slaves into their homes to act as dressmakers, nurses, cooks, and servants. Though less tough physically than fieldwork, working as an enslaved domestic was rigorous and exhausting. Officially on duty from dawn to ten at night, they could be summoned at any hour. All major commercial ventures involved skills, labor, and ingenuity of enslaved Africans. Large plantations like the one where Douglass began work required skilled mechanical workers and field workers. Metalworkers, carpenters, watch smiths, coopers, blacksmiths, grain grinders, sailors, gun makers, cart writers, and weavers were all extracted from black Americans. Slaves were not given any opportunity and especially in education; they could not advance beyond the limits placed by their owners. Such limits severely affected the most gifted servants compared to the less talented. Less able slaves lived close to the level they would have attained if they were given freedom, and many lived beyond the level their personal hard work would have taken them when free (Douglass 71-2) Depriving of slaves education meant they remain subservient to their masters and deeply handicapped their progress after liberation. Illiteracy resulted from the intrinsic inequality of instinctive servitude. There were no beddings or clothes given to slaves, except when one course blanket was given to a group, and sleeping was on the cold, damp floor. However, they could not use them because they had no time to sleep as when their workday in the field was done, most of them had personal cooking, mending, and washing to do, yet they lacked facilities to carry out such chores. Sleeping time was consumed in preparing for the next day’s fieldwork. Douglass remembers in coldest winters and hottest summers, where he stayed almost naked, with no stockings nor shoes, nor trousers, but an old pulled linen shirt that reached his knees. He could have perished with cold but he used to steal a bag used for carrying maize to the mill. This shows the pathetic conditions that slavery placed blacks in, and the wicked minds of their servants. Douglass points rightfully that slaves were treated inhumanly but they endured all the injuries. Slaves were treated equally or even worse than animals. Whether it was hasty or not, the abstraction is illustrated severally in the narrative. They were fed like pigs, taught to live like brutes, and sold like cattle. They were shown little value and no respect, their lives full of meaningless struggle. Slaves are depicted to have been tortured while at their masters’ plantation, especially through the illustration of the malnourished children. Kids are called out like many pigs to come and consume the pottage; some with oyster shells, while others had pieces of sand, some with bare hands, but none with spoons. Whoever ate fastest got most food, and whoever was strongest safeguarded the best place; few came out satisfied. The mush was put in a long stiff tray on the floor. This shows how they were treated like animals because of the absence of moral consequence and shame; eating like hungry beasts deprived of respect for humanity. The most aggressive survived best and got what they wanted unlike the weak and dormant that had no choice but behave in undomesticated ways. No matter their gender, capabilities and age, slaves were given the same treatment and examination, as well as the same bids for selling them off (Douglass 90). In the world of slavery in America, control and violence were intimately connected. Douglas notes that men were often whipped. This shows the cynical nature of violence against slaves. The lash beat or raised hand in the book was intended to produce docility in slaves and this yearning for control promoted continuous iterations of violence. It is observed that abuse became more severe, especially through the brutality of the masters. Violence was used so frequently with the aim of preventing the salves from attaining any sort of agency, be it intellectual or religious. Beatings were aimed at discouraging learning, piety, and literacy; violence was a strategy for those with knowledge to keep those who lacked it in a condition of wretched ignorance. Douglass thus tries to clarify that violence represented a tool of the master to separate the enslaved from empowerment tools such as education and religion. For instance, Douglass, through the violent whippings and brutal work imposed by his master, became truly broken and was deprived of any intellectual curiosity and sense of hope. The cruelty that he was exposed to made him become hopeless, in his words, converted from man to a brute. Several instances are evident in the story, where first hand brutality is endured by slaves in plantation life. They were beaten thoroughly and others murdered outright. However, whites who killed slaves faced no consequences, such as in the case where an overseer shot and murdered a slave but his offensive crime was not submitted to legal investigation. Such incidences were committed in the presence of other slaves yet they could not institute a suit or testify against a white master; and thus guilty perpetrators of murder were not shipped for justice, and the community in which they lived uncensored. From the narrative, many slaves did like the life they experienced. They thought it was better to die rather than live in slavery and thus tried to run away from the plantations. However, this could not be possible as patriots were ready to get hold of them everywhere outside the farms. These patrols would catch the escapee slaves and get money reward from the masters after returning them to the plantations, where such salves were punished like being tied on trees and caned thoroughly (Douglass 94). Sometimes their toes were cut so that they could not escape again. Slaves owned neither money nor property. They had to go on foot and walk at night to avoid contact with people, going through dark woods, cross big rivers that were unknown to them. The use of unpaid labor to generate wealth was at the centre of American slavery. Women always returned to work soon after giving birth, occasionally running from the fields at day time to feed their young ones. One large plantation, it was common for kids to be taken care of by one slave woman who was assigned to feed and look after them while their parents worked. When they attained the age of seven or eight years, they were assigned duties such as taking care of master’s young children, taking food to owner’s children at school, running errands, and finally, working in the cotton, tobacco, rice, or corn fields with adults (Douglass 111-112). Conclusion More than a story about slavery and its evils, Douglass’s book touches on the basic themes and issues important to all Americans, including equal rights and social justice, the value of freedom, and condemnation of violence against the weak in society. The book reveals the terrors that Douglas and other slaves faced; the brutality of plantation owners and supervisors, and his traumatic escape to the North. Enslaved people lived with the continuous likelihood of separation through selling one or more members of the family. The slave songs brought in literacy and awareness to the slaves and this was the beginning of the awakening to fight against this inhuman act in public. Work Cited Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. New York: Forgotten Books, 1998. Print. Read More