Before the onset of the American civil war, the issue of slavery and racial treatment of African –Americans and other non-White or Native Americans was at its long time high. However, not many people during this time were aware of the plight of the African Black Americans during this time. It is due to this that Frederick Douglas wrote a narrative describing his experience as an American slave. The thesis of this paper is that Frederick Douglas’ narrative about slavery and the subsequent events that led to the American civil war represent important events in the American history. This is because the issues of slavery was at the heart of the American civil war of 1861 to 1865, being the most devastating wars ever fought in American history. Given that the war ended slavery; it is argued that Frederick Douglas’ encounters with and later narrative of his experience as an American slave played an important role in bringing about the end of the slavery in the United States.
The document has been written by Frederick Douglas himself representing the period between 1835 and 1895. The intended audience of this document probably is the American public interested the history and experience of slaves in America. It may also have been intended for the policy makers in America to do something about slavery.
The central issue addressed by the author in this document is the issue of the treatment of slaves in America. In this narrative, Douglas argues that race and religion were being used during his time to justify slavery. He narrates how slaves were being mistreated and sometimes killed. He also describes his relationship with other people like Edward Covey, Sophia Auld and Gore. The author also describes how African Americans were mistreated throughout the period like being forced to work in plantations without pay and in most cases being beaten and treated like animals. Moreover, Douglas describes how slaves in America during this period or era were treated as lesser human beings and the feelings among most slaves that one day they will be free. Furthermore, Douglas in his narrative gives a description of how the American society was institutionalized to encourage slavery in all its forms. The main issue was whether slaves could be regarded as property and hence could be sold, despite being human beings. The concept of human rights or civil liberties was alien to America during this time. It was until the civil rights movement period that the idea of civil rights and individual freedoms was born. During Douglas’s time, slaves were considered as having no rights at all. The Slave owners in the Southern States, Douglas recalls in his narrative, insisted on slave possession and slave trade that was thriving within these states. Moreover, Douglas describes how slaves were being looked down upon by their slave owners and were denied food at times. According to Douglas, it is this mistreatment of slaves and the racial discrimination against the Black Americans that were partly to blame for the American civil war. During the American civil war of 1861 and 1865, the Black Americans rose against the use of human beings as slaves and the historical injustices that were being meted out against the Black Americans. Douglas claims that he felt very bitter about the way American slaves were being treated and felt very strongly about initiating a change to ensure that the practice was terminated. He argues that Black Americans would be threatened with death penalty if they questioned the legitimacy of slavery and slave trade. He also argues that religion in the southern states was being used negatively to promote this horrible practice. He promised himself to continue writing about slavery and slave trade in order to help people and the government to see the horrific nature of this practice and do something to stop it. His efforts seemed to have borne fruit when he was able to write to the general American population about the effects of slavery in The Liberator, a magazine in New Bedford.
What the document tells us about this slavery era is that slavery during this era was a normal and common practice in the US. As a matter of fact, according to Douglas, slavery during this period of time was far much worse than during the colonial period under the British. The American slaves underwent the most horrifying and harrowing experiences in the hands of their White counterparts. Other Native Americans such s Indians and Latinos in the South were racially and ethnically segregated during this era, hence indicating just how much devastating the impacts of slavery were. This document also tells us that slavery during this era later led to hostility among the American slaves, a feeling of animosity that stirred up and later led to the worst war in the American history- the American Civil War- which represented a moment for the anti-slave advocates and abolitionists like Douglas to make clear their wish to end slavery and slave trade in America.
Conclusion
Bibliography
Douglas, Frederick. Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglas, an American slave written by himself. New York: Baines & Noble Classics, (1945). < antislavery.eserver.org/narratives/narrativeofthelife/narrativeofthelife.pdf/view>.
