American History

This Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave depicts a lot that the slaves had to go through and the kind of life they led. This is about the violence against slaves and how it affected there lives. It could be narrowed down that most of the slaves were ignorant and oblivious. The slave masters promoted this because it benefited them for the slaves not to know there rights. A good example of the ignorance was that the slaves did not know there own age. To add salt to injury, even those who knew had no proof of record. The much they could do was to associate their age with a certain period of time or a season for example harvest-time or spring-time. The slaves were not allowed to make enquires concerning this matter to their masters. Some slaves knew their heritage and both parents but unfortunately for some, that information was not made known. In Frederick Douglass case, he knew who his mother was and her name was Harriet Bailey but he had no idea who his father was. This could be because his father was a white man and then there were no open relations with the black community. And he could not get this information from his mother because in Maryland, there was a custom of separating the children from their mother at very young age (Douglass 10).

This was a high level of cruelty and the purpose was not made known but it resulted to the child not having affection for the mother and vice versa. This made sure that the slaves grew up with no family and human attachments. Frederick Douglass was not allowed to see his mother through her illness neither was he allowed going for the funeral and burial celebration. Basically the slaves had no right even to have a relationship with their family members. In most cases like that of Frederick Douglass, it had been whispered that the master might had been his father. This did not bring any favor but it was known that the children befell the same fate as their mothers. The mistress of the home always held the slaves in contempt. In most cases these children of the master born of slaves were sold to other human flesh mongers as they were known. This may seem harsh now but it was the better evil because otherwise, the master had to beat his own children or allow his white children to whip their half-brothers and sisters.

A new class of slaves came up due to the relations the masters had with the women slaves. They out rightly had a lighter complexion than the original slaves or the older generation but not as light as the white people. It was feared with the rise of this new class of slaves, there would be the downfall of slavery (Douglass 14).
Cruelty was not only from the masters but the overseers too who were given authority over the slaves. If the overseers went over board the master would punish them but that was on very rare occasions because it would have taken a high level of barbarity to get the masters attention. Most of the overseers partook in cutting and slashing womens heads and the most common method of punishment was whipping. This was done on a bare back till the slaves were literally covered in their own blood. And the masters had no mercy it was not reparation but a brutal beating, because where it bled most the master would strike most. The whips were often made of cows skin.

One master could own as many as three to four hundred slaves on his plantation depending on how large it was. This was the case with Colonel Lloyd who was Frederick Douglasss master for a certain period of time. If a slave was convicted of any misbehavior they were severely whipped and put on board and taken to Baltimore and then re-sold through a slave trade as a forewarning to other slaves. The living conditions for the slaves were pathetic. Though they were given allowances of food, the children of slaves had no shoes, jackets or trousers given to them. It was not abnormal to see children of seven to tens years of age, of both sexes walking around naked all through out the year (Douglass 15).

Men and women slaves were treated the same and there were no favors or kindness shown to women out of gender affiliation. The women were beaten the same as the men using the same whip made from cows skin. Frederick Douglass witnessed his aunt whipped by her master after he had stripped her named to her waist. He tied her hand and hanged her so that so that her hands were stretched out straight and she stood by her toes. Frederick Douglass describes that incidence as his first encounter with the cruelty that the masters showed to the slaves. He beat her till she soaked in her blood and could not cry anymore. When it came to the field work, all were expected to be at the field, man or women at their post (Douglass 22). The age of the slaves did not matter either. Masters and overseers seemed to take pleasure in the agony of the slaves and their own barbarity.

Slavery had a very negative and long lasting effect on the slaves than even after they no longer were slaves the memories of the ordeal haunted them. As Frederick Douglass wrote about the songs that the slaves used to sing he expressed a feeling of depression and a strong hatred towards the art of slavery, at the same time he sympathized with those were still enslaved and in chains. There was a psychological effect on the slaves as he expresses that he had never expresses his joy about anything. All the slaves were habituated to singing so as to drown their sorrow. It was some how controversial of how the masters treated the slaves and what they expected them to be capable of. Slaves were considered dumb and not intelligent at all but the masters expected them to run their farms and businesses without fail. They always looked for fault in order to beat them and humiliate them. When the masters and overseers spoke, the slaves were supposed to stand, listen as well as tremble (Douglass 45).

Slaves were not allowed to speak their mind. For instance one slave was asked of his conditions and feeling towards his master. His honest answer which was that they were overworked and under fed got him sold out in a slave trade never to be with his family and friends. They were supposed to express gratification and say they there masters were kind to them. The masters were known to send spies among the slaves so they suppressed the truth rather than facing the cost of telling it.  Some times the overseers went to extremes to taking the lives of the slaves without any remorse or facing any judgment. There was an incidence where the slave refused to be beaten and the overseer threatened to shoot him and went on to fulfill his threat. The overseer did not face any charges because none of the slaves would say anything. It was deemed that killing a slave or a colored man or woman in Maryland was not considered a crime not by the community or the courts. There were very many incidences of slaves disappearing or being killed and nothing was done about it. They bragged sometimes that if they all took to those measures of killing the slaves would be rid of the black community.

Slavery was different in accordance to the town. The south was said to have the harshest white community unlike the rest of the towns. Frederick Douglass explained how he moved from Maryland to Baltimore and how the experience was so different. He was still a slave but his mistress was kind enough to smile at him the first time he walked in (Douglass 30).