Frederick_Douglass

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass and His Coping with Slavery In 1619, the first African slave ship to come to America landed at Jamestown, Virginia. Brought by Dutch ships, slaves were imported in small groups at first, and grew in numbers as plantations became common in America. African slaves became an increasingly important element in the English colonies, particularly in the South, where they were fundamental to the economy and society. Although they were considered to be essential, the treatment of those enslaved was appalling. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is the story of one of the many persons bound by the institution of slavery. Unlike most slaves, however, Frederick Douglass not only learned to survive within the slave system, but he also managed to escape to freedom—an extraordinary act that, to this day, testifies to the power of the human spirit. Douglass used multiple strategies to cope with the injustices and violence of slavery both while a captive and as a free man. These strategies included the employment of his education, his physical and mental confidence, his faith in a higher power, and the ability to communicate as an abolitionist. As a young boy, douglass, slavery, slave, system, injustices, slaves, letter, fight, felt, education, against, violence, strategies, spirit, power, must, mental, man, make, life, freedom, free, frederick, faith, continued, condition, after, douglass, wrote, within, while, until, time, succeeded, religious, read, physical, one, number, never, need, necessary, natural, moral, made, learning, later, know, institution, human