Frederick_Douglass

Frederick Douglass Humans exist on three levels, the physical, the mental and the emotional. As Frederick Douglass has outlined in his narrative, slavery profoundly devastates blacks on all these levels. All the reasons that slave holders argued for slavery being good for the slave were all the reasons Douglass used to argue against slavery. Many have argued that slavery is a positive good because the slaves during Douglass’ time would have been better off than black laborers in the North. Slave holders argued that slaves were treated as part of the family and that they were fed, clothed and treated accordingly. However, as well all know this was far too often not the case. In the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass alone there are three instances in which I remember an extremely unethical and immoral degradation of the slaves physical state. “…and scare an hour passed during the day but was marked(a heavy cowskin) by the blood of one of these slaves. The girls seldom passed her without her saying “Move faster, you black gip!” at the same time giving them a blow with the cowskin overtheheador shoulders, often drawing the blood.” (p.11) “Took my little brother by the throat, slaves, slavery, slave, little, treated, physical, people, often, good, douglass, condition, civilized, blacks, black, argued, time, three, state, reasons, present, passed, one, narrative, levels, kind, intellectually, instances, inequalities, holders, frederick, far, family, emotional, during, day, cowskin, blood, wretched, woods, thus, without, well-mannered, weak, virtually, value…they, upon, unethical, under, turning, truth, torture