One of the most disturbing things that struck me when I was reading Frederick Douglass’s Narrative was the way that the slave women were taken advantage of. This seems to be relatively common occurrence during Frederick Douglass’s time, but it is through his narrative that we get a first hand experience of his feelings on the matter. Almost all of the slave narratives before Douglass’s were ghostwritten because it was illegal to teach a slave how to read and write, and once a slave was free, there was hardly any time for learning such matters due to the need to support one’s self as well as one’s family. That’s what makes Douglass’s case so unique- he wrote it himself, without a middle man. I’m sure it was proofread and adjusted as need be, but to be of one’s own pen and literary technique is profound at this time.
It is interesting to me that although Frederick Douglass was half white and half black, he was only seen as black. I understand that the laws at the time stated that if a person’s ancestry was only one eighth black, they were still considered entirely black, but this seems strange and foreign to be. It is simply people seeing only what they want to see so they can elevate themselves to a higher standing. But in any case, to see how Frederick Douglas came to be is what disturbs me. Slaves were treated like animals and given so few rights that they seemed so separated from the white race, yet these slave owners saw them as objects of sex. The proof is in the children, as Douglass states that “the slaveholder, in cases not a few, sustains to his slaves the double relation of master and father” (Baym 2073). He is a product of this, and instead of living a free life like his siblings, he was a slave. He addresses this point when he talks about why a master must sell his children, because the master must “stand by and see one white son tie up his brother, of but a few shades darker complexion than himself, and ply the gory lash to his naked back” (Baym 2073). In this statement,
Douglass also talks about when he first saw a slave being beat by the master. He says that the slave was a female that had been visiting a slave from another plantation during the night. Douglass discusses that when she was called upon by the master and she wasn’t there, he decided to beat her. Douglass writes, “Had [the master] been a man of pure morals himself, he might have been thought interested in protecting the innocence of my aunt; but those who knew him will not suspect him of any such virtue” (Baym 2074). Douglass had just stated in the previous paragraph the woman’s “graceful proportions” and “personal appearance”, so it is implied that the master was jealous because he was sleeping with the girl. So what did he do? He beat her.
These types of stories were common during this time, but the children that were products of this were ignored and made slaves instead of recognized as people, and the stories could not be shared because the slaves would be punished if they told anyone and they could not write them down to share with other people. Therefore, Frederick Douglass was instrumental in sharing these stories with people that would otherwise have never known, which in turn drummed up support for the end of slavery and its evils.
6 comments:
The matter of slaves often being the children of their masters is one that has bothered me every time I've ever learned about slavery throughout my academic career. As if it wasn't bad enough to be buying and selling people in the first place, masters were frequently selling and beating their own children. The sad thing is that most masters refused to acknowledge those children as their own, showing the extent to which the white community saw anyone darker as inferior or not even human. A bad situation all around, if you ask me.
This is completely unjust. This writing particularly got me riled up because it's not just racism here, it's feminism as well. As great as the founding forefathers of America were, I think what we really needed were a few strong women to get this country going.
Who is this plantation owner to be able to beat a woman because he's jealous that he's not sleeping with her?
The nonacknowledgement of his own son simply because the man didn't have enough self control not to sleep with his own 'property' is disgusting to me. In this story, I am more sorry for the poor women who would have had to comply with their owners' lust than I am for the work that they had to do. Either way, dignity of the human being needed some serious redefinition.
Plantation masters using their female slaves as objects of sex was one of the gravest injustices during slavery. Although Douglas was a product of this injustice, he did not let this bring him down. He accepts his past and circumstances and pushes past his obstacles. By teaching himself how to read, he is able to escape and attain freedom.
You brought up a lot of really interesting issues--slavery was unbelievably unjust no matter how it is looked at. The more information we find out about it, the more we become aware of what a completely ridiculous institution it truly was. While this information is (somewhat) common knowledge to us, to many people at the time, it would have been new, startling information.
Wow! I am glad you wrote about this. You are right! Females were used like animals for breeding purposes. Malcolm X could identify with Frederick Douglass. When I read slaves narratives, I understand Malcolm’s rage. I enjoy reading what you posted. It helps me to see more than just slavery.
I know that one of the unique things about Douglass's is the fact that he wrote it himself. This was a huge accomplishment for him given the lack of education available to him. However, would you consider the other slave narratives uncredible because they did not write them themselves? Or do you think that the other narratives do represent some things accurately but are not completely representative?
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