Essay Example on Frederick Douglass: Impact on US History Amidst Major Events

Introduction

The current United States of America has got a memorable historical event that will never be erased. Some of the significant past events include considerable recession period, World wars, the slave trade and abolition movement, 1964 Civil Right war. Currently, COVID-19 cases and deaths are paving its ways into American history in present days. The primary purpose of this essay is to analyze and synthesize the narrative of the life of Fredrick Douglass and its significance to American history based on historical events during the time it was written and highlighting some of the most exciting things from the article.

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Slavery Life Experience and Family Connection

The narrative is an 1845 memoir and autobiography written by Fredrick Douglass explaining his entire life experience and feelings he had while in Lynn, Massachusetts. The major theme of this narrative is the slavery suffering under the reign of white masters who had no mercy on the black family.

The most interest things noted from the narrative is how Fredrick Douglass's narrative portrays slavery and its impacts people understanding of family, kinship, and childhood connections. It shows the reason why the African American citizen lived under abject poverty with poor health conditions during early 19th century, and why the southern part of American where the black family resided in small rural towns such as Mississippi, Birmingham, Detroit, Atlanta, and Baltimore had experienced low economic growth and development compared to Northern part of America.

The narrative of the life and experience of Fredrick Douglass as an American slave is a credible and insightful source that narrates the life experience of the slaves and provide vital information regarding the American history during the time of slave trade and the American abolition movement. The article is the most famous narrative written by former slavery victims. In factual detail, the in-depth narrative information regarding the influence of Fredrick Douglass as activism towards the American abolition movement which is one of the most significant events in American history during early 19th century in the U.S.

According to Douglass's Narrative, some of the challenges slave children experienced such as lack of knowing their real birthday since their parent never had time to socialize with them and most of them were taken into slavery from an early age (3). For instance, Fredrick Douglass had no precise information regarding his birthday, therefore, he chose February 14, 1818, as his birth, of which his mother died when he was the age of seven years (1). It is a clear indication that the slaves' family had little or even no connection with the family. Besides, the author has no information regarding his father, and he always thought that his father could be a white man most properly, his master. At this age, the narrator witnessed the brutality of a white man whipping his aunt Hester ruthlessly. He states the harmful interactions existed between slaves and their respective holders. The slaves lived in fear which prevented them from expressing and telling the truth. According to Fredrick, "No age nor sex finds any favor" and worked under harsh environment, sometimes with no personal protections such as clothing and shoes (9).

As a slave, that Fredrick Douglass faced from his masters and allegations that most of the Black people used to refer to him before revealing his real and inmost feeling towards slavery. Blacks were not valued and recognize as humans but considered as property just like livestock and any other dammed animal in the field of the white colonies.

When the narrator moved to Maryland, it was a relief to him to get out of slavery bondage. He thought of having a better quality of life and live like human rather than being treated as dammed animals. At first, he felt that his new mistress, Mrs Auld Sophia, was a kind and right person compared to his former slaves' master, but eventually, she showed her real character. The narrator tried to learn the alphabet and how to pronounce the word with the help of Mrs Sophia, but Mr Auld was firmly against slaves' education. Therefore, the narrative shows how Black American was deprived of acquisition to essential services such as education, food and medical services. The new skills he acquired after slight exposure to learning enlightened him and enabled him to understand and get the deeper meaning of "abolition" and started developing ideas of how he should escape to the north. The narrative in these chapters shows the reason my master Auld was against the idea of exposing education to the Black community in the United States.

As stated earlier, there was no difference between the Black people and livestock; it made Douglass hate slavery based on how people were treated. The narrator's master died, and his sons started to scramble for the position, under his new master, Mr Covey, who used to whip his daily basis. As the situation becomes worse, he escaped ton the New Bedford living his fiancee working for the master. It is at this time where he manages to attend the anti-slavery movement where he got the chance to let him understand he one of them.

Significance of the Narrative

The narrative of Fredrick Douglass played a significant role in the contemporary Black Americans author's creativity and expressions through writings. There is a lot of mobilization of the first chapter in various texts that have become foundation texts on contemporary black studies. In Mama's baby article by Hortense Spillers, maybe father's grammar books of an American during 1987. The book's domination scenes: slaves, self-making, and fear in America by nineteen century published in 1997 and the aesthetics of the black radical traditions by Fred Moten in his book "In the Break" that was published in 2003. Each of these authors is satisfied with the work of Douglass. It has caused each author to have diverse ways of reproducing and revisiting narratives resulting from an enslaved body. These various approaches on Douglass are, however, shown in their different ways of exploring conditions where objects and subject positions of an enslaved organization are formed and or troubled.

The narratives of Spiller mobilize Douglass' Description of his siblings early. His parting from their mother and consequently becoming strange to each other, to articulate how the syntax of partiality. To be specific "kinship" which has a historical relationship that is specific to the objective forming of chattel slavery has caused a denial of bond from the family and the genetic links among the enslaved. The act of renunciation is among the strategies used to enforce the subjugated position as an object and property. Spiller structures narrative of Douglass as writing that still has the aptitude of the astonishing modern reader, although often returned to, with every returning to this act of enslaved loss and grief.

Through outlining the past condition of slavery act through captivity where human beings are defined as absence from a subject situation. Revisiting of Douglass narratives by Spiller suggests that these efforts are critical mechanisms of her declaration that orders an individual to speak a true word conserving life.

The engagement of Fred Moten's with Narratives resulting from the life of Fredrick Douglass echoes Spillers declaration that "revision that comes from every writing makes the discovery all over again". It is a critical parameter in the analytical parameter by Moten and the engagement ways of Hartman's work which is blackness exploration as a framework position via which objects and human are performed. The temptation in moving above object position and violence of Aunt Hester would be the fastest move towards these things. The framework of blackness showing according to Moten's visitation of Douglass story discovers the performance of blacks might trouble convection thoughtful of bias and personal speech.

Works Cited

Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Dreamscape Media, LLC, 2019. https://yourknow.com/uploads/books/5dab971d83ab1.pdf

Moten, Fred. In the Break: The aesthetics of the black radical tradition. U of Minnesota Press, 2003.https://cpbusw2.wpmucdn.com/campuspress.yale.edu/dist/1/2391/files/2018/03/Moten-In-the-Break-11j1uox.pdf

Spillers, Hortense J. "Mama's baby, papa's maybe: An American grammar book." diacritics 17, no. 2 (1987): 65-81. https://www.jstor.org/stable/464747