The American Slavery Period: A Dark History for Minority Denominations - Essay Sample

Introduction

The American slavery period is among the globally renowned occurrences that mark the United States' historical period. To a large extent, slavery in the United States is a dark history for the minority denominations – largely African Americans, who were persecuted and tortured at the expense of their White masters. To mark the occurrence, a range of literary publications have been authored in the past to shed light on the trepidations that the Blacks underwent through especially in the Southern region of the nation. Fredrick Douglass is among the highly acclaimed authors and a former slave whose narratives provide a comprehensive depiction of the suffering that slaves in the South underwent through and their hopes for freedom.

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Reflection

Fredrick Douglass in the narrative has sufficiently illustrated how slavery and racism subjected to the black population affected the psychological welfare of the slave owners. On this premise, it is true that the corrupt, as well as irresponsible power and influence that the slave owners possessed over their slaves had a substantially detrimental effect over their own moral health. Particularly, that is because slavery was an unnatural phenomenon for all people involved – slaves and owners – and an inhumane act subjected towards a fellow human being, irrespective of their racial or cultural backgrounds.

Citing an example from Douglass’ narrative, he explained how slave owners became tempted to heinous acts such as rape and adultery and in the process fathered children with their female slaves. Subsequently, such unions negatively impacted the unity of the slave owners’ families, particularly, in situations whereby the slave owners were forced to make a moral decision on whether to punish their bastard children or sell them to other slave traders. Also, the slave owners' wives whose husbands created bastard children must have become resentful and cruel to their spouses and their bastard children, which are all factors that could affect the psychological state of the slave owners.

To support the theorized premise above, Douglass in his narrative provides an example of Thomas Auld, who is a slave owner who developed a perverted religious state of living. According to Douglass, Auld decided to turn a blind eye to all the sins that he and his family committed towards their slaves at their home despite himself being a religious person and following a faith that abhorred slavery. In the same context, Douglass references the character Sophia Auld who transformed from being an idealist woman into an evil woman. Collectively, the stated factors can be stated to have degraded the psychological wellness of the slave owners.

Douglass's mental evolution in growing from a boy to a slave and later on from a slave to a man can be explained by citing several instances in his narrative. While he was seven years old, Douglass was taken to work for Hugh Auld in the city to assist him in making ships. According to Douglass, city slaves had a better life and a more sense of freedom compared to plantation slaves. Additionally, while working for Hugh, his wife Sophia Auld started teaching Douglass alphabets, the first step in becoming literate (Douglas 33). Citing that during that period no slaves were allowed to read or write, Douglass felt more empowered compared to other slaves.

The two stated aspects, which are working in the city and having a glimpse of hope of how to read or write marked Douglass’ transformation from being a boy to slave and an elevated hope for freedom in his life. Later on, in Douglass’ narrative, he experiences a hard year, which ends up with him having a physical fight with Edward Cover, a slave owner (Douglas 96). At this point in time, Douglass believes that he has attained a level of maturity as a slave to become a man who can fight for his freedom against the White oppressors. Also, it is this level of maturity as a man that leads Douglass to escape captivity for North America, where he eventually attains his freedom.

Douglass's narrative portrays that there were unit gendered differences subjected to slaves during the slavery period. Attractive female slaves were allowed less laborious chores inside their masters' households at the expense of being sexually assaulted by their masters. Contrary, male slaves were supposed to work in the farmlands and they rarely allowed near their masters' households. Additionally, this scenario can be explained citing the gendered roles between Douglass and his aunt, who was an attractive female house servant. It is also evident that such similarities and differences between male and female slaves were evident in the city, which can be evidenced by comparing the roles of Douglass and his mistress. Subsequently, this presents the unique trauma that female slaves had to undergo through, which was their susceptibility to sexual harassment by their own masters.

There are four occurrences in Douglass’ narrative that can be described as shocking to the audience of his bibliography. The first occurrence was the denial of paternity information like the date of birth and biological parents’ information to the slaves. For instance, Douglass in his narrative stated that he was not sure of his actual age and he did not his biological father, although it was suspected to be his master. The second shocking this was the cruelty of the slave owners in providing accommodation facilities to their captives. For instance, Douglass and his fellow slaves were required to sleep on the floor and with no beddings at all, and also irrespective of their age.

The third shocking phenomenon that can be evidenced in Douglass’ narrative is the physical violence that was subjected towards the slaves by their White masters. For instance, in the narrative, Douglass cites that even at a very tender age, he observed his masters thrashing both male and female prisoners with a whip at their ranch (Douglas 35). Such an occurrence could have been very traumatizing for Douglass at the time since he was just a young boy at the time. The fourth shocking phenomenon that could be acquired from Douglass’ narrative was that the White masters who fathered children with the Black slaves would sell or physically punish their bastard children because they were Black.

Despite being free, Douglass still withholds the names of his slave masters, which is a phenomenon that portrays an aspect of reminiscence to a post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) in him. It is evident from the narrative that Douglass is still tormented by past transgressions that he underwent through during his childhood. Also, in this logic, it is plausible to state that Douglass believes strives to suppress the anger and pain to his tormentors during the slavery period by avoiding the naming of his transgressors. Subsequently, this betrays that Douglass could have PTSD and as such careful in choosing words that might make his past experiences vivid.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Fredrick Douglass is among the highly acclaimed authors and a former slave. Additionally, Douglass' narrative provides a comprehensive depiction of the suffering that slaves in the South underwent through and their hopes for freedom during the slavery period in the United States. The analysis of Douglass' narrative portrays that the slave traders' psychological state was affected by their practice of slavery. Some of the shocking practices evidenced in Douglass' narrative include physical violence towards the slaves and denial of their parentage information as a means to subdue them to servitude. Ultimately, it is evident that slavery had a substantial negative impact on both the slaves and slave owners. As such, it was an inhumane act that needed abolishment.

Works Cited

Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Written by Himself:. Electronic Edition. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Academic Affairs Library, UNC-CH, 1999. Print.