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4.14 AVERAGE
4.14 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
adventurous
dark
informative
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
Do yourself a favor and read this book. It’s only 128 pages, and it’s one of the most powerful and important works of American literature that you’ve probably never read. It was very instrumental in the abolitionist movement that eventually led to the US Civil War and the eradication of slavery. It should be required high school reading even though it’s harsh, violent, and contains coarse language--really BECAUSE it’s harsh, violent, and contains coarse language.
Sometimes history needs to be experienced through the eyes of those who lived through it in order to truly understand it. The slavery that existed in the United States was brutal and demeaning. Slavery brought out the very worst and base of human instincts in slave owners. Slaves were regularly physically abused, starved, made to endure extreme temperatures with inadequate clothing, made to work long hours without enough rest or food (even when they were sick), sexually exploited, raped, and even murdered by their masters. Murder usually went unpunished if it were committed against a slave.
You hear rumors of kind slave owners, but after reading this, I have my doubts as to the existence of such a group of people. Perhaps this rumor exists because a slave would always reply that they were treated well by their master if asked because replying in the negative would be cause for a beating.
When Frederick Douglass was a child, he was sold to become the first slave of a young couple. At first, the wife was very kind to him and even began to teach him to read. “But, alas! this kind heart had but a short time to remain such.” When her husband found out she was teaching her slave to read, he chided her, “"if you teach that [slave] how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy." Upon taking this conversation to heart and experiencing “[t]he fatal poison of irresponsible power” as a slave owner, Douglass says that her “cheerful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage; that voice, made all of sweet accord, changed to one of harsh and horrid discord; and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon.” It’s the results of the Standford Prison Experiment seen in action.
This conversation was the turning point not only to turn a kind mistress into a cruel one, but it also sparked Douglass’ desire for freedom. He says that “These words sank deep into my heart, stirred up sentiments within that lay slumbering, and called into existence an entirely new train of thought. It was a new and special revelation, explaining dark and mysterious things, with which my youthful understanding had struggled, but struggled in vain. I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty—to wit, the white man's power to enslave the black man.” Thereafter, he was convinced that he needed to learn to read more than anything else. He would borrow his owners’ child’s copy books and convince or trick neighborhood boys into teaching him to read and write until he could. True to his master’s prediction, he became considerably discontented and unhappy within the confines of slavery.
Douglass says that he found the worst slave owner to be a religious slave owner. When one of his masters returned from a religious revival, Douglass expected him to be kinder and perhaps even free him. However, instead, his master found more Biblical justification for being a cruel taskmaster within Christianity than without. Douglass found the “Christianity of this land” and the “Christianity of Christ” to be very different religions. He says, “I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity.” The Appendix to Douglass’ narrative is a powerful condemnation of “the Christianity of this land” in respect to their justifications for and support of slavery:
We’ve come a long way in this nation. Slavery is eradicated, but the post-slave generations still experience discrimination for the color of their skin and their cultural heritage. And I can say the same thing of the difference today between the “pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ” and the Christianity that doesn’t feed the poor (anti-homeless, anti-welfare, anti-taxes), help the sick (anti-healthcare, anti-medicaid, anti-medicare), or love their neighbor as themselves (anti-immigrant, anti-refugee, anti-other-sexual, prejudicial). It’s different, but it’s the same. Hate, mistreating your fellow human beings, and not treating them as human is the same no matter how you label it or institute it. Prisons and detention centers in the USA are currently full of African Americans and immigrants in the millions. America’s hands are far from clean even now.
Sometimes history needs to be experienced through the eyes of those who lived through it in order to truly understand it. The slavery that existed in the United States was brutal and demeaning. Slavery brought out the very worst and base of human instincts in slave owners. Slaves were regularly physically abused, starved, made to endure extreme temperatures with inadequate clothing, made to work long hours without enough rest or food (even when they were sick), sexually exploited, raped, and even murdered by their masters. Murder usually went unpunished if it were committed against a slave.
You hear rumors of kind slave owners, but after reading this, I have my doubts as to the existence of such a group of people. Perhaps this rumor exists because a slave would always reply that they were treated well by their master if asked because replying in the negative would be cause for a beating.
When Frederick Douglass was a child, he was sold to become the first slave of a young couple. At first, the wife was very kind to him and even began to teach him to read. “But, alas! this kind heart had but a short time to remain such.” When her husband found out she was teaching her slave to read, he chided her, “"if you teach that [slave] how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy." Upon taking this conversation to heart and experiencing “[t]he fatal poison of irresponsible power” as a slave owner, Douglass says that her “cheerful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage; that voice, made all of sweet accord, changed to one of harsh and horrid discord; and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon.” It’s the results of the Standford Prison Experiment seen in action.
This conversation was the turning point not only to turn a kind mistress into a cruel one, but it also sparked Douglass’ desire for freedom. He says that “These words sank deep into my heart, stirred up sentiments within that lay slumbering, and called into existence an entirely new train of thought. It was a new and special revelation, explaining dark and mysterious things, with which my youthful understanding had struggled, but struggled in vain. I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty—to wit, the white man's power to enslave the black man.” Thereafter, he was convinced that he needed to learn to read more than anything else. He would borrow his owners’ child’s copy books and convince or trick neighborhood boys into teaching him to read and write until he could. True to his master’s prediction, he became considerably discontented and unhappy within the confines of slavery.
Douglass says that he found the worst slave owner to be a religious slave owner. When one of his masters returned from a religious revival, Douglass expected him to be kinder and perhaps even free him. However, instead, his master found more Biblical justification for being a cruel taskmaster within Christianity than without. Douglass found the “Christianity of this land” and the “Christianity of Christ” to be very different religions. He says, “I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity.” The Appendix to Douglass’ narrative is a powerful condemnation of “the Christianity of this land” in respect to their justifications for and support of slavery:
We have men-stealers for ministers, women-whippers for missionaries, and cradle-plunderers for church members. The man who wields the blood-clotted cowskin during the week fills the pulpit on Sunday, and claims to be a minister of the meek and lowly Jesus. The man who robs me of my earnings at the end of each week meets me as a class-leader on Sunday morning, to show me the way of life, and the path of salvation. He who sells my sister, for purposes of prostitution, stands forth as the pious advocate of purity. He who proclaims it a religious duty to read the Bible denies me the right of learning to read the name of the God who made me. He who is the religious advocate of marriage robs whole millions of its sacred influence, and leaves them to the ravages of wholesale pollution. The warm defender of the sacredness of the family relation is the same that scatters whole families,—sundering husbands and wives, parents and children, sisters and brothers,—leaving the hut vacant, and the hearth desolate. We see the thief preaching against theft, and the adulterer against adultery. We have men sold to build churches, women sold to support the gospel, and babes sold to purchase Bibles for the Poor Heathen! All For The Glory Of God And The Good Of Souls! The slave auctioneer's bell and the church-going bell chime in with each other, and the bitter cries of the heart-broken slave are drowned in the religious shouts of his pious master. Revivals of religion and revivals in the slave-trade go hand in hand together. The slave prison and the church stand near each other. The clanking of fetters and the rattling of chains in the prison, and the pious psalm and solemn prayer in the church, may be heard at the same time. The dealers in the bodies and souls of men erect their stand in the presence of the pulpit, and they mutually help each other. The dealer gives his blood-stained gold to support the pulpit, and the pulpit, in return, covers his infernal business with the garb of Christianity.
We’ve come a long way in this nation. Slavery is eradicated, but the post-slave generations still experience discrimination for the color of their skin and their cultural heritage. And I can say the same thing of the difference today between the “pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ” and the Christianity that doesn’t feed the poor (anti-homeless, anti-welfare, anti-taxes), help the sick (anti-healthcare, anti-medicaid, anti-medicare), or love their neighbor as themselves (anti-immigrant, anti-refugee, anti-other-sexual, prejudicial). It’s different, but it’s the same. Hate, mistreating your fellow human beings, and not treating them as human is the same no matter how you label it or institute it. Prisons and detention centers in the USA are currently full of African Americans and immigrants in the millions. America’s hands are far from clean even now.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
One of those stories that's remarkable and heartbreaking at the same time.
Still a wonderful read, even when you are forced to read a bunch of emancipation narratives all at the same time thanks to an English degree. I read this again in a graduate program and it lost none of its power.