Essay on Frederick Douglass

Leonardo Martinez

13 March 2013

“In thinking of America, I sometimes find myself admiring her bright blue sky-her grand old woods-her fertile fields-her beautiful rivers-her mighty lakes and star-crowned mountains. But my rapture is soon checked when I remember that all is cursed with the infernal spirit of slave-holding and wrong; When I remember that with the waters of her noblest rivers, the tears of my brethren are borne to the ocean, disregarded and forgotten; That her most fertile fields drink daily of the warm blood of my outraged sisters, I am filled with unutterable loathing.” Frederick Douglass, January 1st 1846

Slavery Through the years
The history of slavery in the U.S. is completely brutal and crucial for multiple reasons. Many people were against slavery, they felt it was a threat to their general values and interest. Frederick Douglass is a perfect example that fits into all these categories. He was a slave who was treated horribly. In order to make a change, he stood up for himself. As multiple slaves followed his track, society started taking acknowledgement. Now days, there aren’t slaves in the United States. It is completely illegal! Things have changed so much that if you want someone to work for you, you have to pay them. Each and every human being has rights, no matter if your black, white, Asian, Mexican etc. the world we live in today is against slavery but back then it was completely different. Not everybody had rights. That was mostly slaves of course; they had to obey their so called “owners.” Owners as slave holders. There weren’t just black slaves; there were also white and other cultures. Punishment was extremely brutal, every time slaves misunderstood something, did not obey their owner, messed up, or just didn’t listen they would got beaten until they started bleeding. People these days who are struggling now compare their struggle to that slaves (immigrants work long hours and get paid very little so they offer free work). Slavery has shaped the world we have now in several ways including our perspective on human rights. It forms our daily politics because slavery was the control of a person as property. It influences the way we deal with human trafficking helps us value freedom, justice and equality. It is now illegal to own a person and use them unwillingly. Slavery influenced the world politically, socially and economically. In the book, “The Narrative of Frederick Douglass life” Frederick Douglass tells us all about his experience throughout those years how his life along with other slaves was full of violence. Frederick Douglass was a man who lived and survived slavery for more than eight years. They treated slaves like animals! Apparently slaves were always wrong, they couldn’t win an argument. Their obligation was to listen and do as they were told, follow orders all day. This book also tells how an overseer named Mr. Gore killed a slave not obeying him. Douglass says, “his horrid crime was not even submitted to judicial investigation. It was committed in the presence of slaves and they of course couldn’t neither institute a suit, nor testify him.” Clearly it wasn’t that big of a deal back then if overseers killed slaves. They weren’t punished. Obviously they hated killing slaves; it was their last option because the more slaves they had the more money they gained. As Douglass grows in the book, he learns to do many things. He once had an owner that taught him how to read as well as the alphabet. He finds throughout the time that reading can help him escape slavery. One sad day, they changed him to another farm where he had this new, vicious owner, Mr. Covey. He never liked Douglass he made him do hard jobs and oh god if he messed up it was the end of the world. One day, Douglass unintentionally messed up while working in the farm, and before he could explain what happened, he felt his back full of blood from the beat Mr. Covey gave him. One day,

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