Frederick Douglass Impact Essay

The Impact of Frederick Douglas

One of the most important African American public figures of the nineteenth century was Frederick Douglass. In The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas he was one of the few to makes several points about the mistreatment of African Americans during this time. One was how they would enslave a person to keep them from learning. Slaves were treated worse than they treated the livestock. The slave masters were Christians and tried to justify their actions. The slave masters deprived men to the point where they hated the idea of freedom.
Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born in the year of 1818. He knew very little about his mother. He never met his father. For all he knew he father was a white man;

Frederick Douglass was sent to Thomas Auld plantation to be tamed. That did not work the way they had planned. Douglass took every chance he could to disobey the master no matter how cruel he was to him. Frederick Douglas slave owner did not want him learning to read or write. He believed that with knowledge he would gain power. He also believed as long as he remained ignorant he could maintain control of him. He knew if he gained knowledge he would soon want to be free. The slave master’s wife tried to teach him how to read. This enraged the master. He believed teaching him to read would only make him unmanageable. If you’re ignorant to what is going on in the world your mind is easier to enslave. In 1838 Frederick Douglass finally managed to escape. He did not initially share how he escaped to protect others from suffering. After slavery was over he discussed how he dressed up as a sailor to escape. He even got his hands on the identification papers of a black seaman that was already

The way they talked to the slaves would be enough to have a person arrested today. The false imprisonment, neglect, assault, rape, battery and kidnapping are just a few of the myriad of illegalities slaves suffered through. The slave masters would beat the slaves when they didn’t obey the rules. Sometimes Douglass witnessed people beaten unconscious for working too slow. The best slaves were usually men because they could handle a bigger work load. The male slaves were also quicker than most of the women. The women However, were easier to control. The males were somewhat, more difficult because there was only so much disrespect a man could take. They did not know that they should be treated as equals but they had a feeling that there were in fact being