Frederick Douglas vs. Deborah Gray White

Fredrick Douglas vs. Deborah Gray White

Fredrick Douglas and Deborah White wrote some very influential books about the life and times of slavery. They both had a specific angle on which they wrote one about more toward that of the male perspective and the other that of a females perspective. They seem very knowledgeable and do a very good job of showing the lives of slaves. During this essay I will answer a few questions such as; what do these works reveal about the lives, cultures and mental struggles of slaves, what role did fear play between slaves and masters, and some similarities and differences that males and females experienced during this period.

So what were the lives of African American slaves like during slavery? The lives of slaves where pretty rough for instance, “the men and women received, as their monthly allowance of food, eight pounds of pork, or its equivalent in fish, and one bushel of corn meal.” (Douglas 6) So the amount of food that they were taking in was awful. They basically got nothing and had to live off of it and then had to go work in the fields or around the house all day. Then when it came to clothing they really didn’t have anything either. They had basically one shirt, jacket, pants, stockings and shoes, which all had to last a long time before there next chance at clothes. The men worked the fields and the women where the ones who bared children and took care of the house. Women a lot of the time where pregnant which prevented them from doing a lot of work. Something that was big for women was truancy, “For many women truancy became a way of life” (White 75). The women would just disappear not necessarily run away but get away from the plantation. Overall in general it was a harsh lifestyle fo...

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...re very difficult to learn about. Just reading about the beatings and the overall treatment of slaves was awful. They dehumanized the slaves which to me hard to read about because of my faith and to read about these supposed men and women of faith that completely could not care less about the slaves was hard to read. There was no remorse in what they did to the slaves and the treatment they delivered and yet they tried to defend themselves with excuses. To me I was ultimately just surprised by the overall treatment of slaves.

So Fredrick Douglas’s work and Deborah Whites seem to of been very influential. They show what the lives of slaves were like and the culture they lived. They show the mental toll that slaves went through and the fear represented by both sides of slaves and masters. There also came up some similarities and differences of male and female slaves.