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Essay on black abolitionists during the civil war
Black abolitionist in the 1800's
Black abolitionist in the 1800's
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Edward Covey is one of the meanest slave holders. In many situations, bad slaves are sent with Mr. Covey in hope of complete change of attitude in the slaves. Mr. Covey often uses manipulation and devious methods to induce fear within the slaves. Frederick has just previously abandoned his Master’s home, Mr.Covey. He aspired to seek refuge with a retired slave but instead was told to return to Mr. Coveys’ plantation. Douglass was told to return back but this time with a piece of the woods in his pocket, a root. This root piece is to always be on the right side of himself (Douglass 30). It was said to offer him protection from any white man and his whip. Mr. Douglass thought this was a silly idea and that it was crazy to think a plant would
protect him from the evil Mr. Covey. He was convinced that it wouldn't do any harm to him if it did not serve as protection. Basically, there was nothing to lose. In my opinion, the root was simply given to him to allow him hope. Although at first he was not persuaded by the root bringing him any kind of protection, but after the encounter with Mr. Covey he felt more powerful. This was one of the many major parts in the book for me. In the book, Frederick stated “This battle with Mr. Covey was the turning-point in my career as a slave.” (Douglass 31). After the long 2 hour brawl between the two the outcome for Douglass seemed to be more powerful than either of them during the fight, never again did another white man attempt to lay his hand on Frederick unless they had a death wish. This attributed a large amount of confidence to Frederick and gave him hope of a brighter future.
In The book Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Douglass writes about how a slavemaster Mr.Covey attacks one of his slaves with a long rope catching him by his legs for no reason. This shows unpredictable his slave master is when he decided to try and punish him for whatever reason he think is a good one. Because of this, slaves were held back and lived in fear all the time. We see, though, that Douglass decides to take control of his life. Douglass want the reader to understand the control that fear had and admire the willingness of slaves to take chances for their freedom.
One - The power relations between Covey and Douglass are inherently dissimilar to those between the typical black and typical white of the time period. As Douglass writes, “Mr. Covey was a poor man, a farm-renter. He rented the place upon which he lived, as also the hands with which he tilled it” (Norton Anthology of African American Literature, 420). Because “the enslavement of the Negro determined the position of the poor whites in the old South,” a white without any slaves or land to his name was more akin to an enslaved black than to a wealthy plantation owner in terms of social standing. This status, added to the fact that “the poor whites understood that slavery was responsible for their hopeless economic condition,” contributed to a
Although a practice not viewed positively by all, slavery, a least in this document, could be justified in the eyes of slavers.
Through his disgusting state of once being a slave, Douglass uses figurative language to express his thoughts and emotions of being a slave, and becoming free. Douglass expresses himself in the first paragraph as “ a man transformed into a brute” as a result of Mr Covey “succeeded in breaking me[him].” Douglass defines himself as an animal through his explicitly harsh word choice, and seems to be degrades him from being a human being, who deserves desires and thoughts of his own. In contrast of this,
Within the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave” Douglass discusses the deplorable conditions in which he and his fellow slaves suffered from. While on Colonel Lloyd’s plantation, slaves were given a “monthly allowance of eight pounds of pork and one bushel of corn” (Douglass 224). Their annual clothing rations weren’t any better; considering the type of field work they did, what little clothing they were given quickly deteriorated. The lack of food and clothing matched the terrible living conditions. After working on the field all day, with very little rest the night before, they must sleep on the hard uncomfortably cramped floor with only a single blanket as protection from the cold. Coupled with the overseer’s irresponsible and abusive use of power, it is astonishing how three to four hundred slaves did not rebel. Slave-owners recognized that in able to restrict and control slaves more than physical violence was needed. Therefore in able to mold slaves into the submissive and subservient property they desired, slave-owners manipulated them by twisting religion, instilling fear, breaking familial ties, making them dependent, providing them with an incorrect view of freedom, as well as refusing them education.
Frederick Douglass quickly noticed if he wanted a chance of being free he needed to do something about it. He took action and began to fight back against his master. When Mr. Covey tried to whip him, Douglass refused to let him. Mr. Covey wouldn’t tolerate this kind of behavior. This resulted in a fight between the two. This confrontation concluded with Frederick winning.. Mr. Covey wanted to keep his reputation of being a slave breaker so he let Douglass go and never said a word about it again. Frederick was also never whipped again after the fight “it rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood” (pg 43). The use of metaphors comparing the feelings of freedom to embers rekindling deepens the reader's understanding and creates a feeling of sensory to help the reader experience the words better. This small feeling of freedom and manhood only made him want it more. After Douglass was accused of trying to run away, he was sent to jail. In this prison, his thoughts were overwhelming. He was alone and thought the possibility of freedom was gone. Yet being the mental hero he was he still desired freedom “it was now left to my fate. I was all alone, and within the walls of a stone prison” (pg 55). Being imprisoned did not stop him at all. It took Douglass mental and physical heroism to overcome all of the obstacles in his life. Without his courage and
As a child in elementary and high school, I was taught that President Abraham Lincoln was the reason that African slaves were freed from slavery. My teachers did not provide much more information than that. For an African American student, I should have received further historical information than that about my ancestors. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity or desire to research slavery on my own until college. And with my eagerness and thirst for more answers concerning my African American history, I set out to console my spirit, knowledge, and self-awareness of my ancestors’ history. I received the answers that my brain, mind, and soul need. Although Abraham Lincoln signed the 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution, courageous African American slaves were the real heroes and motivation of the movement.
... trickery. When his term with Mr. Edward Covey ends on 25 December 1833, Douglass is appalled by the slaveholders forcing the slaves to drink wine and whiskey, since it was “a disgrace not to get drunk on Christmas” (44) and, when the Christmas holidays end, the slaves, who the slaveholder “cheats… with a dose of vicious dissipation, artfully labelled… liberty,” (45) is willing to go back to work, choosing to rather be “slaves to man as to rum.” While the slaveholders capitalizes on the slave’s ignorance, Douglass appeals to pathos, revealing the disgrace and detestation of the course of action for the “cunning slaveholders” (45); Douglass later forms his own form of trickery to combat with the slaveholders. When Douglass meets Henry and John Harris, Douglass utilizes their intelligence to form “a strong desire to learn how to read” (48), benefitting all three men.
The narrative of Douglass quotes "Mr. Covey gave me a very severe whipping, cutting my back causing blood to run, and raising ridges on my flesh as large as my little finger". This quote also shows how horrible the men were abused and beaten too. Although, they had more of a chance to fight back against their masters, which is proven in this quote "This gave me assurance, and I held him uneasy, causing the blood to run where I touched him with the ends of my fingers". The quote explains how Douglass finally fought back against his master, after being beaten several times by him. The mental abuse is shown in the quote from Douglass's narrative that states" Mr.Covey succeeded in breaking me. I was broken in body, soul, and spirit.". This shows that the masters would mentally break the men, so they would behave and listen to them better. Most masters would drain all the spirit out of the men to make the threat of the slaves fighting back very rare. Those were the horrible struggles the men had to deal with in
When Douglass worked for Edward Covey and in the shipyard after he gets out of prison, he experiences physical abuse that changes him. Throughout the majority of Frederick Douglass’s life, he does not receive as harsh punishment as some of the other
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, brings to light many of the social injustices that colored men, women, and children all were forced to endure throughout the nineteenth century under Southern slavery laws. Douglass's life-story is presented in a way that creates a compelling argument against the justification of slavery. His argument is reinforced though a variety of anecdotes, many of which detailed strikingly bloody, horrific scenes and inhumane cruelty on the part of the slaveholders. Yet, while Douglas’s narrative describes in vivid detail his experiences of life as a slave, what Douglass intends for his readers to grasp after reading his narrative is something much more profound. Aside from all the physical burdens of slavery that he faced on a daily basis, it was the psychological effects that caused him the greatest amount of detriment during his twenty-year enslavement. In the same regard, Douglass is able to profess that it was not only the slaves who incurred the damaging effects of slavery, but also the slaveholders. Slavery, in essence, is a destructive force that collectively corrupts the minds of slaveholders and weakens slaves’ intellects.
On the fourth day of International week, Dr. Jay Coughtry delivered a lecture termed, “Reflections on the Atlantic Slave Trade”. Dr. Coughtry emphasized on how the Atlantic slave trade started, who controlled it at different times, and how it made European nations wealthy. For example, he states that the Atlantic Slave Trade was a byproduct of Western Europe’s search for the West Indies. In addition, the Dutch made the first universally accepted currency from the gold found in the mines of the west coast of Africa. He also highlighted how Portugal continued to import slaves to Brazil illegally. Coughtry’s lecture demonstrated how the slave trade affected economies on a global
Covey enjoyed the most unbounded reputation for being a first-rate overseer and negro-breaker. It was of considerable importance to him.” What i'm saying is that Frederick Douglass means by all of this that happened that you have to take risk and is better fighting for what is right because he didn't take all the poop that Mr.Covey was doing.One more thing about how it changed frederick douglass life is that he did not change his life but other slaves as well because thanks to him he got to get his freedom.His life did not change by fighting Mr.Covey because violence is not the answer and that stayed on his permanent record.Frederick Douglass instead of fighting Mr.Covey he probably should've just ask why is he doing this,he could of ask for help or he could of pushed him and ran away to some free place where they don't accept slavery.I also don't think that he shouldn't of bought corvey because what happened if he hunted him down and killed him or whooped him that was a really risky move of frederick
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slavery was cruelty at its best. Slavery is described as long work days, a lack of respect for a human being, and the inability for a man or a woman to have gainful employment. The slaves were victimized the most for obvious reasons. Next on the list would be the families of both the slave and slave owners. At the bottom of the list would be the slave owners. Slavery does in fact victimize slaves, slave owner and their families by repeating the same cycle every generation.
Slavery was an exceedingly common practice in American society throughout the Nineteenth century. Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist and former slave, writes of the dehumanization and cruelty toward slaves in his autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. As a slave, Douglass endured intolerable levels of cruelty from his slaveholders, as well as white society as a whole. (one more sentence?). Douglass utilizes simile, anaphora, irony, juxtaposition and antithesis to present his hardships and experiences as a slave to clarify how the system of slavery has corrupted slaves, slaveholders, and Christianity.