Frederick Douglass Spirituality Essay

In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, we follow Frederick Douglass’s life as a slave up to the moment he escaped. Frederick Douglass talks about the brutal and horrifying experiences, that he witnessed and experienced during his time as a slave. He exposes the atrocities and dehumanizing occurrences of slavery, with which slaves were controlled and made “brutes”. It almost seemed like slaves, themselves, were resigned to their lives of slavery and knew no better. However, throughout the novel there are certain times, where we can see that the slaves did indeed try to fight and resist against slavery as much as they could. There were several ways, in which slaves tried to resist slavery, such as maintaining their spirituality

and customs, receiving an education, physically resisting, making acquaintances with others, and by escaping.
One of the ways, in which slaves resisted slavery, was through their spirituality or customs.

At the beginning of the book, Douglass begins by talking about his life in the planation of Colonel Lloyd. He recounts how slaves would go to the “Great House Farm, for the monthly allowance for themselves and their fellow-slaves” (Douglass, 23). He recounts how he would hear the slaves singing songs all the way to the Great House Farm. Douglass said, that “While on their, way, they would make the dense old woods, for miles around, reverberate with their wild songs, revealing at once the highest joy and the deepest sadness” (Douglass, 23). He further says, that “the mere hearing of those songs would do more to impress some minds with the horrible character of slavery, than reading of whole volumes of philosophy on the subject could do” (Douglass, 24). With the example of the songs, Douglass was able to show the deep despair and anguish of slaves. He demonstrated that through their songs, slaves could expose the evil and cruel nature of slavery, and if only their masters could hear they would also feel touched. Although, they did not talk about their miseries, they did try to fight against slavery, by singing about their sorrows and the cruel reality of

slavery.
Another way, in which slaves would resist the institution of slavery in The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, was through their acquired education, which made them realize that there was a way out of slavery and discovered the meaning of slavery and “abolition”.

Douglass says that when he was young, his mistress, Mrs. Auld, taught him the alphabet and subsequently, tried teaching him how to read. However, he said that her husband, Mr. Auld, soon found what was going on and forbade her to teach Douglass how to read. Mr. Auld told his wife, that it was “unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read” (Douglass, 38). He further said, that if Douglass learned how to read, “he would become unmanageable, and of no value to his master” (Douglass, 39). With the words of his master, Douglass realized that receiving an education could free a slave from the chains of slavery and that by not education their slaves, white people were able to control them. Although, his education from his mistress stopped, Frederick Douglass did not stop trying to learn to read. At the age of 12, he says that “the thought of being a slave for life began to bear heavily upon my heart”, but he found a book at that time, in which a conversation between a slave and his master gave him hope to continue living (Douglass, 44). In the book the slave was well spoken and educated, so “the conversation resulted in the voluntary emancipation of the slave on the part of the master” (Douglass,

44). Once again, Douglass brings up the importance of learning to read, when he was hired by Mr. Freeland he says that he created a Sabbath school, in which he taught his “loved fellow-slaves how to read” (Douglass, 74). He says, that “Their minds had been starved by their cruel masters. They had been shut up in mental darkness” (Douglass, 75). Douglass tried to show these slaves, that there was more to life than being a slave and that if they were educated enough they could find a way out of their imprisonments.
Not only did slaves yearned to get an education and maintain their customs alive, in order to fight against slavery, but they also used physical resistance. Resistance did not mean violence in all cases, on the other hand, in most cases slaves would use peaceful resistance. For example, Douglass gives the example, of Demby, a slave from Colonel Lloyd’s plantation, whom was whipped by the overseer so severely, that in order “to get rid of the scourging, he ran and plunged himself into a creek, and stood there at the depth of his shoulders” and refused to get out (Douglass, 31). Douglass says that the overseer, Mr. Gore, asked him to come out or else he would shoot him. However, Demby refused to come out and Mr. Gore shot him in the face, and murdered him. Although, Demby wasn’t successful in getting out of the situation safe, he still showed defiance and stood his ground. Another example of physical resistance, happened to Frederick Douglass, himself, and it was violent but more successful. Douglass talks about the time, his master, Mr. Covey wanted to whip Douglass for disobeying him and leaving the plantation. Douglass kept evading Mr. Covey, until one day when Mr. Covey finally was able to surprisingly catch Douglass. However, to Mr. Covey’s surprise, Douglass decided to fight back. They fought for two hours, until Mr. Covey gave up and never touched Douglass again (Douglass, 68). Through the physical resistance, Douglass was able to show himself a man and was also able to put Mr. Covey in his place.

Although it did seem like slaves were completely alone against slavery, they also made bonds with other slaves and even received help from white people. One example, that Douglass mentions was how he tried to make friends with the white boys on the streets of Baltimore. He mentions, that “with their kindly aid, obtained at different times and in different places, I finally succeeded in learning to read” (Douglass, 43). Another instance, was seen when some Irishmen gave Douglass the idea of running to the north. They felt pity for him and “seemed to be deeply affected” (Douglass, 46). Douglass felt scared and acted as if he didn’t understand, however, he mentions that he still remembered their advice and it helped him make up his mind to run away. Furthermore, the strongest bonds that Douglass created were with his fellow slaves. The slaves, with which Douglass had the deepest bonds of love, were the slaves he lived with in Mr. Freeland’s estate. Douglass mentions that some white people would say that slaves did not trust and loved each other, however, his response was, “I never loved any or confided in any people more than my fellow-slaves, and especially those with whom I lived at Mr. Freeland’s” (Douglass, 75). The love that Douglass felt for the other slaves, prompted him to teach them to read and urge them to run away with him.
Probably one of the most dangerous ways of resisting and fighting against slavery, found in the book, was escaping or running away from masters. Frederick Douglass, talks about his escape and how he decided to run away years before he even had the opportunity. The first time that Douglass tried to escape, was with his friends from Mr. Freeland’s home (Douglass, 76). Douglass tried get the slaves to escape with him by showing them the reality of their lives and how much better freedom could be. Most of the slaves agreed and decided to plan an escape with Douglass (Douglass, 78). However, they were not successful and were sent to jail. The second time Douglass tried to escape and was successful in doing so was in September of 1838, to New York with the help of people he decided not to mention (Douglass, 93). After his escape, Frederick Douglass was able to marry his free wife and received the help of Mr. David Ruggles, an African American abolitionist (Douglass, 94). Running away was a very dangerous feat that could kill any courage and optimism from slaves, if they failed. They could be severely punished and maybe even killed, however, those slaves that did run away defied the institution of slavery and created more opportunities for its abolition. Just like Frederick Douglass, many other free people were able to speak about the crimes of slavery by retelling their stories.
All in all, it is clear that slavery was a terrifying and oppressive system, which tried to justify crimes against other humans. Those under slavery seemed to be passive and brutes, however, in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass demonstrated that not all slaves were completely blinded from reality. He also showed that through several ways, slaves were able to fight and resist against the institution of slavery.