Frederick Douglass: The Killing Of Slaves

Throughout the being of the book, Douglass gives a vivid description of the living conditions in which he lived. The state of living was complicated, and food not adequate for the workload given by the Slaveholders. They believed slaves were given enough to keep them healthy enough to work. Slaves worked long hours in the field and were often sleep deprived. Ordinarily, this would be untrue; slaves encounter disease, injuries major illness that usually cost them their lives. Slaveholders often hired doctors to treat the injured and sick. Giving limited medical knowledge to the doctor, which did little to improve the health of the slave. They lived crowded in cabins were not given beds, and only some were given blankets. Douglass mention “In a single room were huddled, like cattle, ten or a dozen persons, men, women,

“I speak advisedly when I say, - that killing a slave, or any colored person, in Talbot County, Maryland, is not treated as a crime, either by the courts or community.” (P.453) Douglass provides detail examples of a Slaveholder who murdered their slave but receive no punishment from the judicial system. The illustration of the Gore whipping Demby the slave so severely that he ran into the creek to soothe his shoulders. Gore then instructs Demby to emery from the water, without further warning he was killed. Gored later said the killing served as an example to other slaves if they disobey they would die. He realized that he had to be cold and cruel, and other slaveholder praised what he did different accounts of brutal beating and killing took place. Douglass provides graphic detail examples of the slave owner who murdered their slave but receive no punishment from the judicial system. He presented evidence of atrocious horrors slavery that further sways people to join the