Poor Treatment Of Slaves In Frederick Douglass

The practice of slavery is a way to dehumanize a certain group of people. It gives slave masters the absolute power and autonomy to control slaves’ lives and to use them to achieve desires. It also enables slave masters to use them for business purposes making slaves work at several industries such as farming and poultry. The poor treatment of slaves before the American Civil War has been adequate detailed in several published books, articles, and even in the movie industry. The primary purpose of this text is to give a detailed account of the poor treatment of slaves in the Frederick Douglass’ narration.
Separation of children from their mothers is one of the several ways in which slaves were poorly treated. Nurturing is a crucial factor in

a child’s physical and emotional development and has been validated by numerous psychologists. That said, slave who just gave birth have their child taken away as early as when the baby is an infant. “My mother and I were separated when I was but an infant—before I knew her as my mother. It is a common custom, in the part of Maryland from which I ran away, to part children from their mothers at a very early age”. This baleful practice was widely common among slave masters.
The ideology behind this cruel act is contentious. The plausible explanation for the above-mentioned act is to eliminate child-mother affection and bonding and to make the newly born child as affectless as possible. “For what this separation is done, I do not know, unless it be to hinder the development of the child's affection toward its mother, and to blunt and destroy the natural affection of the mother for the child”. Another possible explanation of this deed is to have the mother as quick as possible rejoin the workforce. Thus it can be deemed profit-motive, consequently prevents the master from decreased profit and reduced labor.
Another form of poor treatment of slaves is scourging.

Whipping is a form of punishment widely used in certain parts of the world when an individual violated a law or a set rules. During the slavery period, slave masters used whipping when a slave breaks the set rules of the master or even when the slaves act in accordance to the rules set by their masters. This barbaric act left slaves with irreparable physical and emotion wounds. “He would at times seem to take great pleasure in whipping a slave. I have often been awakened at the dawn of day by the most heart-rending shrieks of an own aunt of mine, whom he used to tie up to a joist, and whip upon her naked back till she was literally covered with blood. No words, no tears, no prayers, from his gory victim, seemed to move his iron heart from its bloody purpose”. This denotes how clod-blooded and merciless some slave masters were. Also, it shows the strategies used by slave masters to physically and mentally control their slaves. This inhuman behavior also instills fear into the heart of other slaves who are made to watch the boorish behavior of their master and who could become rebellious.
The killing of slaves is another form of slaves’ maltreatment. Many slaves were killed by slave masters for committing offenses that can be easily overlooked or punished without killing. Rather, capital punishment was frequently exercised. “Mr. Gore then, without consultation or deliberation with any one, not even giving Demby an additional

call, raised his musket to his face, taking deadly aim at his standing victim, and in an instant poor Demby was no more. His mangled body sank out of sight, and blood and brains marked the water where he had stood”.
It is worth mentioning that the laws of the land were flouted with impunity. Slave masters who committed murder are rarely prosecuted for their wrongdoing and they usually paint slaves as unmanageable and uncontrollable. They often say that the murdered slave was setting a bad example for other slaves. Slave masters also argued that a scapegoat needs to be made out of a slave that is deemed belligerent and if such is not done, it will encourage other slaves to embark on the same path. “He argued that if one slave refused to be corrected, and escaped with his life, the other slaves would soon copy the example; the result of which would be, the freedom of the slaves, and the enslavement of the whites”. In addition, the killing of a slave is never treated as a crime thus giving the murderer impunity and encouraging the act to continue.
Slaves live in inhabitable condition during this period.

They are treated like animals and in many cases are treated worse than an animal. They live in treacherous weather conditions and proper clothing apparel is not provided. During the winter, many slaves suffer from severe cold in which little to no warmth provided was provided by their masters. Subsequently, in the summer, slaves suffer from poor room ventilation which results in serious health issues. “I suffered much from hunger, but much more from cold. In hottest summer and coldest winter, I was kept almost naked—no shoes, no stockings, no jacket, no trousers, nothing on but a coarse tow linen shirt, reaching only to my knees”. Also, slaves are not provided with bed to sleep on. They often eat one meal a day and the meal does not contain the adequate nutrients needed for the body to function properly. Even when it is time to eat, slaves are fed as if animals are fed; no spoon, plates to be used to eat their meals resulting in using bare hands to

eat.
Lastly, the brutal treatment of woman cannot be overlooked when talking about the poor treatment of slaves. Women slaves are repeatedly raped by their masters resulting in pregnancy. This practice was common and performed so that slave masters can maximize their profit and increase their slave workforce. “And this is done too obviously to administer to their own lusts, and make a gratification of their wicked desires profitable as well as pleasurable; for by this cunning arrangement, the slaveholder, in cases not a few, sustains to his slaves the double relation of master and father”. Mixed-race children born by slaves are often subjected to maltreatment and faced with enmity from their master’s wife as they perceive them as a threat and a great insult. Thus, masters, wives ensured that these children were treated horribly or were sold off. As explained by Douglass, “The master is frequently compelled to sell this class of his slaves, out of deference to the feelings of his white wife; and, cruel as the deed may strike any one to be.” Therefore, the act of impregnating slaves to procure more slaves for profitability and increased workforce gainsay the notion that Africans were enslaved because they were subhuman.