Bearing Witness Against Slavery: The Fight For Freedom

Frederick Douglass begins the Narrative off with giving the reader a brief summary of himself, beginning with his childhood. Being that it is only brief does not come from it lacking importance, but rather it being all that he knows. Frederick Douglass was born into slavery. Children born in to slavery suffer a great amount of hurt. However, being that they are only children, they are naïve to the reality that they are forced to live in. A child is to receive love and affection, to learn, and to grow and Slavery robbed them of that completely, taking away their right to just be a child. As a slave, children are taken away from their mothers to be raised by an elderly woman who is no longer able to work on the field or do any other kind of physical labor-like work (Douglass 2). As a young boy, Frederick Douglass didn’t quite understand the white man’s reasoning for this selfishness, “For what this separation is done, I do not know, unless it be to hinder the development of the child’s affection towards its mother and to blunt

To be free means you have freedom and certain rights without anyone interfering with you. You can also do things at your own will. However, during Reconstruction African Americans were not free because whites abused the fact that they had rights and would overpower them. One example is the Ku Klux Klan.

The life of Frederick Douglass was as horrible and miserable as any other slave. However, since bravery was his most dominant trait Frederick’s life became the life of a hero. Born into slavery on the year of 1818, Frederick never really got to know his family and was separated at birth. Growing up, he knew that blacks like him were not supposed to be educated, or treated as well as the whites. This compelled Frederick even

Throughout our lives, we undergo many changes and we also see many changes in other people. Our world today has been influenced immensely by the world of the past. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick undergoes many changes in his life and the lives of the people around him especially the slaveholders that he served. Throughout the narrative, we as the reader see that slavery was a terrible thing and that it affected the slaves in horrific ways but not just the slaves were affected, the slaveholders were also affected in horrible ways.

Sarah and Angelina Grimké were two women that were very active in the abolition movement during the 1830’s. The Grimké sisters grew up with the wealthy class in Charleston, South Carolina, their father was the chief justice of the state supreme court. Even though they grew up with the Southern gentry the sisters were extremely independent and festered a hatred. In the 1820’s the sisters moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and joined the Quakers’ Society of Friends. During the infancy of the abolitionist movement in the 1830’s, the Grimké sisters went on speaking tours denouncing the practice of slavery. They described themselves to fellow abolitionist as white southerners in exile from slavery (pg. 281). While the abolitionist movement

During the course of the slave trade millions of Africans became involuntary immigrants to the New World. Some African captives resisted enslavement by fleeing from slave forts on the coast of West African. Others mutinied on board slave trading vessels, or cast themselves into the ocean, rather facing death than enslavement. In the New World there were those who ran away from their owners, ran away among the Indians, formed maroon societies, revolted, feigned sickness, or participated in work slow downs. Some sought and succeeded in gaining liberty through various legal means such as "good service" to their masters, self-purchase, or military service. Still others seemingly acquiesced and learned to survive in

As a child, Frederick douglass was unable to form an emotional bond with his mother due to the limitations set by slavery, and was both mentally and physically tortured. By the time he had turned into a teenager he had managed to learn how to read and write, and had been under the service of multiple masters & overseers, most of which had been cruel and unforgiving. Yet, there was an urge in Frederick Douglass’s life that had caused him to fight back, and so he did, and not

Douglass Freedom Having learned how to read and write, Frederick Douglass changed himself from a man slave into a widely respected writer. This freedom was set forth by his luck in receiving a mistress, Mrs. Auld, who would begin Douglass revelation of learning how to read and write. Reaching adulthood and speaking in English fluently, Douglass perception of freedom changed. As a child, he could not really explain all of what he experienced and how he felt about himself, as a slave. But as he matured and developed his writing and reading skills, the quality of his thoughts, and the level of understanding had transformed his ideas of freedom. Since birth, Frederick was immediately exposed to the harsh realities of slavery, which included of knowing what his self-identity, which was a slave. Freedom was mentally shaped for slaves, as to prepare them for their long years of hard laborious service

Sarah and Angelina Grimke were the first Southern women to become influential abolitionist, which spoke on the end of slavery; as well as social and political equality for freedmen and women as well. The Grimke sisters stretched the boundary of women’s public role, by giving speeches to audiences with men and women, and by speaking in front of a state legislature about African American rights. Sarah and Angelina broke many of the social and political boundaries subjected on women.

Angelina and Sarah Grimke were two very unique abolitionist leader because they were from the south. However, just because they were in the south didn’t mean they didn’t want change. The Grimke sisters fought for the reform movement to gain black rights and abolish slavery. To achieve and help reach their goals the sister attended the anti-slavery convention in New York. Also to help end slavery William Lloyd Garrison published Angelina Grimke’s letters to him about the experience she had while working with the

In his youth, Douglass felt inferior to other boys his age because of his slave status. Frederick Douglass was often whipped by his masters and suffered from hunger and cold. As an outcome from being a child and not old enough to work in fields yet, Douglass often had leisure time which include keeping Master Daniel Lloyd company. To his advantage as the master’s son being attached to him, he would not let Douglass be “made fun of by older kids and would shares his sweets with him” (Douglass, 5). Even as child, Douglass knew he would never be able to enjoy life like his master’s son. He knew slaves were not given the same amount of freedom like citizens or indentured servants. Slaves were not permitted by law to read or write. A slave could not go anywhere with a written consent form from his or her master. There were no laws that stop a white slave owner from abusing their African slaves. The slaves worked more intensive labor for less benefits of an indentured servant because of the law. A slave would cook and clean, tend crops, and do other assignments from dawn to dusk (Sewall, The Sin of Slaveholding, 3). These hours were much longer than an indentured servant. Although the son was the same age as him, Douglass would be always a lower status than him.

The power or right to act, speak or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. A word created by man to escape the bonds of tyranny to express the idea of what it means to persist one's own ambitions. Freedom. Freedom is not the absence of confinement but the will to achieve freedom when imprisoned. After carefully concluding the reading done over this semester one is able to clearly understand the confinement these early Americans felt and their decision to achieve a form of freedom. Freedom has always existed but it is the history of this nation that will define what actions freedom takes.

American History is filled with several trials and errors. However, possibly the greatest blemish in American history would have to be the long-standing system of slavery that plagued early America. Slavery had existed in America until 1865, far longer than many other countries. During the time when slavery still flourished, some people attempted to promote abolitionism but the majority of pro-slavery individuals did not budge. Nat Turner, William Lloyd Garrison, Abraham Lincoln, and slave runaways are all people that carried out specific anti-slavery acts and were on the forefront of abolitionist movements for their time.

In a series of letters written to and from the sisters, Angelina and Sarah’s writing showcased how their activism was both highly radical and unrealistic for the time period. To showcase this, Angelina delivered a speech targeted at southern women on why they should help free the slaves. The women down in the south reading Angelina’s words would most likely shock them since helping with abolitionism technically goes against the law. This mentality seems to be extremely radical, since both of the sisters are considering the law to be less objective than religion. “I know the doctrine of obeying God, will be considered as dangerous and heretical by many, but I am not afraid openly to avow it, because it is the doctrine of the Bible. . . . If a law commands me to sin, I will break it. . .” She clearly shows that she has no qualms of risking going to prison in order to get what she wants. On the opposing viewpoint, some would consider Angelina to be remaining in her domestic role since she spoke out against slavery for religious reasons. Even so, she would not defy the law if she was trying to be traditional. This would only be unrevolutionary if freeing slaves would have complied with the law.

Fredrick Douglass also came to exude a great sense of racial pride as his life progressed. At first, his only perception of his people was that of a lowly slave nation. Yet, he was dedicated to trying to improve their lot. After his fellow slaves learned that he was literate, they “insisted that I must keep a Sabbath school.” He agreed to this proposal because he felt that the only shot his “brothers” had at gaining their freedom was through the power of the written word. Later, when he and his fellow slaves were jailed after their plans to escape to freedom were revealed, he states that “our greatest concern was about separation.” Douglass felt a sense of responsibility and kinship towards the members of his own race, and was loath to break these bonds. His racial pride reached its peak when he saw the houses that the free blacks in the North lived in. Douglass proudly writes that “I found many, who had not been seven years out of their chains, living in finer houses, and evidently enjoying more of the comforts of life, than the average of slaveholders in Maryland.” When Douglass saw how well some of his kinsmen were living, he could not help but change his impression of his people being a downtrodden slave nation. He came to recognize his race for what they truly were: a people equal in stature to any other, even the lofty Caucasians.