Frederick Douglass Role Of Religion

Douglass’s narrative is a courageous work, as it confronts the slavery institution, and the misuse of Christianity by the slave owners

The brutality that slaves endured form their masters and from the institution of slavery caused slaves to be denied their god given rights. In the "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass," Douglass has the ability to show the psychological battle between the white slave holders and their black slaves, which is shown by Douglass' own intellectual struggles against his white slave holders. I will focus my attention on how education allowed Douglass to understand how slavery was wrong, and how the Americans saw the blacks as not equal, and only suitable for slave work. I will also contrast how Douglass' view was very similar to that of the women in antebellum America, and the role that Christianity played in his life as a slave and then

Since before the time of Jesus Christ, religious hypocrisy has run rampant throughout those who held power. Countless lives have been affected by others twisting religious interpretation in order to fit their own needs. Slaveholders used religion and scripture to their advantage when disciplining slaves, sometimes even if they did no wrong. Religious hypocrisy is especially relevant in the life of Frederick Douglass. Frederick Douglass’s life story depicts how religious hypocrisy committed by both slaves and slaveholders diminished the rights of slaves, while at the same time allowing injustice to endure.

Frederick Douglass was an important leader who helped fight for slaves freedom in the 19th Century. Religion played a major role in Mr. Douglass’s life. In his autobiography, he describes his daily struggles of being a slave and how he escaped to freedom. In his narrative, he explains the way his masters would beat, rape, and murder slaves, but only to use their Christian beliefs to explain why they did it and basically use it as an excuse. Douglass himself was also a Christian and explains in his autobiography that the religious views of the masters were very different from the religious views the slaves had. Frederick Douglass composed his autobiography to explain that the master's view of Christianity was unholy and if there was no change to be made, it could continue and lead to an increase in sacrilegious acts.

……In 1845 an extraordinary piece of work by Frederick Douglass was published “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave”; this was the life of a man who through many adversities stood tall with his head in the heavens. Douglass was the more proactive abolitionist as his work was to demolish slavery while detailing his life experience as a slave and expressing is deep emotions and theory on slavery. In the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” he expresses the way religion and its literature, the bible, had an effect not only on slavery but also with white Christianity. His position on slavery was strong and compelling. Douglass used powerful authoritative words from the start of his narrative to grasp our hold and attention and keep us enflamed while realizing God is embedded in the words. ……Phillis Wheatley overcame obstacles most people would quiver against. She showed us slavery and she showed us faith. In the poem, she tells us “Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land, Taught my benighted soul to understand” (Wheatley, line 1-2) Right from the beginning , Wheatley shows us religion through her use of subtle but powerful words. She uses the words “Mercy, Pagan

However, it still provides the people an outlet for faith, community, and security that they can hold onto. The way religion effects the people today has a parallel view to that of the slaves during slavery times. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass was able to give us insight to the way religion played a role in a slave’s daily life, as Angela Davis further analyzes its effects. To begin with, the book brings to light the circumstances

How did slavery continue to exist despite its inhumane practices? Many of these owners employed the ideas of dehumanizing slaves and religion in order to perpetuate their actions. Dehumanization demoted the societal status of slaves, therefore deeming blacks inferior to their white counterparts. Moreover, although directly opposing religious principles of kindness and avoidance of sin, plantation owners used Christianity as a mechanism to mask their inhumanity and encourage their cruelty toward slaves. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass develops themes of dehumanization and religion, which helps readers understand the techniques slave owners utilized to alleviate their guilt, condone malice toward slaves, and preserve supremacy over colored people in Southern society.

This novel was the first to be written by abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave was published in 1845, as racial issues and ties between the states were coming to a head. Frederick Douglass shined light on the slave trade and helped to destroy the pristine, romantic view of slavery that many Americans had. In the novel Douglass discusses his life from birth to the first few years after his escape. He talks about being sent to different slaveholders and how religion affected the evil things they did to the slaves. Religious slave masters are the most cruel, he says, because they manipulate religion to excuse their evil deeds. His father was said to be his first white

Some Americans at the time saw religion as a reason not to participate in the violence involved in slavery or even slavery itself while others saw it as the opposite and used it to intensify their already terrible treatment of slaves. Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass highlight and describe these contrasting views in a way that moves the reader into thinking just what the authors want- there is no excuse for slavery even if

. Both, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave and the article, “KKK Leader: ‘We’re a Christian Organization;’ Claims the Klan is Not a Hate Group” share the theme that white supremacists use religion to defend the way they use racial discrimination. In the novel, Frederick described the horrendous details that his master, Captain Auld used to rationalize his horrid behavior toward his slaves. One summer, Captain Auld attended a Methodist camp to “experienced religion”; thus, giving Frederick hope that the religious camp would lead his master to “…emancipate his slaves, and that, if he did not do this, it would, at any rate, make him more kind and humane”, but instead Frederick was disappointed to have found that his

Through out the entire time period of slavery, religion remained a high priority and a way in which to label different social groups. The lack or complete non-existence of religion among Africans led to them being viewed as somewhat inferior. Later in the second chapter Jordan talks about how during the slave era religion distinguished whites from blacks. Also how classification changed once Africans began to enter the Christian church. He himself viewed this type of labeling somewhat ridiculous, in that many of the Africans were baptized before the came to the New World. Thus they in many circles would be identified as Christians. This important information helps show the reader how the justifications for slavery evolved. Jordan captures the utter and blatant hypocrisy that the colonies exuded with regards to the slave situation. Jordan also sees religious injustice within the treatment of Indians and Africans. The English made attempts to convert the Indians and had little desire or intention to do the same for Africans. This again shows to what lengths early Americans went in creating a subculture for the purpose of slavery.

In many occassions people have used the Bible as a support for slavery. Slavery refers to individuals that are owned by others, whom have full control of their excistance. As time passed by, slavery developed and was the cause of many conflicts. In the movie "Twelve Years of Slave" we can see how slavery builds the inferno everyone burns. In an analysis of the movie for Commmonweal magazine, Richard Alleva said," To suggest that slave owners suffered as much as slaves would be obscene." In the other hand, Frederick Douglass wrote, "Slavery proved as injurious to her as it did to me." Douglass knows what it is to be a slave, and that is the reason why his statement can never be wrong. In his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, he proves that there is nothing inferior about slaves, and that is why slavery is just an injustice for the world since it ruins its people. He knows the damage is for both, slaves and slave owners.

Throughout history it can be easy to see that religion/faith and spirituality have been a big influence on African American Literature. Religion and faith in African American Literature comes in many forms depending on the author, but generally, this theme tended to relate to the desire for freedom. Quite often authors wrote in prayer form, asking for God’s assistance to help them make it through their time of misery, to help them get through life as a slave. Faith in African American Literature was vital to the unity of the African American slaves. Spirituality as well, as faith, brought a feeling of community amongst the separated African American slaves. The African Americans religious practices were an essential and foundational aspect of the world that the slaves created for themselves inside the plantation, which was a cruel, cold, and unfair world forced upon the slaves.

Religion’s purpose, whether you believe or do not believe, is to uplift and give a person hope. It gives a person the belief that there is something bigger than themselves to watch over and help them with the guidance of their lives. When a person thinks of their religion and the god or deities they worship, slavery and the dehumanization of another person are not words commonly thought of. In reading Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, it is clear that the white slave owners’ misuse of religion lead to the ownership, abuse and mistreatment, and the defilement of the African American race.

As American’s our country’s history has been drilled into our education. There are many things to make us proud, as well as ashamed. An atrocious attribute to our country’s past is slavery. Slavery not only happened in America but in numerous countries for far too long. So many people of color were discriminated, abused, abducted and often times killed without remorse. There are millions of individuals, who if were still alive today, could identify with each of those things stated above and tell their own story. One person who would proudly protest their unfortunate experience would be a man by the name Solomon Northup. He wrote a memoir addressing his oppressors and coming clean with all the unjust actions that had taken place. In his book Twelve Years a Slave, the role of religion was very evident not only in his own life, but the lives of the people who played a role in his captivity in slavery. Religion is portrayed in several different perspectives throughout Twelve Years a Slave. Northup uses this important common ground to cultivate the true relationship between slave and owner. By frequently visiting the topic of faith a realization can be made that both parties are indeed human, this further sheds light on the injustices of Northup’s 12 years in slavery.