I used to talk this matter of slavery Page 39 over with them. I would sometimes say to them, I wished I could be as free as they would be when they got to be men. "You will be free as soon as you are twenty-one, but I am a slave for life! Have not I as good a right to be free as you have?
Slavery can questions one's dignity
She finally became even more violent in her opposition than her husband himself. She was not satisfied with simply doing as well as he had commanded; she seemed anxious to do better. Nothing seemed to make her more angry than to see me with a newspaper.
Frederick's once kind mistress became more volatile than her husband. She wanted her husband's approval.
He whipped, but seemed to take no pleasure in it. He was called by the slaves a good overseer.
Although Mr. Hopkins whipped slaves, he was still viewed as a good overseer because the punishment was not considered harsh. Slaves are accustomed to horrid abuse , so the bare minimum is praised.
carce a sentence escaped him but that was commenced or concluded by some horrid oath.
I believe this shows how callous and vulgar Mr. Severe was as a person.
drop down side by side, on one common bed,--the cold, damp floor,--each covering himself or herself Page 11 with their miserable blankets; and here they sleep till they are summoned to the field by the driver's horn. At the sound of this, all must rise, and be off to the field. There must be no halting; every one must be at his or her post; and woe betides them who hear not this morning summons to the field;
This is lack of proper for sleep for a human. They were treated inhumanely
When these failed them, they went naked until the next allowance-day. Children from seven to ten years old, of both sexes, almost naked, might be seen at all seasons of the year.
Children were treated as badly as adults.
The men and women slaves received, as their monthly allowance of food, eight pounds of pork, or its equivalent in fish, and one bushel of corn meal Their yearly clothing consisted of two coarse linen shirts, one pair of linen trousers, like the shirts, one jacket, one pair of trousers for winter, made of coarse negro cloth, one pair of stockings, and one pair of shoes; the whole of which could not have cost more than seven dollars.
Slaves had unlivable conditions; the bare minimum was not provided.
They lived in one house, upon the home plantation of Colonel Edward Lloyd.
Colonel Lloyd's home is at the top of the slave hierarchy, hence the usage of the term "home plantation".
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, for a man to sell his own children to human flesh-mongers, it is often the dictate of humanity for him to do so; for, unless he does this, he must not only whip them himself, but must stand by and see one white son tie up his brother, of but few shades darker complexion than himself, and ply the gory lash to his naked back; and if he lisp one word of disapproval, it is set down to his parental partiality, and only makes a bad matter worse, both for himself and the slave whom he would protect an
The masters would sell their own children to appease their wives. White women expressed jealousy toward these enslaved children because of sexual envy and the fear of favoritism upon the children.
Frequently, before the child has reached its twelfth month, its mother is taken from it, and hired out on some farm a considerable distance off, and the child is placed under the care of an old woman, too old for field labor
The separation of a mother and her child happens before the child turns one. This prevents them from bonding and emotional connections.
and thus I entered upon the duties of my new home with the most cheering prospect ahead.
Arriving at his new home evokes a sense of hope and excitement for Frederick. He believes in his future and what it brings.
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
Douglass endured living conditions that could be life-threatening. He was able to persevere, which makes him a survivor.
Mr. Gore told him that he would give him three calls, and that, if he did not come out at the third call, he would shoot him. The first call was given. Demby made no response, but stood his ground. The second and third calls were given with the same result. 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.
Fearing Mr. Gore means you feared death. He was a lethal and heartless enslaver who took pride in having slaves' blood on his hands. It keeps him alive.
t is better that a dozen slaves suffer under the lash, than that the overseer should be convicted, in the presence of the slaves, of having been at fault
This is an example of white supremacy. The belief that a Black person cannot defend themselves due to the potential embarrassment of an enslaver is asinine. Wrong is wrong.
poor man was then informed by his overseer that, for having found fault with his master, he was now to be sold to a Georgia trader. He was immediately chained and handcuffed; and thus, without a Page 19 moment's warning, he was snatched away, and forever sundered, from his family and friends, by a hand more unrelenting than death. This is the penalty of telling the truth, of telling the simple truth, in answer to a series of plain questions
No matter how unsatisfied an enslaved person felt, they were prohibited from expressing their feelings. If they did, pain or death were inflicted upon them.
The hearing of those wild notes always depressed my spirit, and filled me with ineffable sadness. I have frequently found myself in tears while hearing them. The mere recurrence to those songs, even now, afflicts me; and while I am writing these lines, an expression of feeling has already found its way down my cheek.
The songs of the enslaved people show how emotional and sympathetic Frederick can be. The songs were a plea for help and their way of survivial. Frederick shares how many years later, the idea of hearing these songs evokes sadness.