Kristina Castro
BLS 1003 Mid Term Assignment
03/29/2018
Frederick Douglass: Life as an American Slave
Since slaves were treated as property and there was no legal ramification for their murder there was no limit to the cruelty they were made to endure. In Chapter 4 of “The Life of The American Slave by Frederick Douglas, Gore defends his murder of Demby to Colonel Lloyd as a necessary means of setting an example, as Demby had become “unmanageable.” Lloyd finds his explanation satisfactory and Gore is allowed to retain his position without even being investigated for his crime, and his fame as an overseer spreads. Douglass observes that killing a black person, slave or free, is not treated as a crime in Talbot, Maryland. Douglass recalls several brutal murders of slaves, all of which went unpunished: Thomas Lanman killed two slaves and boasted of his actions, and Mrs. Giles Hicks beat an adolescent female slave to death. In fact the legal system in this case enforced the slavery system and punished slaves who tried to escape.
In chapter 10, without warning, Douglass and his co-conspirators are tied up and brought to jail in Easton. Also by the cruel nature of slavery, it required any white person to view a slave as sub human otherwise they could not have morally accepted the situation. It is in effect a loop, I treat my slave badly because they are sub human and if slavery is ok they must be sub human otherwise it would be illegal. White slave owners enjoyed the narratives that the slaves were happy and punished any slave who complained of mistreatment. In Chapter 3 the slave, not recognizing his master, explained his origins and complained of his treatment. In chapter 2, Douglass is aghast when he hears people cite the singing as evidence of the slaves’ happiness, because, to Douglass, there is no more miserable sound.
Also since slaves were subhuman and viewed as intellectually inferior they were uneducated and illiterate this became a huge issue when slavery final ended, with school segregating and no education for black people. The schools for former slaves would lag behind, the schools of white people till today. Continued to provide a class of people qualified for only the most menial jobs. In chapter Mr. Auld instructs his wife to prevent slaves from learning at all costs, as it is both illegal and unsafe to teach a slave to read. In Chapter 10 to give their escape some plausibility, Douglass forges written travel passes from a master. White people felt a huge amount of power over their slaves, absolute power corrupts they spend years murdering slave with impunity, it turns even the kind people, evil.
The desire or white people to maintain a system based on the exploitation of the slave impacts every aspect of their society. Any education of slaves is strictly prohibited as ignorance was viewed as a tool for control. Additional, a religion is implemented to provide a divine explanation for the Negros station in life. In Chapter 9 In August of 1932, Thomas Auld goes to a Methodist camp-meeting and returns with strong religious faith. Douglass hopes that this faith might make Thomas emancipate his slaves, or at least treat them more humanely, but Thomas instead becomes a crueler man. Thomas now uses religion to justify owning slaves, and prays enthusiastically. The economy of the south was based and depended in large part on the use for free labor. The ascension of the slave would have a direct and negative impact on the slave owner and they were desperation to maintain the status quo.
Incidents in the Life of a Slave girl by Harriet Ann Jacobs
In this story “Incidents in the life of a Slave girl” by Harriet Ann Jacobs, you hear the plight from the POV of a black woman born into slavery. The law in place are designed around her ownership, she is a piece of property that can be passed down from one generation to the next and is spoken and treated in terms of her monetary value. In Chapter XLI, Harriet was relieved Dr. Flint was dead, but knew that she was not out of danger yet. Mrs. Flint was open, in that her daughter could not lose such a valuable slave, because she is a piece of property she inherently has no rights and is at whim to her masters desires. Sad, that even a death of a slave master cannot guarantee, the slave freedom. In chapter 4 Benjamin is imprisoned for months for getting into a fight with his master. It is later mentioned in the story that when whites become jealous or want something a black person has, they can take with no repercussion. One can argue that the lack of legal repercussion in a way encouraged the mistreatment of slaves. If the law does not protect them, they must not need protection. The female slaves are often exposed to sexual abuse, rape, and mental torture.
Societies are often stratified and based on the need for a class. With any class, the people on top struggle to maintain their dominance. Slave served a function in society and has been at the bottom, this allowed whites no matter their station in life to be "better" than a slave. The concept was present even in the North, where slaves were better but still treated poorly. In chapter XXXV Harriet marveled at how poorly blacks were treated in the north.
Later in the story a law is passed that allows slave owners from the south to reclaim their slaves that have escaped. Hang over the head of any escaped slave, their destiny is not their own, and they can at any time be claimed by their master. In Chapter XL the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 was passed and terror struck the heart of every colored person in the northern states. The south had systems to maintain their power. One of which was the denial of education and information to the slaves. They were told of how blacks were worse off in the north. They were also introduced to religion as a measure of control and to convince them there position in life was god will and hard work and sacrifice was divine. In Chapter XIII the slaveholders thought that exposing their slaves to religion would make them less likely to want to kill their masters. When slaves revolted the retribution was swift and brutal
“Lynch Law in America” (Speech given by Ida B Wells)
Lynching was the ultimate expression of white dominance in the areas it was practiced. It was deemed necessary to prevent Negro domination. On page 2 of Ida B Wells speech on Negro domination, it is also interesting to note merely not being white made you a potential target of lynching. On page 9, she states “the known mobs in Louisiana, Colorado, Wyoming, and other States have lynched subjects of other countries” (Wells,p. 9). It was a key tool in suppressing the Negro vote a major concern of southern whites who wanted to maintain their political dominance/power. On Page 3 Wells states” The alleged menace of universal suffrage having been avoided by the absolute suppression of the Negro vote” (Wells,p. 3) .It supported whiteness allowing any slight real or imagined to be punished by death with no consequence for the perpetrators . It was a public affair demonstrating to white society their superiority. At time lynching’s were a social affair involving all ages, showing to children the negro is animal that can be punished for not knowing his place in this world, body parts of the victims were given away a souvenirs like a prize at a fare On page 5 Wells states “The nineteenth century lynching mob cuts off ears, toes, and fingers, strips off flesh, and distributes portions of the body as souvenirs among the crowd” (Wells,p. 5). The fear of lynching was also an effective tool to strike fear in black people asserting much more control than then actually lynching did It was often used as a group punishment not only including the accused but their family or community. On Page 7, Wells states “His fourteen-year old daughter and sixteen-year-old son were hanged and their bodies filled with bullets; then the father was also lynched” (Wells,p. 7). Any negotiation or argument between a black and white people always carried the risk for the black person of death. On Page 3, Wells states “Negroes were killed for disputing over terms of contracts with their employers” (Wells,p. 3). Whites knew this and took advantage of black people in business and in labor disputes.
Lynching was a direct response to the empowerment of the Negro with the abolishment of slavery and them getting the right to vote. Its primary purpose was to maintain white privilege under the pretense of justice often playing on the fear of the Negro man being sexual with the southern white woman.