Reading the Narrative of the Life of Federick Douglass really explained to me how slavery could have a detrimental effect on the slaveholder as well as the slave. So far I have noticed that Federick Douglass describes the worst changes in adopted slaveholders and those who are introduced to religion.
The change in the nature of his mistress, Mrs. Auld, was especially jarring to me because her disposition towards him changed completely: "My mistress was, as I have said, a kind and tenderhearted woman; and in the simplicity of her soul she commenced, when I first went to live with her, to treat me as she supposed one human being ought to treat another...In entering upon the duties of a slaveholder, she did not seem to percieve that I sustained to her the relation of mere chattel, and that for her to treat me as a human being was not only wrong, but dangerously so. Slavery proved as injurious to her as it did to me...Under its influence, the tender heart became stone, and the lamblike disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness." She had even become more violent towards Federick Douglass than Mr. Auld had been.
He also described Thomas Auld as an adopted slaveholder which he considered the worst. When he lived with Captain Auld, he was scarcely fed although there was an abundance of food available. I also thought it was ironic that after Captain Auld became religious, he became more cruel and hateful because then he was able to justify his treatment of his slaves. It made me notice how much religion was twisted in the South so that slaveholders could be validated in their behavior.
posted by Mikaela M.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hi there, class
ReplyDeleteI read "The Autobiography of Miss jane Pitman" which I recommend to you as a follow up to your studies on Slavery and the plight of African Americans in the 19th and 20th centuries.
I was taken aback by the terrible circumstances that lasted well after emancipation, and some may argue, still exist in the 21st century.
It is not enough to be "free" if the other factors of poverty, voting rights, ability to get good jobs that give challange and dignity, as well as a society that does NOT stereotype on color or accent.
When you equate what we are doing in Iraq with the emacipation of Black slaves, or the apparent "slavery" of illegal immigrants in NY these days, I despair again on how little we seem to have learned about our errors in the past.
I look around and see inequities everywhere...especially economic inequities that seem to be "acceptable" even if somewhat of a gossip factor.
How can some people get soo much money when we have homeless, sick, undereducated and violence at personal and national levels? These are forms of slavery and privelege, too.
Anyway...more later.
Isn't religion often used as a justification for horrible actions and cruelty against one another? I wonder why that is? Just something to think about.
ReplyDelete