Frederick Douglass: life and legacy

Douglas

Few slave narratives are as compelling as that of Frederick Douglass, because of the rich detail used to convey the author's experiences. However, the narrative is effective on more levels than just its graphic imagery. In his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Douglass draws clear arguments about logical inconsistencies in the pro-slavery argument. Douglass also presents a clear ethical argument that shows why slavery should be abolished. The core philosophical objections that Douglass uses in his narrative center around the core idea that slavery is dehumanizing. Douglass even implies that slavery dehumanizes all members of the society that support the practice, and not just the slaves.

Modern readers might find Douglass's narrative a matter of common sense, but when the author wrote it and delivered speeches to northern white audiences, slavery was still common practice in the United States. Many who did not overtly oppose the practice of slavery still supported the institution implicitly and indirectly by remaining silent. Therefore, one of the most effective tools that Douglass uses in his narrative is to spell out clearly for an uneducated public what slavery actually is. It is entirely likely that men and women in the north would not have known about the rapes, the beatings, and the systematic ways that slaves were prevented from creating social networks that might have aided revolts. Northern audiences might not have heard about some of the brutal details of slavery because slave voices had been silenced. The silencing of slaves was deliberate, as Douglass point out. Slaves were prohibited from receiving an education, learning to read or write, and were also silenced when they spoke the truth. In Chapter 3 of the autobiography Colonel Lloyd asks a slave who he "belongs to," followed by a series of questions like, "Well, does the colonel treat you well?" And "does he work you too hard?" The slave answers truthfully, not knowing the questions are a trap. Douglass describes what happened next. "He was immediately chained and handcuffed; and thus, without a moment's warning, he was snatched away, and forever sundered, from his family and friends, by a hand more unrelenting than death," (Douglass, Chapter 3). Douglass further notes, "This is the penalty of telling the truth, of telling the simple truth, in answer to a series of plain questions," (Chapter 3). The slave was being punished for insubordination; Colonel Lloyd punished the slave for criticizing his master and for undermining the power structure of slavery. Thus, one of Douglass's core arguments against slavery is that the institution builds upon itself. Slaves have no way out. Slavery is incompatible with a free and democratic society. Either the United States defines itself as a brutal dictatorship in which only whites have social and political power; or the United States upholds the laws of the Constitution. Douglass makes a strong case that the United States cannot have it both ways.

Douglass points out the inherent hypocrisy of slavery. In a speech delivered at the Plymouth County Anti-Slavery Society in 1841, Douglass points a finger directly at organized religion. Christianity, Douglass points out, has failed to uphold its central tenets by supporting, condoning, and promoting slavery. To illustrate his point in the speech, Douglass also uses narrative techniques similar to the ones he uses in his autobiography. Douglass tells a story of how a minister had all the black members of the congregation stand by the door while the whites received the communion. The minister implied that it was God's order that blacks be treated in that way. In another anecdote, Douglass explains that to racist Christians the Kingdom of Heaven is "like a net," that leaves out those with "black scales." Douglass describes a story of a young black girl who received holy Communion. The deacon reluctantly passed the cup to the black girl, but the white woman next to her stormed out of the church. "When the cup containing the precious blood which had been shed for all, came to her, she rose in disdain, and walked out of the church. Such was the religion she had experienced!" Just as Frederick Douglass criticizes the United States for supporting slavery in a supposedly free and just society, he also criticizes Christianity for supporting slavery under the supposed rubric of love and universal brotherhood.

In Chapter 7 of his autobiography, Douglass explains how he taught himself how to read and write. The chapter also addresses the philosophical and political role that education plays. Education is one of the main reason why whites are able to subjugate blacks and continue to scourge of slavery. Douglass shows how his Mistress actually wanted to teach him how to read, but was afraid of retribution. The prohibition of education enabled slavery to continue, and also allowed whites to accuse blacks of being ignorant and therefore inferior. Douglass echoes this argument in his speech to the Plymouth County Anti-Slavery Society in 1841. He states, "You degrade us, and then ask why we are degraded -- you shut our mouths, and then ask why we don't speak -- you close our colleges and seminaries against us, and then ask why we don't know more."