The Life Of Frederick Douglass Essay Research — страница 2

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strangers upon arriving here. Captain Auld here received a new sense of religion, and helped implant one of Douglass key thoughts; religious slave holders were the meanest and cruelest of the kind. They used religion to fortify there argument for slavery and at the same time refused to bestow the kindness and understanding that was its basis. Frederick didn t get along well with his master by this point and was sent to a slave-breaker , Edward Covey. Here he was subjected to relentless work and little time to enjoy the food he received. Mr. Covey was a very sneaky man and at every chance would beat Douglass severely. Finally after enough of these beating and cruel treatment, he made a stand and fought Mr. Covey one day. That was the turning point in his career as a slave and

after that he was never again whipped. After Covey, Douglass was moved to the care of William Freeland, a fair master and true southern gentlemen. While here his first plans of escape were laid, and even though they were unsuccessful, kept alive the hope that freedom wasn t far away. After this event he was sent to Baltimore once more and learned the trait of ship calking. He got into a few scuffles with some white dock-workers and received a severe beating. After this he was allowed to contract his own work and save a little money as long as his fee of three dollars was paid every Saturday to his master Hugh Auld. This didn t last long and when this freedom was taken away from Frederick, he knew that his run for freedom wasn t far away. As much as it hurt him to go, on the third

day of September, 1838, he fled for New York and made it there safely. He was taken in by a Mr. Ruggles, a lawyer who fought to get slaves freed from the chains of slavery. He then married a free black, Anna Johnson, and with the help and advice of Mr. Ruggles moved to New Bedford. Here he settled and made a living doing anything he could, there was no work to hard or long, as long as he had his freedom. Douglass autobiography proved us with a glimpse into why slavery was wrong for society as a whole at the time. It was blatantly unfair to the blacks who were robbed from Africa and then diluted with the white population as an underclass of animals. It seemingly brought out the cruelty in people to see how mean and unkind they could be to these people. Whites were changed in some

instance by slavery, bringing about a manner with which no one should be treated. Slavery was by far one of the most evil things ever witnessed upon the shores of this great country, and Frederick Douglass showed us how great a person it took to break these chains of ignorance. By freeing the slaves of the day, we in turn freed our minds and souls as well.