This paper is about the different point of views on slavery Frederick Douglass gives in his autobiography, because he experienced slavery first hand.

Essay by rocket5982University, Bachelor'sF, May 2002

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Shining a New Light on a Dark Situation

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the first of 3 autobiographies written by Douglass, is perhaps the most informative book written on slavery. Slavery is looked at so generally by people of this time. People have very little knowledge of the truths behind slavery. Many people just think of slavery as a white people owning black people and forcing them to work using physical punishment to enforce their authority. Although this is did occur, slavery was much more complicated than this. There was a lot more complications and issues involved during the time of slavery. Frederick Douglass' autobiography shined a new view of what slavery was all about and all that took place, documenting adultery committed by male slave owners with female slaves and the consequences of that, the education of slaves and the relationships between slaves and slave owners.

Perhaps the one aspect of slavery Douglass may have been the most fit to speak about was the consequences of adultery committed by slave owners with their female slaves. Douglass himself was mulatto, half black, half white. His mother, Harriet Bailey was a slave. Douglass' father is believed to be his mother's owner Aaron Anthony. In most cases of a slave having the baby of a master it was not due to a love affair, but rape. The master would either be doing this just for the feeling of power or for an inhumane way of making profit, creating more slaves. These mulatto slaves like Douglass' had it even harder in some cases than other slaves, if that is possible to imagine. Mulatto's brought on a lot of conflict. For one, this child was a constant reminder to its master's wife of the adultery her husband has...