Life Under Slavery from a Slave's Perspective

Life under Slavery from a Slave's Perspective

As a product of a crime and born into bondage, Fredrick Douglass (Fredrick Bailey) seeks to educate society about the evils of slavery. His influential biography Narrative of the life of Fredrick Douglass contains his account as a salve yearning to be free. He relates to us, in vivid imagery, the unnatural, dehumanizing implications of the institution of slavery by shedding light on its physical, economic and psychological aspects.

His first recollection of cruelty towards slaves was as a child. He was a witness to the violence of slavery when he watched his Aunt Hester being savagely beaten by Mr. Plummer, the slave master. It was a memory so vivid in its violence that it became the realization of his existence. He considered it to be "the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery, through which [he] was about to pass" (Douglass 4). His memory of this incident sheds light onto the victimization of slaves. Douglass describes the painful beating of his aunt as"... [Mr. Plummer] took her into the kitchen, and stripped her from neck to waist, leaving her neck, shoulders, and back, entirely naked then said to her, 'Now, you d--b b--h, I'll learn you how to disobey my orders!'... and commenced to lay on the heavy cowskin, and soon the warm, red blood came dripping to the floor" (Douglass 4-5). The savage beating of his aunt immediately awakened him to the realities of life on a plantation. This inhumane physical treatment asserted the dehumanizing nature of slavery.

More often than not, slaves' punishments did not fit their crimes, but, because they were property, they fell under property law. They were to do as told, never object and always be grateful for their masters. The Negros of the South were stripped of their basic human right and were categorized as subhuman and savage. Time and again, readers are able to get a glimpse of the cruelty that slaves endured in bondage. The narrative written by Fredrick Douglass is not the only source that reveals such cruelty; passages from the "Autobiography of Linda Brent" (Harriet Jacobs) testify to the fact that such injustices were widespread and had become the culture of southern salve holders. Harriet Jacobs describes the unfortunate fate of a captured runaway slave as the "... wretched creature was cut with the whip from his head to his feet, then washed with strong brine, to prevent the flesh from mortifying... He was then put into the cotton gin, which was screwed down, only allowing him room to turn on his side when he could not lie on his back" (Wheeler 254). The ruthless outcome of such a punishment ends with the death of the escapee whose "...dead body was found partly eaten by rats and vermin..." (Wheeler 255)

There is no doubt of the physical brutality salves endured at the hands of their masters. The narrative is full of passages like the ones above. Along with physical abuse, racial slavery implemented the practice of financial enslavement. This came in the form of an economic embargo against the slave population. Financial enslavement increased slaves' dependence on their masters. By all means, slaves were property; they were no different from the regular money-making farm-yard animal. Their mere existence was to enhance the lives of their owners. Their purpose was to increase profit and productivity.

One of the main benefits of slavery in the South was free labor. The South's economy depended heavily on the slave labor