Fredrick Douglass was born in Tuckahoe, Talbot County, …show more content…
The custom entails separating mothers from their children as early as infancy. This custom saturated throughout southern United States. He believed that this act was practiced so as to eliminate bonding and affection between mother and child. His mother died when he was seven years old. It is worth mentioning inexplicable rape and impregnation of women slaves by their masters. This practice was often common in this era and it was done so that slave masters can maximize their profit and to increase slaves workforce. The law of the land at the time ensured that all mixed-race children became slaves just like their mothers. The existence of mixed-race children resulted in enormous enmity from masters’ wives as they perceive them as a threat and a great insult to them. Thus, masters, wives ensured that these children were treated horribly or were sold off. As explained by Douglass, “The master is frequently compelled to sell this class of his slaves, out of deference to the feelings of his white wife; and, cruel as the deed may strike any one to be.” Therefore, the act of impregnating slaves to procure more slaves for profitability and increased workforce gainsay the notion that Africans were enslaved because they were