Frederick Douglass Writing Assignment
Wendy Zhu
Dr. Fuentes
Humanities American Studies
2/1/1
Slavery had a tremendous impact on all aspects of the South in 1800s. How could a group of people feel so passionate about the unalienable rights, but still maintain the brutal practice of human bondage? Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness simply did not appear in the southern colonies. Slavery not only created a booming economy in the south, but also affected the cultural values. Slavery was the basis of the southern economy, most of the wealth of the South came from the crops that the slaves grew. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the author- Frederick Douglass himself- mentions that he got separated with her mother right after he was born, her mother got sent to work in another farm which is pretty far from where he lives. He states that “[My mother] made her journeys to see me in the night, travelling the whole distance on foot, after the performance of her day’s work. She was a field hand, and a whipping is the penalty of not being in the field at sunrise” (2). The economy of the South was dependent upon slave, most of them work all day for almost no money. The agrarian culture of the south made it necessity to have man power to work and harvest the crops of the fields, as more crops were produced, more slaves were needed, leading to more money being generated, increasing white’s ability to purchase more slaves. Frederick Douglass also describes the daily life of a slave in the book, he states that “for when their day’s work in the field is done, the most of them having their washing, mending and cooking to do… old and young, male and female, married and single, drop down side by side, on one common bed, - the cold, damp floor.- each covering himself or herself with their miserable blankets; and here they sleep till they are summoned to the field by the driver’s horn. At the sound of this, all must rise, and be off to the field” (6). The majority of slaves worked in plantation
Dr. Fuentes
Humanities American Studies
2/1/1
Slavery had a tremendous impact on all aspects of the South in 1800s. How could a group of people feel so passionate about the unalienable rights, but still maintain the brutal practice of human bondage? Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness simply did not appear in the southern colonies. Slavery not only created a booming economy in the south, but also affected the cultural values. Slavery was the basis of the southern economy, most of the wealth of the South came from the crops that the slaves grew. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the author- Frederick Douglass himself- mentions that he got separated with her mother right after he was born, her mother got sent to work in another farm which is pretty far from where he lives. He states that “[My mother] made her journeys to see me in the night, travelling the whole distance on foot, after the performance of her day’s work. She was a field hand, and a whipping is the penalty of not being in the field at sunrise” (2). The economy of the South was dependent upon slave, most of them work all day for almost no money. The agrarian culture of the south made it necessity to have man power to work and harvest the crops of the fields, as more crops were produced, more slaves were needed, leading to more money being generated, increasing white’s ability to purchase more slaves. Frederick Douglass also describes the daily life of a slave in the book, he states that “for when their day’s work in the field is done, the most of them having their washing, mending and cooking to do… old and young, male and female, married and single, drop down side by side, on one common bed, - the cold, damp floor.- each covering himself or herself with their miserable blankets; and here they sleep till they are summoned to the field by the driver’s horn. At the sound of this, all must rise, and be off to the field” (6). The majority of slaves worked in plantation