Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass Narrative Essay

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Slaves in the United States lived as powerless, voiceless victims, without agency. The slave master controlled the account of slavery and the opinions they believed slaves held about their lives. The valuation of a slave’s life was depicted as a necessity for economic gains therefore institutionalizing slaves as property and not human beings. As laws passed freeing blacks in the late 18th century, early 19th century those with newfound freedom were able to give a firsthand account of life as a slave. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave served as a powerful argument in the case against slavery and compelling voice in the abolitionist movement. Frederick Douglas’s narrative gave many people a grim, horrific and ungodly display of what slave life entailed. The increase of free blacks during the 1820s – 1840s increased exponentially. In 1820, there were 1500 free blacks to 6000 in 1840. The United States congress banned the African Salve Trade in 1807 but left the door open for interstate slave trade to commence which occurred with the invention of the cotton gin. As slavery increased with the cultivation of cotton in the South, the North was the forefront for abolitionist and a better place for free blacks to live. Slaves were freed based on state…show more content…
Every tone was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains.” This is an example of music making life easier, and as to why it is entertainment. A slave did not have the luxury of leisure to enjoy music and dancing only on rare occasions when they were able to congregate in church. Living a life under immense scrutiny asking just to be alive was enough because as they lived under constant prosecution life was essentially meaningless. What virtuous person of god who deem human life that slaves lived as
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