The Narratives of Frederick Douglass and Harriet A Jacobs

A detailed Summary of The Narratives of Frederick Douglass and Harriet A Jacobs

Slavery was perhaps one of the most appalling tragedies in the history of The United States of America. To tell the people of the terrible facts, runaway slaves wrote their accounts of slavery down on paper and published it for the nation to read. Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs were just two of the many slaves who did this. Each of the slaves had different experiences with slavery, but they all had one thing in common: they tell of the abominable institution of slavery and how greatly it affected their lives.

When Douglass was seven years old, he was sent to a new master and mistress, Hugh and Sophia Auld. Sophia was a very kind and affectionate woman, probably one of the nicest people Douglass had encountered in his early childhood life. Here's what Douglass had to say about his new mistress:

"Her face was made of heavenly smiles and her voice of tranquil music (Douglas 41)."

This caused Douglass to view the whites differently than before. His previous owners were cruel and corrupt who often whipped and beat their slaves in agony. But not Mrs. Auld; Douglass was astonished at her kind heart. She treated Douglass and other black slaves like human beings. She even began to teach him how to read and write. This led D

"My mistress was so kind to me that I was always glad to do her bidding, and proud to labor for her as much as my young years would permit... Those were happy days (Jacobs 119)."

Throughout Douglass' life, he encountered many different people. But one proved to be a true friend, Sandy Jenkins, a slave who was married to a free woman. Sandy taught him a value of life that is probably one of the most important values - the value of friendship. One day, when Mr. Covey was on another rampage of his, Douglass managed to escape but had no where to go. But luckily, he met Sandy and told him how Mr. Covey was going to "get hold of him" and Sandy kindly welcomed him to his house. Sandy, as a loyal friend, give Douglass guidance as to what procedure it was best for him to follow (Douglass 70). Also, he let Douglass on a secret about a certain root which if he carried on his right side, it would make it impossible for him to get a beating from any white man (Douglass 71). Surprisingly, the root worked at first. But later, the luck of the root wore out and Mr. Covey began to beat Douglass as usual. Covey nearly broke him, but then Douglass defeated him while wearing the root, which strengthened Douglass' resolve to resist Covey's violence.

Jacobs's white lover, Mr. Sands, sent a speculator to Dr. Flint to purchase her children, and Dr. Flint sold them without knowing for whom the speculator was working (Jacobs 209-211). Secure in the belief that her children were safe, Jacobs spent the next seven years of her life hidden in a tiny room over a storeroom in her grandmother's house (Jacobs 249). Jacobs had finally escaped from bondage so her children could escape from bondage. In later years after going through some other obstacles, Jacobs and her two children finally united and formed a family she had always yearned for.

These narratives are just two of many stories told by the slaves of America. Douglass and Jacobs were both writing as an unselfish act. They both wrote for the slaves whose voices were silenced and could not write or speak out on their own (Appiah 9). They wished to free their fellow slaves down in the south who were less fortunate and unable to escape.

A person's childhood is the time when they learn the most. And in the case of Jacobs, she learned the goodness of whites at an early age. As any other child who was treated kindly, Jacobs expected to be treated with kindness in her new "home". Since her new owner, Emily Flint, was still too young to make decisions, her father, Dr. Flint, took control of Jacobs.

Mistress became ill and died. During her sickness, Jacobs prayed that Mistress would get better and live. Unfortunately, her prayers were not answered. Jacobs loved Mistress very much and that love caused her to mourn Mistress' death. Jacobs' first mistress was

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Approximate Word count = 1889
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History