The Peculiar Institution of Slavery

A detailed Summary of The Peculiar Institution of Slavery

How would Sophia Auld feel if she knew she helped spark the fire that ignited the abolition of slavery in the Unite States? How could she have known that teaching a young slave boy a few letters of the alphabet would create one of the greatest civil rights' leaders of all time? It was impossible to see it then, but young Frederick Bailey was slowly, but surely, gaining a mind of his own. He was also gaining an insatiable thirst for education, and most importantly, freedom. He was a man who grew a mind, a man who gained an insight into the demoralizing state of slavery in American Society as no other had done in his time.

Like many other slaves, Frederick had no idea exactly when he was born. All he knew was that he was born in the Tidewater region of Maryland to a black slave mother and a white father, quite possibly his master, Captain Anthony. He rarely saw his mother and he wasn't close to his grandmother, who watched over the plantation's children. He was ignored by the white overseers and was constantly hungry and cold. He was often moved from place to place. This lack of roots, this lack of identity was many times purposely imposed on slaves to prevent them from developing their own minds. However, Frederick prov

The most commonly held belief among pro-slavery whites was that blacks were intellectually inferior and could not take care of themselves. Therefore, they needed the mentally superior whites to provide for them. Douglass was very adamant in proving this myth wrong. He titled his autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself, [italics mine]. He wanted to make sure that there was no confusion that he was the real author of the piece. There were many skeptics at the time who thought that a black man could not have such a mastery of the art of rhetoric. They frequently dismissed him as a fraud. It was very important to Douglass that this did not happen because the book itself was testimony to what a black man was capable of doing if given the opportunity. William Lloyd Garrison, a leading abolitionist who became Douglass' friend and collaborator, even wrote a preface to Douglass' account to testify to the fact that Dougla!

When Captain Anthony died in 1833, Frederick was sent to live with Thomas Auld as a share of his inheritance. Frederick had become hostile compared to the rest of the slaves. As a result, Thomas sent him to a well-known "slave breaker," Edward Covey. It was thanks to a fierce confrontation with Covey that Frederick discovered that he had not only the mental, but the physical strength to defeat the white man. He considered the event to be the turning point in his life. "It rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood," "it inspired me again with a determination to be free" (82).

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Overall, reading the personal account of an individual in history can prove very rewarding. It helps the student see the effects of laws and institutions first hand. The student can relate to the character and sympathize with that character's cause, thereby better understanding their role in history.

Another myth that Douglass tried to debunk was the historical and religious pro-slavery "justifications" that whites found solace in. Christian whites claimed that they were following God's will in keeping bla

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1487
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History