What it Takes to obtain Freedom

On Wednesday our class discussion truly got me thinking how the thought of freedom empowered slaves to continue on there mission no matter what obstacles they faced on the way. Fredick Douglass truly inspired my thoughts because of everything he did to become the smart African American he is known as today. The fact that shocks me the most is how he obtained all his knowledge. For a slave to trick others into giving him reading and writing lessons is truly skillful in my eyes. Although this also opened my eyes to the fact that slavery was really something brutal in the past for minorities especially African Americans. It is shown through the accounts of Fredrick Douglas how even as a child slaves were put through situations that were truly uncalled for. i recall one intense where he speaks of the slaves getting an allowance every month which would consist of food and clothes . However, children around the ages of 8 and younger who could not work the field would get no type of allowance because they had done no work with that said they would have to go naked and hungry for many parts of the year; even if they had to do it for all for seasons. I truly had a image of that in my head when reading because white slave owners would do anything just to have slaves in that sense they would even breed slaves as if they were savage animals and in many situations rape the slaves so they could bare a child and have more property. If slaves were so important to have why would they treat the children of these slaves so bad as to even not giving them enough clothes or food to survive. This kind of makes you think they were just preparing these children's for the struggles of there soon to be slave lives of labor. The thought of this makes me hate the slavery era even more. Especially when Fredrick Douglas recalls a moment in his past where his brother is killed by a master who all the slaves did not want to be sent to after the death of there former slave owner.

These accounts make me see how difficult everyday of a slaves life was and i truly respect those who ran for there freedom. I also have deep respect for those slaves who would do anything to help others such as Fredrick Douglass before he obtained his freedom he helped slaves learn how to read. This was truly important because after he got his freedom he was able to publish accounts and with the slaves he helped being able to read and learn how to comprehend words, they were able to achieve their freedom as well.