In his writings Douglas …show more content…
Most white slaveholders frequently raped female slaves. Consequently, the children fathered by white masters and slave women invariably suffered greater hardships…The master was frequently compelled to sell this class of his slaves (his own children), out of deference to the feelings of his white wife;…Guilt…if he has to whip them himself, or stand by and see one white son tie up his brother, of but few shades darker…and ply the gory lash to his naked back. —Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave Written by Himself (1845) (Corbett, 382).
It was surprised to learn about the harsh treatment of the children of slaveholders and the female slaves. In this narrative on line sticks out, “ to stand by and see one white son tie up his brother, of but a few shades darker…and ply the gory lash to his naked back.” The concept had never occurred to me before this, that the children not only had white fathers but white siblings.
Learning to read was a staple in the life of young Douglass, “From my earliest recollection, I date the entertainment of a deep conviction that slavery would not always be able to hold me within its foul embrace” (Narrative,