The universal concept of the term slavery is that there’s an individual or a group of people that are owned by another person. This broad description of slavery became the prototype description of the enslavement of Africans in the United Sates during the sixteenth-century through the late eighteenth-century. However, a simple description of slavery does not do the term justice because it’s much more complex than the ownership of another person. Slavery is a term that is fluid, it has overtime became more flexible in the way it is used. In the novel The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass by Fredrick Douglass and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs, both authors indirectly describes the enslavement …show more content…
During this era (1800’s) it was illegal to educate a slave; Mr. Auld described educating a slave as unsafe, but Douglass knew that an educated slave was a feared slave (338). Driven to be educated, Douglass sought out poor white children in Baltimore because they were an undetected asset. The poor white children were going to be an important key to Douglass’ education and they were oblivious of his manipulation. The relationship established between the poor whites and Douglass was one of communalism and not mutualism and dominance as believed by the poor white children. Douglass took to the streets of Baltimore and converted as many poor white boys as he could into teachers (341). For a reward, he gave them bread, “This bread I used to bestow upon the hungry little urchins… [would], in return give me that most valuable bread of knowledge” (342). A great distinction between the white and black slaves were that the white slaves was the type of slaves who lacked food, but were allowed an education (freedom). Douglass, though was the type of slave who had enough to eat at times, but could not get filled completely because he lacked an important part of a well-balanced diet; the fruit of knowledge. The poor whites he fed …show more content…
A muster (assemblage of troops) occurred every year in Edenton, North Carolina and on this occasion the poor whites were allowed to participate in the everyday ranking of other whites (473). In light of the events that occurred in Virginia because of Nat Turner’s slave rebellion, the slave owners’ in North Carolina were taking precautions and called to order another muster. The muster, is one of the only times that the poor whites are enabled to assert power over the slaves by raiding their houses and even beating them. They took pride of this day because they were respected in the eyes of the slave owners’ in their county and feared by the slaves, which made them feel