Chapter 11 and Appendix

Chapter 11 is about Douglass’s escape from slavery. Something interesting was how Douglass described the Underground Railroad. Although he benefited from their underground activities, he didn’t necessarily approve. He called the Underground Railroad the “upperground railroad”.

“They do nothing towards enlightening the slave, whilst they do much towards enlightening the master. They stimulate him to greater watchfulness, and to enhance his power to capture his slave. “ (66).

Douglass believed that abolitionists and the Underground Railroad were making it harder for slaves to escape, ruining their chances of freedom. It was interesting that even though they helped him escape slavery, he was still not approving of their actions.

During Douglass’ narrative, we see very little emotion. We believe this is done to ad to the strength of his narrative. What is very interesting is that in this chapter, he finally begins to show this emotion.

“The thought of leaving my friends was decidedly the most painful thought which I had to contend. The love of them was my tender point, and shook my decision more than all things else.”  (68).

Gaining his freedom was something that was not even a question to Douglass, it was a necessity, but with doing so, he has to leave everything and everyone he has known behind.  Prior to this event, emotion was something that Douglass didn’t show us. As he is about to become a “free man”, this emotion exemplifies the transformation from being “property” to becoming a human being. 

            Douglass description of religion and Christianity in the end of the text is very thought provoking and empowering. He has told us earlier in the text that religious slave owners were the worst, and this seems as though it would be contradictory, but he explains to us why he believes they are worse, and with everything he says, it makes the reader not just believe, but know it too. Douglass states that the Christian’s would give everything to God, and nothing to the slaves, “…represented as professing to love God whom they have not seen, whilst they hate their brother whom they have seen.” (77). This statement is very empowering, because through the history of slavery we know that it’s true. While they call themselves true Christians, they are still content with beating men, women, and children. This solidifies the fact that white people truly did not believe that slaves were even humans.

I also wanted to add a couple of links to an experiment that maybe some of you have seen, but it really is something worth watching. A 3rd grade teacher in a prominently white area, teaches her students a lesson on what it is like to be discriminated against, and what you see is shocking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BrFHq-t2VY&feature=related (PART 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UbNp15zDtE&feature=related (PART 2) Esp. watch 2:30

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPIxU6_ClIM&feature=related (PART 3)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPIxU6_ClIM&feature=related (PART 4)

Fredrick Douglass Ch 3-8

In the Narrative of Frederick Douglass his mistress was going to teach Fredrick Douglass how to read. His master would not allow that to happen,

“A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master-to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world. Now if you teach that nigger how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master.” (Douglass 29).

     Hearing this, young Douglass saw this as his way to freedom.  But knowledge was a curse; it only made him realize how bad his condition really is. Knowledge is in all societies seen as a positive aspect. For Douglass it is a curse since it only made him realize how bad and inhumane his situation was, but there was no way to actually escape. In a sense he could see the light but was unable to reach it. He learned about this wonderful free society that could not be achieved. Baltimore was a step closer to freedom compared to the plantation, but it still could not be attained.

We thought it was interesting how the freedom in Baltimore affected Douglass. Although in Baltimore he was a slave he was treated better and learned how to read and write. When he was forced to go back to the plantation, he saw himself differently then the other slaves. He lost a “connection” with them; he had seen freedom therefore he was almost better than the other slaves. This is not only an effect of this “freedom” he had in Baltimore but also the education he received. The plantation slaves can’t read, Douglass has learned about the free world through newspapers and books he was able to get a hold of. He was separated from them since they had no aspirations to be free from the horrible institution of slavery. Education almost created a “new class” for Douglass within the slaves. Learning to read had separated him from his fellow slaves, it had set him apart and opened him to a new world.

            Another aspect that caught our eyes during these chapters was the effect that slavery had not only on the slaves but also on the masters. The mistress (Mrs. Auld) that Fredrick Douglass first met was kind hearted and treated him with an attitude that he was so unfamiliar with he didn’t know how to respond. Mrs. Auld was also teaching Fredrick how to read, but Mr. Auld swiftly put that to an end, as he stated that teaching a slave to read was bad for everyone in the party. This brings us to think about the aspect of fear. Earlier we discussed that fear was a main expression in making/breaking a slave, but it appeared to us that in this section of the book, fear was another aspect in making a master. Mrs. Auld was afraid of what her husband would do if he caught her teaching Fredrick how to read, so she made it her mission to make sure he wasn’t reading at all. It seems to us that the aspect of fear was all around, and it was what made slavery happen. Not just the fear of the slaves but the masters too. Also in the earlier chapters, there was the discussion about the fear of slave masters from their own wives. The wives would see some of the more attractive women slaves as a threat, and punish for no reason at all,

“I know of such cases…such slaves invariably suffer greater hardships… They are, in the first place, a constant offence to their mistress. She is ever disposed to find fault with them; they can seldom do anything to please her; she is never better pleased than when she sees them under the lash…”

(Douglass 13-14).

The slave masters feared the repercussions of their wives, and what would happen to a mulatto child if one were to be born. If a slave master had a child with a slave, he usually had to send said child away, because if he were seen favoring the child, the wife would realize that he had sex with a slave, and probably go after the child. So fear was all around everyone. After a while, Fredrick, and all the slaves noticed a change in Mrs. Auld. She was no longer this happy woman who treated the slaves as almost equals. She had changed into a woman who didn’t care about them, and she believed that they were not as good as her anymore. Slavery changes people; it changes how they think of others, and who they are as a person, because of what they are surrounded by and information that is being forced upon them. We believe that fear was a huge aspect around both sides of slavery, and it can be found throughout these first eight chapters.

The Making of a Slave

We believe that there are many things that go into making a slave, but the three that seemed to stick out to us in Douglass' narrative were, breaking the slave down, separating them from their families, and not allowing them personal possessions, or anything that made them feel human. Slaves have no true sense of identity or belonging, they are forced to be ignorant about their family and where they come from. The Slave owners would extract mothers from their infants within a year of them being born.Without knowing their family, slaves have no true sense of identity.


The slave owners would physically and mentally break down the slaves by instilling fear into them, they were too scared to run away or to do anything wrong because of the fear of the repercussions.The torture that slaves incurred as “property” ensured that a lot of slaves would not have the energy and also fear the consequences if they tried to escape.Slaves are property under law; they have no rights and no identity because they are not “human” in a legal sense.

Another factor that goes into enslaving people is not allowing them personal possessions. The slaves were rationed amounts of clothing, food, and they were not given a place to sleep. If any “human” has any African heritage they automatically become a slave. These factors do contribute to enslaving both a population and individuals, if you can break an entire group of people and make them feel enough like property, then they begin to feel this too. But, there are slaves who didn’t believe this and they hoped and dreamed of freedom, which is why we believe Frederick Douglass chose to include this in the beginning of his narrative, he was one of those people who would not give up until he was free.

Kristin's Introduction

I am a Junior History Major at the University of Redlands. I am a member of Phi Alpha Theta, the National History Honor Society.  As a History major, my area of interest is American History. I hope to bring some of my background knowledge into the blog. This blog is for English 233, African American Literature. The purpose of this blog for the class is to prepare us for energetic discussions in class.

I have created this blog to increase my understanding of Literature and African American History through the analyzing of autobiographies. By constanly analyzing each reading, I hope to gain a better understanding of the books. I hope that this blog will allow me to develop an "online voice".  This will allow me to be more prepared for writting essays on topics pertraining to the literature.

Joy's Introduction

My name is Joy and I am currently a student at the University of Redlands. My major is English Literature and I am also getting my teaching credentials in hopes of one day being a second grade teacher. I’m a junior this year and I am also a member of the university’s swim and water polo team.

The purpose of this blog is to further discuss African-American literature and to build knowledge with both text, and with outside information. The blog will also give others an opportunity to respond, and other ideas to be brought forth to my attention. This blog will also give a feeling of security where I can properly express my feelings without the fear of being judged, which will make it easier to get ideas across.

The class that I am currently enrolled in is an English course titled African-American Literature 233-01. Our blogs in this class will be used as an outlet to further express our reactions and ideas that we have while reading these novels. It also allows us to pull outside information and put it into the blog.

This is the first blog I have ever had and I hope that it is interesting. I love reading and I love responding to literature, so I hope that my blog will really put this across to its readers and that they will enjoy it. My goal is to really look for outside sources and try to be as creative as possible.