The Definition of Slavery: A Look at the Experiences of Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in 1818, in Tuckahoe, Maryland. Although he would remain in bondage until September 3, 1838, his perception of his status as a slave changed though his experiences. Frederick Douglass explains numerous transitions between “man” and “slave” in the sequence of his early life in his slave narrative. Douglass uses the diverse contrast in the conditions of slavery to understand the wide range of opinions, the public as well as his own, of what it means to be a slave. Throughout the Narrative, Douglass tries to show us the various ways that the system of slavery defines a slave, and how it keeps them in that role. He himself experiences the dehumanizing effects of slavery when Covey beats him until he has turned into a "brute." The importance of this notion, however, is that it assumes that slaves begin as humans and have their humanity torn or beaten from them, a claim not shared by the slave-holders who felt that owning a slave was the same...