The Making of a Human

I’ve been scarred and battered.
My hopes the wind done scattered.
Snow has friz me, sun has baked me.
Looks like between ‘em
They done tried to make me
Stop laughin’, stop lovin’, stop livin’--
But I don’t care!
I’m still here!
-Langston Hughes (1902-1967)
Hughes, in his poem “Still Here” (1902-1967), describes a prime example of what it might have felt like to be a slave. In the 1800’s, blacks had to go through numerous difficult times which included strenuous labor followed by horrendous abuse, emotional as well as physical. Nevertheless, a few slaves were able to persevere and escape from these detestable occurrences and flee north to freedom. Frederick Douglass is one particular individual who did just that and then started his career as an abolit...