Slaves and Slaveholders are Dehumanized
Slavery makes one man the property of another man. Frederick Douglass wrote an autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, and at the time many people believed that slavery was completely natural. It was acceptable to chain a man and force him to do intense labor all day. However, the consequences of slavery were not just bad for the slaves, but were also bad for the slave owners. Slavery was dehumanizing for everyone involved.
The reasons that slavery is dehumanizing for the slaves are clear. They are stripped of basic rights and many slaves do not know their age or even their parents. Douglass states, “By far the largest part of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant” (Douglass, 47). Slaves are also beaten, raped and treated in ways that humans should never be treated. They are conditioned to believe that they are supposed to be slaves and many slaves do not even hate their masters. Douglass recalls, “I have been frequently asked , when a slave, if I had a kind master, and do not remember ever to have given a negative answer; nor did I, in pursuing this course, consider myself as uttering what was absolutely false” (62). This shows that slaves are dehumanized because they accept their condition as property and in some cases they are even loyal to their masters.
There is reason to believe that slave owners are even more dehumanized than their slaves. This is because they are the ones in control. Slaves do not have a choice whether they are to become a slave or not so they cannot be blamed. A slave owner chooses to own slaves and chooses to treat them poorly. Slavery causes slave owners to become cruel and do things that a normal person would not even think about doing. Douglass states, “Mr. Severe was rightly named: he was a cruel man. I have seen him whip a woman. Causing the blood to run half an hour at the time… he seemed to take pleasure in manifesting his fiendish barbarity” (55). This is an example of how a slave owner is dehumanized because he has no compassion or sympathy for beating another person. Some slave owners raped their slaves and those slaves gave birth to their children. Douglass talks about this and says “The master is frequently compelled to sell this class of his slaves, out of deference to the feelings of his white wife; and, cruel as the deed may strike any one to be, for a man to sell his own children to human flesh-ongers, it is often the dictate of humanity for him to do so” (49). The slave owner commits several acts of inhumanity by raping and then selling his own children with the knowledge that they will suffer.
Slavery is unnatural. It causes the owner and the slave to act in ways that humans do not normally act. I find it disturbing that it was once considered normal and it was a common occurance in our country.
I find Brent's final statement that "Slavery is unnatural" thought provoking. Is slavery unnatural? This raises the question of whether or not it is a part of human nature to try and dominate whatever weaker source they can. Darwinism? Is this a part of the survival of the fittest? Surely slavery did not only take place in the antebellum south of the United States throughout the 19th century. Records of slavery date back to thousands of years ago, and are still present today. Now, it is not my argument that slavery is just, or "normal". I disagree whole-heartedly with the institution of slavery and am ashamed that it plays such a strong part in our country's history. But, I do believe it is natural for humans to try and dominate the things that they can, whether it be animals, a certain situation, or even other humans. It feeds into the power that human's tend to seek to feel adequate.
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