My Arguement

The topic that I chose was that slavery is dehumanizing towards the slaves and the slaveholders. The centeral aruement of my paper is going to be that during the slavery, it wasn't only the slaves that were dehumanized. The slaveholders were dehumanized by their actions and the slaves were dehumanized by their sufferage and the way the were treated. I can prove this because in his story he gave multiple examples of what the slaveholders would do to them and also an example of his slaveholder stopping his mistress from teaching Douglas how to read. Another thing is that slaves were treated no better than animals on the plantations they lived at if not worse. This shows that they are being treated as something other than human, more along the lines of property. When Douglas was traded to be a littles boy's play toy this shows that he was just property. I chose this argument because I felt that i knew about this topic and that Douglas did an amazing job describing this in his story.

Response to the end of Freddy D's Story

Out of all the chapters in this story, i would believe this one to be the best. Even though i don't live in this time period, nor would i be a slave if i did, this chapter filled me with hope. If he can escape slavery then who knows what we can do today? I really liked this because he went into detail about how he planned out his escape instead of just randomly deciding to run on day. No, Douglas had a well planned out escape with a lot of thought put into it. This is why slaveholders didn't want their slaves to become educated because it gives them a better chance at escaping. Knowledge is power and Douglas had bunch of it. What marveled me was that the slaveholders didn't realize that he was trying to escape because he was asking for more work randomly. Also, im surprised they didn't catch on when he started bringing home $2-$3 more each week. Obviously they weren't the smartest people. The only part about this chapter that i didn't like were the first few paragraphs because he was talking about why he can't express certain details. Overall I am ecstatic that he escaped but a little sad because there isn't more of his story to read about after he is free. 


Question 1: If, at first, the slaveholders were suspicious about him escaping why would they let him go work for some other slaveholder?
Question 2: Why would his slaveholder give him some of the money that Douglas earned for him?


Comment 1: I liked that Douglas was outsmarting the slaveholders by working as much as he can even though they didn't trust him to not run away.
Comment 2: I didn't understand why he would change his name if he is a free man.

Response on Chapter 10

I thought that chapter 10 was not as sad as the previous chapters, it was actually hopeful when he started to escape. Then when he got caught and lost all hope it got sad, but not for long. He returned to Baltimore AGAIN which is sort of a neutral thing because he liked it there but he didn't gain the freedom that he would have liked to. I don't really have much to say about this chapter other than it had a few mixed emotions. Hopefully later on at the end of the book he succeeds in escaping.

Questions and Comments on Chapter 10

Comment 1: I didn't like that the slaveholders thought that giving them Christmas off would make them not revolt.
Comment 2: I liked how Douglas planned out his escape well before he even did it

Question 1: Would you risk life to teach several slaves like yourself how to read?
Question 2:Are there any other reasons that you can think of that Douglas would give up his money to Mr.Hugh?

Comments and Questions on Chapters 8 and 9

Chapter 8:
Comment- I don't like how the slaves are always shipped off because they never get to stay with one master or with their family.
Question- How were the slaves valued when they had to be divided?

Chapter 9:
Comment- I felt this chapter was pointless because it talks mainly about how bad his masters were and what they were like instead of Douglas.
Question- What's a "nigger-breaker"?

Chapters 8, 9, and PART of 10

Chapter 8:
        I felt that this Chapter was extremely sad because when his master and his master's family died all the slaves had to be valued and separated among his master's children. This made Douglas feel like property. I didn't like this because they had no more rank on the scale of being than animals. Douglas states that he is the only one that knows what it is like to have a nice master so the separation is harder on him, but, he is also happy to return to Baltimore. What touched me in the chapter was that his grandmother was a great contribution to he master in Baltimore but when he died she was left to die, alone, without any of her children or grandchildren. The second separation he had was also a tough one but it wasn't as tough as the one he endured in the division of property. He aslo, in this chapter, learn which way he wants to run away to and feels as if this is the most important knowledge he has.

Chapter 9:
        I liked that in chapter nine he can finally give dates. I feel as if him knowing the dates is great knowledge for him because its just another factor that he can use in his escape for when he wants to run away. What i didn't like was that the way he was being treated, he wasn't used to because he hadn't been treated so poorly in over seven years. Another factor that i liked was that although his new master was mean, he lacked the confidence to make his slaves do anything. He wasn't even able to get them to call him master. But this master also had a weird, religious side and whenever he would punish one of his slaves, he would have religious reason for it. Douglas would describe him as his worst master ever.


Chapter 10:
       Chapter ten was a pain to read, but i did enjoy it, for the part that i did read. In this paragraph he got to work as a field hand for the first time in his life. Working in the field, he had to work under all conditions. I didn't like this because it just makes it easier for you to loose slaves. I mean if your going to call them your property you might as well treat them like you treat your house. But the slaves were treated much, much worse. Douglas' only day off was Sunday in which he spent most of his time sleeping. In the chapter he says that he is gonna run away, run away to the North-East. Because of the knowledge he has obtained over the years he knows that the only way he can escape slavery is if he escapes to the North. He also says that his condition was worse during the first  six months with Mr.Covey then the last six. What i liked about this was that he stood up to Mr.Covey and fought him. He won the fight even though Master Hughes helped Mr.Covey. After this Mr.Covey never laid a finger on Fredrick Douglas again.

Comments and Questions on Chapters 5-7

GARRET IS MY PARTNER.CHAPTER 5:
         Comment: I am happy because he was able to leave the plantation and become a house slave.
         Comment: I felt sorrow for him because he had to suffer more from the cold rather than hunger.
         Question: How did he survive the winter without nothing but two shirts and a sack?
         Question: Why didn't he feel bad about leaving his brothers and sisters?
CHAPTER 6:
         Comment: I'm glad he could finally see the good in white people and realized they weren't all bad.
         Comment: I was disappointed when his new mistress who seemed nice, ended up being cruel.
         Question: Why were city slave treated better?
         Question: I understand why she stopped teaching, but why did she become cruel after all?
CHAPTER 7:
         Comment: I am glad he finally learned to read and write.
         Comment: This really is the start of Douglass' escape and career as a writer.
         Question: How did he obtain the book?
         Question: Why would the mistress go against her husband and teach him how to read and write?

Chapters 5, 6, and 7

I liked these chapters because he got to go to Baltimore where they treated slaves better. I thought it was more happy than sad in these because he was happy and well treated instead of whipped and beaten. Then I got to the part where the mistress was teaching him how to read and write. I felt this part was mean because her husband comes in and yells at her because when the slaves learn to read and write they get educated and knowledge is power. He proves that slaves are people because his master in Baltimore said that slaves would become smarter than white people if they earned to read and write. In saying this he states that the slaves have the ability to learn and become smarter than their owners.

Amistad Clips Reaction

I felt that the Africans were treated poorly on the ships but it's even worse in America. They were treated like animals, they were whipped and thrown off the ships to be dragged down to the bottom of the ocean. I think i would jump off the ship because i would try to swim till i found land. I would do this so that i don't have to deal with the torture that was inflicted on the poor souls upon the ship. If i were on board with my baby then i think i would stay on the ship because it gives my baby a better chance at survival. A baby can not survive if i were to jump off with it and carry it to shore. I doubt i wouldv'e been able to make it to shore. Also, i would think that the white man would treat a baby differently than an adult. If i were a white man trying to get slaves i would want to keep the babies heathly so i can raise them as a slave.

Chapters 2, 3, and 4 reaction

I felt that these chapters were very sad because it was talking about how the slaves were getting killed for no reason and no one was being punished for it. It also was about how badly the masters treated them but the slaves always found good in them. If i were living in that time period i wouldn't have owned slaves because they have proved to be the same as us. The colonel made me mad because he owned so many slaves that he didn't even know who they were. He would talk to them about their master and they wouldn't even know its him. If they talked bad about him, he  traded them off to some other plantation owner without telling them why. He was also cruel when it came to how he punished his slaves for not listening to him. For example, when he killed Demby for not coming out of the mud. That was a little extreme if you ask me. Why would you shoot someone for not coming out of the mud. I feel like if he just whipped him it would have been better but even that was cruel. So tonight i got EXTREMELY scared because my friend went missing, ran away, and everyone was freaking out. I was especially freaking out because i was the last one to see him so i had the cops call me and question me and all the commotion was going on and i didn't know if i was going to have time to do my homework but then the police found him and everyone was relieved. 

Chapter 1 reaction

I felt that this whole 1st chapter was about the hardships that Fredrick Douglas had to go through as a slave. This story was giving me the thought the he wasn't the happiest guy in the world. Douglas didn't know what his own birthday was, he didn't know his mother very well because she died when he was just a young boy, and his dad was his master so he felt like he didn't really have much of a family. Imagine your dad ruling over you, making you work in his fields, sleep in a cramped hut, and eat as little food as possible. I wouldn't think i had a family either. Mr.J i don't like that you assigned homework on homecoming weekend because i had to work until 9 P.M. Sunday so i didn't get done with reading until like 1 in the morning. I am sure that I'm not the only one that finished late so please, next time, don't give homework on homecoming weekend. Especially when you say you don't want us reading any of this late at night. I don;t like this new way of journal entries because when we hand wrote it you could write about anything and no one would read it but now you really have to think about what you go off on when you get off subject. The way we do it right now could cause a lot of drama if someone decides to write about someone in this class