Reevaluating Perceptions of Slavery

1112 Words3 Pages

Overlooking Equality As every child grows up, normally they are taught that everybody is equal. No matter who you are, race, gender, or color, you are just as equal as the person next to you. At least, that was how I was raised. I was raised in a Christian family where I learned that everyone is equal and slavery was a very bad event in American history. The idea of slavery was that slave owners would buy and use people to work on their plantations without needing to pay them. This meant that is was basically free labor. After reading the books the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and Uncle Tom 's Cabin, my preconceived notion of slavery was changed dramatically. My idea of slavery was that African Americans were either brought to America, or were already in America, and were forced to do work against their will. Their work environments were extremely harsh and inhumane. But, after reading these …show more content…

It went from understanding that slaves were forced to do work in terrible work environments and were treated so poorly, to now understanding that there was even more to it. There were slave masters that were totally against educating their slaves because it was inhumane and would rather have illiterate slaves. Making their slave property better because they do not have to worry about them learning the better ways of life. Then there were also slave owners that were for educating slaves. Treating it as a responsibility instead of unlawful. This being said, the overall impact of slavery on America was a dramatic one. When looking back at slavery in America, people now understand the horrific events thats occurred and how poorly people were treated. Now that they understand the history of slavery, people now look at it as something terrible in our history and want to embrace equality, instead of denying

More about Reevaluating Perceptions of Slavery

Open Document