Argumentative Essay On American Slavery

American Slavery; A Woman’s Suffering Slavery is the dark past of American history. The sad truth is the land of the brave and the home of the free was built upon the backs of African American slaves who had yet to experience the sweet taste of freedom. Men and women, both struggling to survive under the harsh conditions, the never ending labor and inhumane torture. However, the experience of slavery is far different for women than it was for men. Slave women endured the relentless agony of physical, mental and emotional abuse and exploitation.
Frederick Douglass, author of his autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and a slave described the treatment of slave women when mentions the brutal whipping of his Aunt Hester. Douglass described the gory scene when he states, “He then told her to cross her hands, calling her at the same time a d--d b--h. After crossing her hands, he tied them with a strong rope, and led her to a stool under a large hook in the joist, put in for the purpose. He made her get upon the stool, and tied her hands to the hook. She now stood fair for his infernal purpose. Her arms were stretched up at their full length, so that she stood upon the ends of

Harriet Jacobs, author of the narrative Incidents in The Life of a Slave Girl describes in vivid detail her own trials and tribulations growing up in slavery. One incident she depicts was the years she struggled under the ownership of Dr. and Mrs. Flint. Jacobs describes the foul and inappropriate actions Dr. Flint displays with the singular goal of forcing her into sexual submission. This was just one type of mental torture that she must endure for years, always having to evade his attempts but never being to aggressive in her effort to avoid his overtures for fear of physical retribution. This type of mental agony against a young girl can create emotional scars that never