It is said that history is written by the victors or those that have managed to stay in power. This history when written often overlooks or tries to silence completely the voices of those defeated. Even the United States is not immune to this revision of facts. We can easily see this throughout our own national history, especially the time period centered on slavery. In order to fully understand why revising history to suit the victor’s one must look at the accounts of those defeated (if they happen to survive the revision). In looking at the issues surrounding slavery we can compare a few accounts from escaped and free slaves to that of a couple prominent southern whites who attempted to justify and support slavery. The accounts of the slaves are graphic and at times disturbing but help to paint a clearer picture of the historic events at the time. Unfortunately written accounts of the ordeals that the slaves have gone through are rather rare. Many slaves after all were prevented from learning how to read and write. However the few written accounts available are able to help illustrate the grim reality they went through. These writings can easily be contested with a typical history book which often deals with the problems slavery caused clinically with little detail on how brutal the institution was. To explore the problem of not only revisionist history but of slavery itself we turn to 19th century American writer Fredrick Douglas. Douglas was an escaped slave, and also one of the few that were able to write down and get published his account of his treatment from plantation owners and overseers. His account is very detailed and at sometimes rather graphic, and compares his treatment from many different masters thro... ... middle of paper ... ...ts. Works Cited Douglass, Frederick. (1845). Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Boston: Anti Slavery Office Jacobs, Harriet A. (1861). The Trials of Girlhood. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Independence Hall Association. 2014. “The Southern Argument for Slavery.” Accessed April 19. http://www.ushistory.org/us/27f.asp. Northup, Solomon. (1853). Twelve Years a slave: Narrative of Solomon Northrup, a Citizen of New York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. The UltraThin Edition. 2011. Wheaton: Crossway: Good News Publishers, 2001. Twell, Jeremy, J. 2011. “A Difference of Complexion: George Fitzhugh and the Birth of the Republican Party”. The Historian 237-239.
Frederick Douglass 1818-1895. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter. Boston: Houghton, 1998. 1578-1690.
There are many contradictions pertaining to slavery, which lasted for approximately 245 years. In Woody Holton’s “Black Americans in the Revolutionary Era”, Holton points out the multiple instances where one would find discrepancies that lie in the interests of slaveowners, noble figures, and slaves that lived throughout the United States. Holton exemplifies this hostility in forms of documents that further specify and support his claim.
The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass: 1844-1860. Vol. 5. New York: International Publishers, 1975.
Boston: G.K. Hall, 1999. Foner, Philip S. The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass, Volume II Pre-Civil War Decade. 1850 - 1860 -. NY: International Publishers Co., Inc., 1950.
People attending schools before 1960’s were learning about certain “unscrupulous carpetbaggers”, “traitorous scalawags”, and the “Radical Republicans”(223). According to the historians before the event of 1960’s revision, these people are the reason that the “white community of South banded together to overthrow these “black” governments and restore home rule”(223). While this might have been true if it was not for the fact that the “carpetbaggers were former Union soldiers”, “Scalawags… emerged as “Old Line” Whig Unionists”(227). Eric Foner wrote the lines in his thesis “The New View of Reconstruction” to show us how completely of target the historians before the 1960’s revision were in their beliefs.
To understand the desperation of wanting to obtain freedom at any cost, it is necessary to take a look into what the conditions and lives were like of slaves. It is no secret that African-American slaves received cruel and inhumane treatment. Although she wrote of the horrific afflictions experienced by slaves, Linda Brent said, “No pen can give adequate description of the all-pervading corruption produced by slavery." The life of a slave was never a satisfactory one, but it all depended on the plantation that one lived on and the mast...
Douglass, Frederick. “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.” The Classic Slave Narratives. Ed. Henry Louis Gates Jr. New York: Penguin Group, 1987.
In, “The Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass”, readers get a first person perspective on slavery in the South before the Civil War. The author, Frederick Douglass, taught himself how to read and write, and was able to share his story to show the evils of slavery, not only in regard to the slaves, but with regard to masters, as well. Throughout Douglass’ autobiography, he shares his disgust with how slavery would corrupt people and change their whole entire persona. He uses ethos, logos, and pathos to help establish his credibility, and enlighten his readers about what changes needed to be made.
Douglass, Frederick. “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave: Written by Himself (ed. John Blassingame) Yale University Press, 2001.
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. The Classic Slave Narratives. Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. New York: New American Library, 1987. 243-331.
In the Autobiography, “Narrative Life of Fredrick Douglas: An American Slave,” Fredrick Douglas writes to show what the life of a slave is like, because from personal experience, he knows. Fredrick Douglas not only shows how his life has been as a slave but shows what it is like to be on the bottom and be mistreated. Douglas shows that freedom isn’t free, and he took the initiative to become a free man. Not many African-Americans had the opportunity to make themselves free and were forced to live a life of disparity and torture. Through his experience Douglas shows us the psychological effects of slavery. Through Douglas’s memory we are able to relive the moments that continued to haunt his life. Douglas’s book showed the true
For most American’s especially African Americans, the abolition of slavery in 1865 was a significant point in history, but for African Americans, although slavery was abolished it gave root for a new form of slavery that showed to be equally as terrorizing for blacks. In the novel Slavery by Another Name, by Douglas Blackmon he examines the reconstruction era, which provided a form of coerced labor in a convict leasing system, where many African Americans were convicted on triumphed up charges for decades.
Douglas, Frederick. Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (The Harper Single Volume American Literature 3rd edition) 1845:p.1017-1081
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, brings to light many of the social injustices that colored men, women, and children all were forced to endure throughout the nineteenth century under Southern slavery laws. Douglass's life-story is presented in a way that creates a compelling argument against the justification of slavery. His argument is reinforced though a variety of anecdotes, many of which detailed strikingly bloody, horrific scenes and inhumane cruelty on the part of the slaveholders. Yet, while Douglas’s narrative describes in vivid detail his experiences of life as a slave, what Douglass intends for his readers to grasp after reading his narrative is something much more profound. Aside from all the physical burdens of slavery that he faced on a daily basis, it was the psychological effects that caused him the greatest amount of detriment during his twenty-year enslavement. In the same regard, Douglass is able to profess that it was not only the slaves who incurred the damaging effects of slavery, but also the slaveholders. Slavery, in essence, is a destructive force that collectively corrupts the minds of slaveholders and weakens slaves’ intellects.
[2] When scholars and historians write history books, they are usually limited by their sense of nationalism or patriotism. They hesitate (or avoid altogether) to write about events or institutions that make the United States look bad. As James Loewen points out, history textbooks "...leave out anything that might reflect badly [on] our national character" (2). Most citizens of the United States are proud of the United States, its history, and its present role in the world’s affairs. They do not want to write or read about wrongs and injustices that the United States government or state governments have allowed or even encouraged. Eric Foner, professor of history at Columbia University, mentioned in a show called "Who Owns History", that the founding fathers considered slavery when writing the constitution and that the constitution strengthened the institution of slavery, by giving slaveholders more power. Most people have never heard of this because the constitution was always heralded as an incredible piece of writing that created a fair and balanced government. Historians avoided mentioning that the constitution strengthened slavery because that would taint the legacy of the constitution and the United States as a whole. History that we learn in school is not an unbiased narration of facts; it is molded and interpreted by the historians who write about it. Historians are constantly influenced by national pride and the desire to make our nation look good.