The Impact of Slavery

By Dana Rose

The tragedy of slavery was not only a travesty for the slaves, but it was also a corruption against the slaveholders.  As Frederick Douglass looked back upon his life, he finds that slavery changed otherwise good people, into harsh, unfeeling individuals.  Slavery was an evil that could make a kind person, unkind.

This is not to take away from the horror of the enslaved, but to show that it affected all individuals involved.  How could the act of owning a person change the psyche of someone who would have otherwise been a good and loving person?  Douglass describes his owner Hugh Auld’s wife, Sophia,. as a warm, caring and kind woman; this would soon change.

Sophia decides to teach Douglass how to read.  When Mr. Auld finds this out, he becomes extremely angry and explains that if you teach a slave to read, you give him knowledge. According to vicious slave owners, slaves must be kept ignorant and fearful in order to perform their duties.

How can a person change their entire attitude in such a short amount of time?  How can a human whose first instinct is to be kind, transform into an unfeeling person?  Douglass blames the entire travesty of slavery rather than the individual slaveholders themselves.

The fact that a seemingly loving person, one who is welcoming and accepting of all people can change so quickly is a testament to the evils of slavery.  Douglass gives the example of slave owners that were not born owning slaves to show the corruptness and vileness of slavery.  Even the nicest person can be changed when given power over another human being.   

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Dana Rose is a former student at North Harris College who is currently pursuing her degree at the University of Houston Downtown.