“Sincerely and earnestly hoping that this little book may do something toward
throwing light on the American slave system, and hastening the glad day of
deliverance to the millions of my brethren in bonds…relying upon the power of
truth, love, and justice, for success in my…efforts and solemnly pledging
myself anew to the sacred cause, I subscribe myself.” (76) With these words,
Frederick Douglass ended one of the greatest pieces of propaganda of the 19th
century. Douglass wrote his autobiography as an abolitionist tool to shape his
northern audience’s view of southern slaveholders. Through personal anecdotes,
Douglass drew an accurate picture of the life of a slave. At the same time,
these events were chosen for how they would affect the northern audience’s
opinion of southern slaveholders. By using the written word, Douglass and fellow
abolitionists targeted educated northern whites because they were the only group
who could change the status quo. Illiterate northern whites and free northern
blacks could not vote while white southerners would not vote because they did
not want change. Therefore, Douglass used his life story as a tool to promote
abolition among literate northern whites. Frederick Douglass used family
relationships, starting with his birth to tug at the heartstrings of his
targeted audience. He never knew the true identity of his father, but it was
“whispered” (2) that it was his master. Douglass mentioned this to show how
the “slave holder in (many) cases, sustains to his slaves the double relation
of master and father.” (2) This was so commonplace that it was “by law
established that the children of women shall in all cases follow the condition
of their mother.” (2) This meant that these bastard children were to be slaves
despite their paternal heritage because their mother was a slave. The effect was
to shock and offend the morals of the conservative northern whites. People
involved in adulteress and interracial relationships were scorned by northern
society. By portraying these southerners as immoral and adulteress, Douglass
wanted his audience to have an unfavorable opinion of southern slaveholders.
Keeping with the theme of family values, Douglass touched on the topic of the
basic family unit. Their master separated Douglass and his mother when he was an
infant, for what reason “(Douglass) does not know.” (2) No reason was ever
given to Douglass because this was the accepted way of life on plantations.
Douglass wanted his northern white readers to be horrified that slave families
were regularly torn apart for no apparent reason. Northerners would be upset by
this because the family was the basis for their close-knit communities. Multiple
generations and extended families lived together or within close proximity to
each other. It would be unimaginable to the readers that a society existed that
took children away from their mothers without a reason. Anyone who was part of
such a society would be thought of as a heartless monster. Douglass wanted the
northern whites to lash out against these heartless monsters and abolish
slavery, thereby ending the callous practices associated with slavery. Another
example of how Douglass used family values as propaganda against southern
slaveholders was in the treatment of his grandmother. When Douglass’s master
decided that his grandmother was too old and no longer useful, “they took her
to the woods, built her a little hut…and then made her welcome to the
privilege of supporting herself in perfect loneliness; thus virtually turning
her out to die.” (28) This showed the lack of decency or gratitude on the part
of slave holders toward slaves that had faithfully, their entire lives, served
their masters. The mistreatment of elders in this manner would enrage the
readers, especially those with close-knit families, because the aged were to be
taken care of and respected until death. The usefulness of older people went
beyond physical attributes because they had a wealth of knowledge and experience
to share. The fact that slave masters could show so little regard and respect
for Douglass’s grandmother would be loathsome and despicable, and Douglass
hoped this would help influence the northern whites against the institution of
slavery. Furthermore, Douglass wanted to show the hypocrisy in the behavior of
these masters. They considered their slaves to be less than human, yet they
still desired and slept with their female slaves. This would prove to northern
whites the invalidity of southern claims that “horses and men, cattle and
women, and pigs and children all (held) the same rank in the scale of being.”
(27) If slaves were truly of less rank than animals, why would a slaveholder
want to sleep with one? Surely he would not sleep with one of his farm animals.
Northern whites would be appalled at the thought of desiring or sleeping with
anything they considered to be on a lower level of existence than animals.
Therefore, Douglass’s northern audience would be revolted by southern slave
owners. As mentioned earlier, slaves were considered to be on the same level of
existence as animals. Douglass focused on this aspect of slave treatment by
their masters to show how slaves were not considered to be human beings.
Slaveholders considered the entire race of enslaved people to have less worth
than any white person. One way the slaves were treated as animals was how they
were fed. Their food was “put into a large wooden tray or trough and…the
children were then called like so many pigs…to devour the mush; some with
naked hands, and none with spoons.” (16) Slave owners described slave children
as pigs because like pigs, the children were dirty, smelly, and they would push
each other out of the way to get as much food as possible. The children were
dirty and smelly because they were not cared for adequately by their masters,
and they pushed each other out of the way to get to the food because they were
never fed enough food. What the slaves were fed was “coarse corn meal
boiled…called mush” (16) which is similar to what farm animals were fed. The
difference between the farm animals and the slaves was that the animals were
taken care of better and always given enough to eat. Douglass repeatedly
mentions how often he “(felt) the gnawing pains of hunger.” (31) His masters
had more than an adequate supply of food but would rather it “lay moldering”
(31) than give it to the slaves. Not only is this more evidence as to the cruel
and selfish nature of slaveholders, but it shows how animals were treated better
than slaves. To know that animals were treated better than certain human beings
in the south would hit a nerve with Douglass’s targeted audience. Imaging
themselves to be treated so worthlessly by another human being, literate
northern whites would feel divided from southern slave owners. To force his
audience to feel further alienated, Douglass elaborates on the treatment of
slaves as animals in his description of the slaves’ sleeping conditions.
Masters did not give the slaves a bed to sleep on, only a “coarse blanket.”
(6) So at the end of the day, slaves “old and young, male and female, married
and single (would) drop down side by side, on one common bed- the cold damp
floor.” (6) Douglass was aware that some of his northern readers could relate
to the slaves situation because they too had once endured similar circumstances
of poor living conditions or even homelessness. But, northern society made it
possible for a person to overcome such hardships while the slave masters denied
their slaves a better existence. The institution of slavery held each successive
generation in poverty, which is an affront to the dream that many northerners
held of prosperity in the new world. Douglass hoped that the Northerners would
sympathize with the slaves’ oppression while becoming enraged with the
slaveholders who held them there. Douglass also wanted his northern audience to
be enraged by how slaveholders punished slaves. A northerner with any sense of
justice would be furious that it was not considered wrong to whip a slave
“till (they were) literally covered with blood” (4) nor was it considered a
crime to kill a slave. Masters and overseers justified severely whipping their
slaves because “it (was) the duty of a master…to whip a slave, to remind him
of his master’s authority.” (46) Slaves were whipped for the “smallest
offences to prevent the commission of larger ones.” (46) If a slave became
“unmanageable” (14). He was killed to avert other slaves from “copying the
example.” (14) Douglass detailed these horrific examples of punishment to
infuriate the northern white reader that a person was punished in advance of any
wrongdoing, was whipped almost to the brink of death, and was murdered without
it being “treated as a crime by the courts or community.” (14) Treatment of
one person by another in these ways was not tolerated in the north. This
“fiendish barbarity” (46) would appall the northern reader and would lead
them to share Douglass’s opinion that southern slave holders were truly the
“most wicked of men.” (24) To further demonstrate the wickedness of southern
slave masters, Douglass wanted his readers to know how religion was used as a
“mere covering for the most horrid crimes…a dark shelter under which the
darkest, foulest, grossest and most infernal deeds of slave holders (found) the
strongest protection.” (46) Masters would beat their slaves and then defend
their actions with quotes from the bible such as “He that knoweth his
master’s will and doeth it not shall be beaten with many stripes.” (33)
Northerners with any religious background would know that this quote and others
like it did not translate into justification for inflicting physical harm on a
slave when they did not obey their master. Douglass wanted to show his readers
how slave owners misused the teachings of the bible to strengthen their own
power and how they basically saw themselves as God to their slaves. The reader
would know the later was blasphemy, one of the seven deadly sins. As a result,
the readers would detest their southern brethren because religious slave holders
“(were) the worst…meanest and basest, the most cruel and cowardly of all
others.” (46) Combining all the ways that Douglass sought to affect his
northern audience’s opinion of southern slaveholders, he hoped to give his
readers a glimpse into the true character of southern slaveholders and the
institution of slavery itself. Douglass realized that racism was also prevalent
in the north and so his intent was not trying to achieve equal rights but basic
human rights. Douglass hoped to gain compassion for those still held in slavery
by relating experiences such as being separated from his mother when he was an
infant and not knowing whom his father was, how slaves were treated as if they
had less value than an animal, and the fact that slaves were brutally beaten and
sometimes killed without it being considered a crime. Douglass also hoped to
tarnish his northern white readers’ view of southern slave holders and their
practices by illustrating how they had adulterous and interracial affairs with
their salves whom they considered to be less than human, how they abhorrently
and unjustly mistreated and punished their slaves, and how they used religion as
a crutch for legitimizing their actions. “Slavery was a most painful
situation; and, to understand it, one must experience it, or imagine himself in
similar circumstances…then, and not till then, will he fully appreciate the
hardships of, and know how to sympathize with, the toil worn and whipped-scarred
…slave.” (64) These are Douglass’s own words that are meant as a plea for
his readers to imagine themselves in his situation to better understand the
hardships he and other slaves endured. Through the use of propaganda disguised
as The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, this man sought to alter the
relationship between two groups of people. Family values, basic human rights,
and religion were topics used to persuade the northern white audience toward the
cause of abolition. Douglass hoped that his readers would in some way share his
“hate (for) the corrupt, slave holding, woman-whipping, cradle-plundering,
partial and hypocritical Christianity of (the southern slave holders).” (71).
Slavery does not exist in today’s society so obviously Douglass’s effort was
able to help advance the cause of abolition.