Voice & Identity in "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" This essay discusses the book NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS, AN AMERICAN SLAVE: WRITTEN BY HIMSELF, by Frederick Douglass, John W. Blassingame, John R. McKivigan (Editor) and Peter P. Hinks (Yale University, 2001).

Frederick Douglass was an early-19th century American slave who escaped the South and found freedom in the North. Seven years after his escape, Douglass published "Narratives of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave," his story of his life under the brutal system of American slavery, as well as his ability to prevail under and escape such difficult circumstances. It has become an American classic.

Narrative of the Life," published in 1845, was the first book of Douglass' writing and journalism career. He went on from "Narratives" to become an accomplished speaker and journalist, arguing passionately for the abolition of slavery, and describing in detail the terror and oppression suffered by slaves and Blacks in the South. He became the preeminent spokesperson in the abolitionist movement.

Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in 1817 in the South. His father was most likely his white slave owner. Douglass was sold and resold to various white owners multiple times. A highly intelligent and curious boy, he taught himself how to write and read despite laws forbidding slave literacy, risking severe punishment at the hands of his slaveowners.

After escaping to the North, he was asked to speak at an abolitionist conference he attended and spoke so well and so convincingly that he was soon being asked to speak at other conferences. Eventually, he became well-known nationally as an eloquent orator.

After the publication of "Narratives of the Life," which quickly became a national bestseller, many former pro-slavery Americans changed their minds about the moral correctness of slavery. "Narratives" also provided further inspiration and support for the abolitionists. Indeed, it was the inspiration for Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin."

Douglass was still a fugitive slave, however, and therefore still had to hide from his slaveowner. He fled to England upon the publication of "Narratives of the Life" and subsequently managed to raise the money from newfound friends to buy his freedom from his master.

After Douglass returned to the United States, the Civil War started. By this time, Douglass was fed up with the constant moral battle with pro-slavery advocates, as he realized that their minds would not easily be changed.

Hence, he had become more and more defiant over the years. In fact, he had a feud with one of his closest allies and friends, William Lloyd Garrison (who wrote the preface to "Narratives of the Life ") and parted ways with him because Douglass felt Garrison was not militant enough.

The North won the Civil War, and the Black slaves were freed, causing most white Americans to lose interest in the plight of Blacks. But Douglass continued to fight for the rights of Black Americans, opposing the Jim Crow South, its attendant brutalities (including routine lynchings) and post-Reconstruction racism.

Douglass died in 1895, a famous national figure and an accomplished writer and orator.

Essay

Narrative of the Life" is a vivid portrayal of slavery and the tragic conditions of slave life. Douglass describes the vicious brutalities committed by the white slaveowners and shows how the institution of slavery de-humanizes both slave and master. (Douglas regards so-called "religious" slaveowners as the worst, most hypocritical masters of all.)

Frederick Douglass wrote "Narratives of the Life " as part of quest to establish his own voice and identity as a Black man. Part of the art of domination and oppression is masterfully stripping the subjugated of their original identity and replacing it with a carefully crafted, carefully scripted identity conceived by the oppressors. Of course, this psychological terror only works if the larger societal structure is such that it supports the message of inferiority being received by the subjugated class.

As the twenty-first century scholar Leon Higginbotham, Jr. wrote in his article "The Ten Precepts of American Slavery Jurisprudence: Chief Justice Roger Taney's Defense and Justice Thurgood Marshall's Condemnation of the Precept of Black Inferiority": "[f]or centuries, the perceived inferiority of blacks and the superiority of whites provided the justification for European and American enslavement of Africans." Even to this day, the quest for identity pervades the work of people of color in the United States, because historically, white America has silenced their unique...

The myth that was perpetrated was of a simple, dim-witted, child-like group of people who were one step below whites and just one step above animals.
As Higginbotham writes in "The Ten Precepts," "[o]ne rationale for the presumed inferiority of the African slave was that the African was not presumed human at all." Therefore, it was morally acceptable to own Blacks as slaves, and it was equally acceptable to beat them and treat them cruelly because as childlike dim-wits who were not quite human, they required severe punishment to understand the rules and customs of their masters' households.

These stereotypes were white Americans' own narratives designed to entrench the vicious system of slavery in the American South and in the minds of white Americans as a just and proper system of social order.

Indeed, because these stereotypes were so deeply ingrained in the 19th century American consciousness, many people doubted that Douglass was the author of "Narratives of the Life." They simply could not believe that a Black man - and a former slave at that! - could have the mental or literary ability to write such a masterful, convincing book.

They argued that the abolitionist movement had hired a ghostwriter to pen the manuscript. This illustrates the point of how deeply ingrained the mythology of the shiftless, ignorant slave was in the consciousness of white Americans. Even when the contrary evidence was right in front of their face, they resorted to all sorts of mental shenanigans to rule out the possibility that the world order and mythology they had so carefully constructed was nothing but a house of cards.

No other pervasive narrative existed at that about Black Americans. The abolitionists were fighting hard to end the system of slavery, but they didn't have a narrative, a compelling story to tell to justify the abolition of slavery.

And as all great trial lawyers know, the facts of the case may be 100% on your side, but you must have a story, i.e., a narrative, to convince people as to why your version of the facts is the correct one.) In white Americans minds', therefore, Black Americans truly were second-class citizens and a different race of people, and although their plight elicited some sympathy even among non-abolitionists, white Americans had not been given any story that would truly convince them that it was morally wrong to enslave Blacks.

Incredibly, the American legal system accepted this narrative as jurisprudence.

Under the federal law, a slave was literally only a fraction of a person; indeed, he or she was merely the property of the master.

As Higginbothwm explains: "the precept of property described a right of the master. According to that precept, the master owned the slave much in the same way was he owned his horse." Moreover, in the legal system, the white slaveowners' testimony was deemed more credible than any slaves', as any white person was deemed superior to any Black person. Finally, the legal system treated slaves not only as fractions of a person, but also as property. Imagine the strength of a dominating classes' narrative that propagates the myth that each member of the oppressed class is not only a mere fraction of a person, but is also the mere property of a member of the ruling class. Such myths are bound to have tragic consequences for the members of the subjugated class and their progeny for many, many generations. Indeed, we are witnessing the effects of these mythologies to this day, and can expect to bear witness to them for many years to come.

Narrative of a Slave" marked the first public narrative coming from the voice of a slave. In that regard alone, it was historic.

Even more significantly, as mentioned, it had the effect of changing white American's attitudes towards Blacks and towards slavery in general. And it was the instigator for Harriet Beecher Stowe's seminal work, "Uncle Tom's Cabin."

But even more profoundly for Black Americans and the slaves themselves, it was the first time a slave had claimed the right to give voice to his own identity and to the true plight of the slaves.

In "Narratives of the Life," Douglass wrote:

Sincerely and earnestly hoping that this little book may do something toward throwing light on the American slave…