Fredrick Douglas
...e but now after reading Douglass’ book, I now know they are wrong. He says that blacks are better off as slaves because they are less intelligent than whites and are childlike and thus need to be taken care of. This man Frederick Douglass taught himself how to read and write and also taught others around him to do the same. Calhoun also says that slaves live comfortable lives and that they are not overworked and in exchange for the work they do are well fed and well clothed. Douglass recounts that at times in his life while living with certain Masters, he was not well fed or well clothed. At times he only had a shirt that hung down to his knees, no shoes and no pants. This is what he wore in the winter and in the summer; nothing more and nothing less. He tells of not getting enough to eat and having to go to the neighbors to beg and or steal food so he could survive. Not overworked Calhoun says, this is wrong too. Douglass tells that they would only get holidays off and even then they still had to take care of the livestock. They worked from sun up until sundown. Calhoun also says that slaves are quite happy as slaves. If the slaves are so happy than why do they runaway. Their masters think that they sing their songs because they are happy but all the while they are singing them because it is their way of mourning and they are singing about how they hate their lives and their masters so much. There are not many blacks here in Boston so until now I was just under the assumption that everything was okay. It obviously isn’t. I am thinking about starting up a group here to help these slaves get away from these horrible living conditions. Douglass tells that he has helped get some slaves to freedom. I wonder if I contact him I could help fund him so he could help more. He tells of it being extremely risky to runaway as a slave. He tells of the first time he tried to runaway and how someone told and he was taken to jail after being dragged behind a horse for 15 miles. He was taken back to his slaveholder but a friend of his was almost shot in the head because he didn’t want to be tied to the back of the horse. Douglass also talks about how people who are kind and great masters, in a second turn into hard, cruel and hateful people, like his fist mistress in Baltimore. At first she was kind and then her husband got her to be cruel and treated Frederick horribly. At one point he also says that he would rather be a slave under someone who wasn’t rel...