While reading Christopher Hager  Word by word Emancipation and the act of writing there were a lot of key tools that help exposes the unsettling truth that the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.. This rule is not only enforced by tools  like reading and writing but it also steams down to the family tree. Slave masters did not want there slaves being able to read or write because of then they will have the realization of what was truly going on  “If African American slaves acquired literacy they could be required to use it more or less than white people . They especially would use it southerners feared to rebel or escape”(pg31)”. Also their family history was non and void because the more of a chance their “property” would run away.

Not only is this an oppression on black people who are enslaved but also an issue middle class people and Christians, Religion was a big part  of the argument of letting slaves read and write . On one hand Slaves should not be able to do so because that is not what they were put on the plantation to do and are worth property , on the hand Christianity was a big part of the slave owners life and if you were able to introduce   a “inhuman” person to god and civilization it would seem like the most Christian thing to do and you would be doing a good deed. Also the economic gap between southerners and northerners were big northerners were not only against slavery because of their morals but because southerners were make so much of a profit off of slaves that northers saw a problem because they were not  making the same amount of money.

Many slaves  started to think about that their life would look like without slavery and would it be without white people? As the civil war came around many  black people wanted to fight and let the presence be known but the lack of integrity and ignorance did not want black people to fight. However the civil war did not lead to social/racial justice like everyone thought. The civil war did in fact bring awareness all over the United States and binds people together to fight  slavery. After the civil war was over slaves were very confused on what to do next some slaves didn’t even want to be free because they were scared of what was going to happen and had no guidance on how to survive.

While reading Douglass, Narrative of the life of  Fredrick Douglass something that was interesting to me was how vulnerable he was throughout the text knowing that the people who would be reading this are the same people who were enslaving him.

As a person who was enslaved not knowing who your parents were/having a relationship with them creates a lack of identity for yourself. Thus creates a problem bigger than yourself of having to grow up on your own and in sense raise your self while being enslaved. ” The whisper that my master was my father, may or may
not be true; and, true or false, it is of but little consequence to my
purpose whilst the fact remains, in all its glaring odiousness, that
slaveholders have ordained, and by law established, that the children of
slave women shall in all cases follow the condition of their mothers; and
this is done too obviously to administer to their own lusts” (Chapter 1). The normalization of white masters being the father of an enslaved child shows how the bodies of black women were not of value unless it was used for profit or sexual needs.

Later on in the chapters I learned the Douglass has a way of being aware of the tiniest details that on an everyday basis others would not care about. He listens to the voice of everyone that comes his way . He has this certain narrative that allows the reader to feel like they know they story of every person Douglass came into contact with and read the text with more empathy. While living on different plantations  Douglass witnesses the dynamics of white families and how they interact with others and the lack of Douglass had with his,

Fredrick Douglass understands that the position that he is in being enslaved is not  his fault and doesn’t seem to actually put blame on anybody for his enslavement instead he is acknowledging all of the effects that slavery have everybody, Douglass is documenting basically is whole life and the pain that he suffuse but he is not only speaking for himself but for other enslaved people because slaves endured  a lot of the same problems because they were slaves. I wonder if Douglass knew that what he was doing would create a abolitionist movement and want other people to start a change. He didn’t have to use violence to get his point across but using his experiences and words did  a lot