Frederick
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Corrupted Minds
Frederick Douglas reveals through his "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas" the true evils of slavery. This story demonstrates that the Southern slave owner would use any available method of brutality on his slaves. Slaves who were human beings: men, women and children. These same slave owners who were inflicting this violence were the same people who went to church every Sunday and were upholding freedom and democracy. Slavery was a system that corrupted the minds of many American citizens who felt that it was justified to treat their slaves cruelly, brutally and not at all the way they themselves would want to be treated.
Violence was a common part of a slave's life. The brutality the slaves endured from their masters and the institution of slavery is illustrated in Douglas's autobiography. Slave owners used many inhumane methods of discipline to keep their workers in line and used the Bible as an excuse to have the ability to legally whip their slaves. An example of this can be seen on page 381 where a slave master quotes a Scripture from the bible while whipping one of his slaves. The slave master said, "I have seen him tie up a lame young woman, and whip her with a heavy cowskin upon her naked shoulders causing the warm blood to drip; and in justification of the bloody deed, he would quote this passage of Scripture "He that knoweth his master's will and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes...