Slave Narrative Analysis
By taking a look at the following primary sources from Northrup, Jacobs, and Douglass, I discovered that not only were slaves negatively effected by slavery, but the slave masters also suffered form brutalizing conclusions of power. Specifically I viewed the excerpts organized around theme of master - slave relationships from the website National Humanities Center. I discovered how not only slaves had an expectation from the public and masters to do their job, but the slave masters themselves were expected to act as an oppressor to the slaves. I found this interesting because although I was aware of how slave masters treated their slaves, I was not aware of how they were so called supposed to act as a cruel ruler and treat them as property rather than human beings. Coming to this realization made me feel uneasy and allowed me to raise the question of why were master expected to essentially be dictators? Did this ability to be able to force people to do work symbolize great power? Along with this heartbreaking point, I also found that not only the whites views of slaves were inhuman, the slave masters also believed that African Americans were born to be forced into slavery. I also found this agonizing and raised another question of why did whites believe in something so horrible, and why it was specifically African Americans who they believed to be immortal enough to not be treated as people? Was it only because they looked different that everyone else? Not only did this primary source teach me about the master vs slave expectations, this source also was an eyeopening experience for me to realize how awful it was for slave masters to be expected to essentially be dictators along with slaves being treated as property rather than a human being.
Questions:
1. Why were slave masters expected to be tyrants? Was this a symbol of power?
2. Why did whites believe that African Americans were created to become slaves? Was this only because they looked different?
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