Slavery is cruel, wicked, and violates the great laws of liberty written on every human heart. It is not the brutality of it which makes it evil, but the lack of freedom that it promises. This is a fact. The Declaration of Independence contradicts the very institution.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” You cannot form a country on the basis that every individual has the right to liberty, and then outlaw an entire race of their freedom.
I'd like to ask you, what is the Fourth of July to slave? It is a mockery. Your celebration of independence only strengthens the differences between a freeman and a slave, bringing a blot upon the American name.
Through my experience I have seen first hand that this establishment is forced upon many you. When I became a slave to Mr Auld, I recall one instance where his wife began to teach me how to read. Mr Auld caught wind of this and scolded his wife, in short saying "It would forever unfit him to be a slave." Ever since Mrs Auld never treated me the same. However the white mans fear of an educated slave only drove me to become more educated.
Your ownership of slaves is having a more significant impact on you rather than your slave even. When you are under the belief that slavery is part of the natural structure of society, you will see damaging effects to yourself. Mrs Auld being evidence of this.
The only reason you are able to have control over your slaves is not because of the physical aspect, but the mental one. You fear that your world would crumble if your subservient had the same knowledge as you did. Im of course referring to the contented slave scheme.
When I was twenty years old I escaped to New York and began working as an anti slavery orator and activist. The works that I created shed light on how I was treated while in bondage. The reaction to my works were mixed but impressive.
If I were to describe my experiences with slavery we could be here all day. Instead I'd like to talk to you about the impression it leaves on a slave when they first arrive to begin the worst years of their lives. Hardship, hunger, whipping, and nakedness are the themes of the short story I am about to describe.
At the Lloyd plantation I spent my first eight years, where the overseer's where extremely cruel to slaves. No trace of kindness from anyone. After my time with Ms. Auld I returned to this plantation with a new perspective of slavery, that a hateful mindset was taught and not provided in birth.
To tame my "unruliness", I was beaten regularly. The end goal I assume was to make me feel broken, and remind me of my place as a slave and a black man. However, I prevailed through these hardships and worked my way to freedom after being imprisoned.
To me freedom was more than just being away from bondage, my mind had to be free as well. This is what made me powerful, and what many of you were afraid of. Education sows the first seeds of freedom. You are afraid that if the slaves you own become free men and women, then they will finally gain a sense of who they really are.
So I ask you. Should an organization that it built upon that themes of fear and bondage really exist in the land of the free?
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/frederick-douglass/
https://www.history.com/news/frederick-douglass-
bicentennialhttps://www.ukessays.com/essays/politics/frederick-douglasss-arguments-against-slavery.php
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