The first book I decided to read for Black History Month, is My Bondage and My Freedom, Frederick Douglass' account of his life as a slave, and how he achieved freedom.
From the first page, I can see how powerfully he used his words. This is the first full length narrative of someone who was enslaved that I've read, and it's definitely the most detailed. The picture he paints is a life of sadness, heartache, and dehumanization of both slave and master.
He was an incredibly intelligent child, one that felt the full burden of his life as a slave, and what it means. When I watch things like Roots, I see how historically inaccurate they are, compared to what Douglass reports. Even Django is inaccurate in ways, although it has a bit more of a ring of truth (as far as the treatment of the slaves).
Douglass' has a very unique writing style. When I'm reading, I feel as if he's literally narrating the story to me. He doesn't use plush language often, and he doesn't go into horrific detail about the horrific moments. During the most brutal period of his slavery, he only elaborates on one beating, and tells the reader (he really talks to us and calls us "reader") that the only proceeding were just as horrible as the first. He also elaborates on particular slaves, their lot, personality, and how they were to him. There were some slaves, belonging to other people, that were treated horrifically.
There are a lot of differences between the treatment of house slaves and field slaves; just as there are differences between city slaves and slaves on large plantations. Douglass experienced all parts, including some kindness, which makes him the perfect teller of this tale.
To me, the most scandalous theme of the story, the part that I know was definitely scandalous during the time it was published, is that he uses the real names of people. Considering this is the time of "tell-all" books, this is like the original. And he definitely isn't Super Head. I wonder if there are people that read this book, who are related to the people that are being put on blast. I've never read something where so many details and government names are being used, and the true character of people are put on display.
Because this is a review, I'm not going to get into specific parts, and how they affected me, or anything like that; that's more appropriate for an essay. I don't want to spoil it for potential readers, but I will say one thing that I found incredibly interesting. Out of all the slaves on his original owners plantation, hell, in the whole county, his mother was the only one that could read. She was a field hand; many people seem to want to credit his intelligence to the bit of European in his blood, but he gives the credit to her. By some miracle, she was granted knowledge, something that Douglass stresses is the key to freedom. If only such a mindset still existed amongst our people.
As for the copy of the book (downloaded free on my Kindle), it's very good. There is this weird habit Douglass has of outlining a chapter at the beginning, in bold. I almost feel as if he's writing it while I'm reading, making sure that all the points are gone over. There are some links, and footnotes that are one click, and the e-book copy is good for most of the difficult language.
This book is definitely for someone with a high school reading level or above, because the words have become somewhat archaic, and he uses words that I had to look up. Some words I looked up, but I didn't find definitions for, just like what happened when I read the slave narratives. All in all, I think every American should read this book; hell, everyone in the world should read this book, it's amazing.
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