Frederick Douglass

In two slave narratives by Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs, we see an illustration of Blessingame's (1972) claim in his essay, Slave Culture, that such autobiographies "Give us a window to the �inside half' of the slave's life which never appears in the commentaries of �outsiders'" (227). Indeed, apart from showing the harsh brutalities of slave life during slavery, both narratives of Douglass and Jacobs lend a "voice" and "identity" to slaves whose voices and identity were often systematically oppressed by the prejudice and racism of slavery. In addition, both The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl reveal a number of methods by which slaves resisted slavery and created an autonomous voice in so doing.

Frederick Douglass' (1845) Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass stands as witness against the horrible atrocities committed during slavery. Douglass' soul purpose in fashioning his narrative is to provide a first-hand account of such horrors from the perspective of one subjected to them, a slave. As Douglass (1845) asserts, "Sincerely and earnestly hoping that this little book may do something toward throwing light on the American slave system, and hastening the glad day of deliverance to the millions of my brethren in bonds" (124).

Like Harriet Jacobs' (1861) Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Douglass' narrative is meant to stand as testament to the racism and prejud

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Category: History - F