How “An American Slave”, “Between the World and Me” Have Changed My Perception

While reading An American Slave by Frederick Douglass, Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, and On Being White...And Other Lies by James Baldwin, all these stories has made me stop and think about how they have affected my life in such a way that has made me examine everything-in my life that I have to be appreciative for.

The strength and bravery the authors faced through the roughest and toughest times of their lives has made me think clearer, and be more open minded of how my life was so much different growing up compared to theirs. I have become more sensitive to the topics of slavery, segregation, and terrorism because it infuriates me when someone is inflicting pain on another person, and that's what these men fought to survive through.

Although I would not say that I was "privileged” I grew up as free "white" person to make my own choices and had options of basic everyday necessities like food, clothes, a warm bed and a roof over my head, while most of these men did not. Coates says, "I knew that my portion of the American galaxy, where bodies were enslaved by a tenacious gravity, was black and that the other, liberated portion was not" (Coates 20-21). This meant the area where he resided in Baltimore; there was no option of having a home with white picket fence, as in the neighborhoods that was occupied by "white" people.

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Millville was my hometown even though it is not the prettiest of cities today it is a multicultural society. It still had a lot of character and history, at some moment in time a “black” person was not free and had to live a life of slavery and then segregation. Coates says, "the greatest reward of this constant interrogation, of confrontation with the brutality of my country, is that it has freed me from ghosts and girded me against the sheer terror of disembodiment" (Coates 12). Even though I grew up in dilapidated neighborhood being "white" I had it way easier than a "black" person would. I did not have to worry about being harassed and possibly killed by the police in my case being "white" and getting away with a crime.

In Frederick Douglass book An American Slave, he tells his story of the enslavement that he endured, how he would fight to survive and receive an education in order to eventually escape the life as a slave and become a free man. His bravery would lead his life and an attempt to help free other slaves to freedom illustrate a man with more dignity and compassion then any "white" man of that time period. Douglass says, "we owe something to the slave south of the line as well as to those north of it; and in aiding the latter on their way to freedom, we should be careful to do nothing which would be likely to hinder the former from escaping from slavery" (Douglass 78).

Douglass cared for all the other slaves and wanted to help free them all but could only rely on himself for support and I believe he would have if it were not so hard in doing so. Even when he became free he missed them, they were his family and all he knew.

We are all human and we are not perfect everyone makes mistakes for example getting poor school grades, picking the wrong kind of friends, or even something simple as being late to work, in today's society we are forgiven and greeted with the most sincere and understanding of our mistake. This was not true for the slaves they were not treated as human beings but like animals and were punished to cruelest of extent. While I did have school, homework, and chores my parents did not inflict pain on me whenever I did poorly or if I was late.

Yes, I would be punished but not to a point where they would imprint me with permanent scars, as the slaveholders did with the slaves. The slaves were beaten for just about anything, one example Douglass says "a whipping is the penalty of not being in the field at sunrise" (Douglass 5). In my opinion this form of discipline is abuse and sounds atrocious and I cannot imagine waking up everyday to a life of fear of being beaten or left in the dark to fend for myself.

In James Baldwin's book On Being White...And Other Lies, he tells a story of how America created slavery and the superiority status whites had against black. By America convincing society to segregate and that there is a "white" community meant to disregard any human rights or value of the lives of "black" people, compared to a "white" person.

For example, Baldwin says, "by persuading themselves that a black child's life meant nothing compared with a white child's life. By abandoning their children to the things white men could buy. By informing their children that black women, black men and black children had no human integrity that those who call themselves white were bound to respect" (Baldwin 2). Baldwin displayed courage by speaking his mind by enlightening his readers of what he believed to be the truth, of a corrupted system of brainwashing. Making people think that just because they are white they have rights to anything, also creating the race system.

Coates and Baldwin are great examples because they teach their readers not to buy into everything you see, read or hear in this world because it is bound to be false advertising or to good to be true. They want their readers to understand that life is not always easy and perfect, that the grass is not always greener on the other side. Coates says to his son Samori, "I did not tell you that it would be okay, because I have never believed it would be okay. What I told you is what your grandparents tried to tell me: that this is your country, that this is your world, that this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it" (Coates 12). They taught me that life is a gift not a prize and that it should cherished in every way, that it should not be wasted.

Bravery comes from the compassion deep within your soul to step out of your comfort zone and possibly risk your own life to help others. In an online article from "The Washington Post," about Harriet Tubman, she expresses bravery and is heroic she became famous as a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad during the turbulent 1850s. Born a slave on Maryland's eastern shore, she endured the harsh existence of a field hand, including brutal beatings. In 1849 she fled slavery, leaving her husband and family behind in order to escape. Tubman says, "Every great dream begins with a dreamer.

Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world' (Tubman). Tubman was a heroic, caring compassionate woman that I believe deserves to be cherished more for not only escaping herself but for her ability to sacrifice and risk her own life to save thousands of slaves to escape to freedom. Also not only was she a slave but a woman that had the strength and power of a hundred thousand men.

When it comes to my life bravery was never my cup of tea, staying in my was because by doing this, in my mind would keep safe from harm or heartache, meaning I would not get bent out of shape when an event I had planned did not go my way. I cannot think of anything that would consider me to be brave like Douglass or Tubman, their lives was more challenging than mine. However, I have been slowly readjusting my life to a more positive outcome.

For example, taking a stand to be an advocate to defend not only myself but also the lives of animals, seeing animals suffer just tears me to shreds, and I want to be the one to rescue them from harm and the abuse they may encounter from. Like the slaves who rescued each other from their life as a slave to being free and no longer calling someone their master. Tubman says, "I freed thousands of slaves, and could have freed thousands more, if they had known they were slaves" (Tubman). This is a powerful message that says if I can to free slaves, than you can save animals or whatever you are compassionate about.

Douglass and Tubman are great examples of what it means to stand tall, do not letanything get you down, and live your life to the fullest of its extent. During a ten-year p Tubman made 19 trips into the South and escorted over 300 slaves to freedom. And, as she once proudly pointed out to Frederick Douglass, in all of her journeys she "never lost a single passenger." They are excellent role models for educating someone what it really means to be a family; blood relation is not necessary as Douglass says a master, "sustains to his slaves the double relation of master and son" (Douglass 5). It is the struggles and triumphs they made together to conquer the world of being free and having equal rights just as the whites claim to have.

We all tend to judge a person by appearance and status, and you never know what is going on in their life or what they have been through, unless you take the time to get to know them. While learning about the lives of Baldwin, Coates, Douglass, and Tubman has made learn to think clearer and understand the struggles a person may have gone through to get to where they are now. By understanding their background story and walking in their shoes to see their struggles in life and what they had to do to get where they are now. These stories have definitely affected me because I would never have had the strength and courage to fight back as the slaves did with their slaveholders. There is no way I would have survived the whippings, the torture, and the dehumanization as they endured.

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