Frederick Douglass` 1845 narrative

SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 Differences in Religion During the Era of Slavery

In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass , Douglass writes about his experiences being a slave . Intermixed in these experiences are two distinct factions : the religion of the master , and the religion of the slave . The slave masters and their families were often seen at church on Sunday , and then seen beating and mistreating their slaves on Monday The slaves often professed to be Christians , but that did not stop them from stealing , lying , and scheming against their owners . Religion

played a mighty part in the struggles between the slave and his owner , and this hopes to show the extent of those struggles through Douglass eyes

Most of the slaves brought from Africa had pagan beliefs that they kept alive despite the fact they were no longer in their own country . While some slaves were taught of Christianity by their owners and owners wives , many still held to the beliefs that they had learned as children Douglass was one of the group that was taught Christianity , but that did not always stop him from leaning on some of the old pagan practices that the other slaves followed . For example , a fellow slave , Sandy Jenkins had a root that he swore would keep a slave from being whipped by their master (Douglass , 53 . The root had to be carried only on the right side of the body , and it would give protection to the person who carried it for as long as it was carried (Douglass , 53 . Douglass had a need for a trinket like this when he ran away from his master , Mr . Covey . Covey had severely beaten Douglass , and Douglass had managed to get to an old master 's house in hopes of help (Douglass , 52 . When he did not receive any , he hid in the woods for a while (Douglass , 53 . He was facing either a beating from Covey or starvation in the woods when Jenkins came upon him (Douglass , 53 . Jenkins ' free wife had a home of her own , so he took Douglass there and gave him the root (Douglass , 53 . Sure enough when Douglass went home , Mr . Covey did not offer to beat him (Douglass 53 . In fact , the next day Douglass had an altercation with Covey and Hughes , his helper (Douglass , 54 . Douglass beat both of them so badly that they never wanted to lay hold of him again (Douglass , 54 . They never did , either . Douglass relates that he spent four more years as a slave , and he was never beaten again (Douglass , 54

Now , the question might be , did the root really have any effect on Douglass 's safety ? If it did , how could Douglass profess to be a Christian , and still believe that a root of some kind was going to keep him safe ? There are two answers to those questions , both provided by Douglass . Douglass expressed his doubts to Jenkins about the root from the very mention of...