Research Paper on:
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and Paternalism

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
history, slavery has been regarded as a black mark on the American past, a despicable institution that warranted the nation going to war to eradicate it. Recently, the Southern perspective  on slavery, which is generally referred to as "paternalism," has received attention. The Southern planter did not consider himself to be an oppressor of the black race, but rather its  benevolent benefactor. Slavery offered ignorant "savages" the benefits of Western civilization, with an emphasis on Christianity. In return for benevolent guardianship (i.e. food, shelter, clothing, etc.), slaves were  expected to give their labor freely. When this "pact" was broken, the plantation owner felt entitled to "discipline" the slave as a father would a disobedient child. The Narrative of  the Life of Frederick Douglass is a first person account of what it was like to be a slave in the antebellum South. An examination of this work demonstrates to  what extent the paternalistic philosophy of the white planter fit with the reality of slave experience. The first thing that Douglass tells his readers is where he was born  in the slave state of Maryland. However, Douglass cannot relate his exact age because such knowledge was generally kept from slaves. Douglass writes that, to the best of his knowledge,  most masters tried to keep their slaves ignorant on this matter, as it was regarded as a sign of a "restless spirit" for slaves to want to know their age  (1). While this may seem a small thing, it is indicative of how slaveholders endeavored to strip away all vestiges of individualism among slaves. "By far the larger part  of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know theirs" (Douglass 1). The role of the slave was to be a beast of burden, not a full-fledged