"To use his own words, further, he said "If you give a nigger an inch, he"ll take an ell. ... He offered bread to the poor little hungry children, "who, in return, would give me the more valuable bread of knowledge" (Douglass 34). ...
It was bread that was the chief diet of serfs. ... It was made from bran, malt, dried crusts of bread, flour and water (Vuinich, p.13). ... In return for protection, the peasants gave their loyalty to the local lords giving rise to the feudal system. ... This ever increasing exploitation of the serfs reduced them by the end of the seventeenth century and had so impoverished serfs that they were forced to give up many of their former and civil rights. ...
Old Racism Old racism originated in the 16th century with the beginning of chattel slavery. When Americans traveled to Africa to buy its people they did so because African's had strong bodies that will provide the labor plantation owners needed to sustain the American economy. In essence, chattel slavery was a business. They buying and selling of humans were seen as mere transactions in the eyes of those with power. Africans were seen as sole commodities. ...
Douglas also tries to explain what happens to the slaves that try to run away or became "Unmanageable, " basically they were whipped and shipped to Baltimore to be sold to slave traders as a "Warning to the other slaves. " In this chapter Douglass also tells his readers about the food and clothing that was given away to the slaves: "children from seven to ten years old, of both sexes, almost naked, were seen all seasons of the year. " Some slaves didn't have a bed and their masters would only give them a blanket, slaves had to work long hours sometimes without dinner and they were all dep...
