HISTORY paper on Slavery
specifically on the books Frederick Douglass’ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Paper #2:

Please choose ONE (1) of the following topics for your second paper:

1. “Who can blame slaves for being cunning? . . . It is the only weapon of the weak and oppressed against the strength of their tyrants.” Recent scholarship on slavery has stressed the way that slaves resisted the oppressive institution of slavery. Based on your reading of Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Frederick Douglass’ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is there evidence that slaves were able to resist their oppression through cunning and deception or were slaves psychologically defeated by the brutality and dehumanizing effects of slavery? As you construct your argument, be sure to define what constitutes resistance, submission and rebellion. You may also want to consider under what circumstances resistance was possible and under what circumstances it was not, the limits and possibilities of resistance, and/or whether gender played a role in resistance. Whatever your argument, be sure to support your interpretations and conclusions with concrete evidence from both texts.

OR

2. Scholars have long debated the effects of slavery on African Americans, particularly the institution of the family. Some historians have argued that the systematic oppression slavery inflicted upon Blacks destroyed all family ties. Other historians have argued that the family not only survived under slavery, but became the foundation of both Black resistance and the African American community. Based upon your reading of Frederick Douglass’ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, take a position in this debate. Which side do you think more accurately describes the effects of slavery on families? Be sure to consider in your essay what constitutes “community” and “family” within an oppressive system such as slavery. Whatever your argument, be sure to support your interpretations and conclusions with concrete evidence from both texts.