Slave Narratives

African American’s have had to fight and prove the white man wrong in just
about everything. In the end African Americans have succeeded at just about
everything except being president but that’s likely to change in the next few
months. The fight for African Americans right to express themselves through
literature was fought around the same time as the Civil War. Popular writings by
African Americans in the 19th century were slave narratives. William Craft,
Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Jacobs were early writers that wrote popular narratives. Rhetoric Devices were present in these stories. Well they weren’t present in the actual narrative but in the Prefaces that were written by white men. Strange that white men had a lot to do with the popular slave narratives. In the analysis of the two prefaces of Frederick Douglass’s Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Ethos was the rhetoric device that stood out the most in both pieces.

Before the ethos was completely established, the reader could infer that Wendell Phillips, the author of the first preface, was trying to attract a northern white male audience that knew slavery was inhumane but didn’t join anti-slavery groups that tried to fight for the cause. Wendell establishes his ethos and Douglass’s in this preface. Wendell starts the preface off by saying “My Dear Friend”. By starting his letter off like this he quickly establishes that he is a long time friend of Douglass. Wendell then starts to establish Douglass’s credibility, by noting the fact that he was a slave and that he is from the part of the United States where “slavery appears with its fairest features.” A few lines down Wendell gives Douglass’s narrative a big two thumbs when he says, “we have known you long, and can put the most entire confidence in your truth, candor, and sincerity. Everyone who has heard you speak has felt, and, I am confident, every one who reads your book will feel persuaded that you give them a fair specimen of the whole truth. No one-sided portrait.” Wendell has clearly established Douglass’s ethos and even a little pathos with his reference to feelings.

William Lloyd Garrison gives a writes a nice lengthy preface compared to Wendell. Garrison starts off with how he came to be associated with Douglass, just as Wendell established how he was friends with Douglass. Garrison meets Douglas at an anti-slavery convention Nantucket. Garrison proves that he is against slavery just like Douglass and this make him the perfect candidate to judge Douglass’s writings. Garrison tried to appeal to the same audience as Wendell, but Garrison may have tried to attract people in the south also. Garrison lets the readers know that Douglass was a fugitive slave and that in his many speeches Douglass proceeds “to narrate some of the facts in his own history as a slave”. Just like Wendell, Garrison helps establish Douglass’s ethos. Garrison praises and acknowledges Douglass’s ability to persuade and grasp the audience’s attention throughout the preface. Towards the end Garrison somewhat questions Douglass’s credibility by saying, “Mr. DOUGLASS has frankly disclosed the place of his birth, the names of those who claimed ownership in his body and soul, and the names also of those who committed the crimes which he has alleged against them. His statements, therefore, may easily be disproved, if they are untrue.” This was kind of puzzling that he said this, it gave the impression that maybe Garrison, deep down, didn’t trust or believe Douglass’s story. If this was true then maybe everything that was stated in the preface up to this point was just a big pile of crap. All of this may not have been a bowl of crap because at the end of Garrison’s preface he continues to praise Douglass’s narrative.

Both of these white men some to support Douglass and his attempt to let the public know what happens in the life of a slave. In reality Douglass needs the backing of white men because around this time White men are the only ones that have a say-so in pretty much all matters. It’s kind of bad that this black man had to depend on whites to get his story thru to other whites, but hey Wendell and Garrison did their job and help Establish the credibility or ethos that was needed to Help Douglass.