The ethnic and multi-cultural differences and racism in the US
The ethnic and the multi-cultural differences have remained to be a significant problem in the US and immersed the American people in racism. In the mid-1900s, many Americans were ignorant of embracing diversity, and as a result, they turned to discrimination as a solution to the social and economic problems. Joseph Cotter in his poem Fredrick Douglas elucidated the predicaments that the blacks faced including Douglas faced in the hands of the whites and highlight their quest for equality. Notably, slavery and racial dilemmas that occurred in the time of civil rights movements led to mistreatment, segregation, and inequality. The social problems fuelled many Africans such as Fredrick to seek justice and stop discrimination. The poem vividly showcases that racial separation and violence were heavily perpetrated in the American society and denoted to be dehumanizing. As such, Cotter's poem traverses the reader through racial nightmares perpetrated in the American life and explores the realities that the African Americans faced igniting a feeling of empathy.
Analysis of the Poem Fredrick Douglas
Racism has always played a significant role as a potent justifier and a motivator of numerous ghastly deeds in the American life. Cotter's poem is heavily grounded in the historical context of the civil rights movement and slavery. The author delves into the problem of racism that was perpetrated in the American society. Besides, Cotter examines the plight of the blacks to become free from the bondage of discrimination. The reader is able to note that the poem points out the racial tensions practiced in the past when slavery was rampant. Cotter writers "Thy long and rugged pilgrimage" showing how the blacks had a hard time in working for the whites. The quote also defines the challenge of racial inequality. The lives that slaves lived only put them through extreme mental torture. Many of them separated with their families and friends. More strikingly, the young children were separated from their families at tender ages, and thus they not able to find the adequate parental love. For example, Douglas was separated from his mother when he was born. This forced her mother to walk 12 miles in the night from the slave plantations to go and see her son Douglas. This only evidence what the salves had to sacrifice in attempts to see their families. Cases like this cause a mental anguish to the slaves. Majority of the slave labor was used in the plantations where they carried out the processes of planting, cultivating and harvesting the crops. The slaves were severely mistreated on the farms, and they worked for many hours without resting. The masters of the slave institutions did extract labor from virtually the entire slave community including the old people, the young and the physically disabled individuals.
The impact of white supremacists and violence
The white supremacists propel violence and intimidation that oppressed as well as discriminated the blacks and these events encouraged racism. The brutal punishment that the slaves experienced was indeed unbearable. They were ruthlessly punished even for any small mistakes that they did. Slaves suffered from physical abuse as the government allowed this to occur. On the larger plantations, which were managed by overseers, the punishment they went through left much crippled and even dead. The lives of the slaves were not valued, and thus they lived in poor conditions, and others were murdered. Cotter mentions in the third stanza that "There is no evil known to man but what, if wise enough, he can" (Cotter). The quote means that the whites were able to do more evil things to the blacks that anyone can imagine. The slaveholders massively overworked their slaves and made them suffer from shootings and brandings. Those who were thought to misbehave were whipped and encountered violent beatings. In the book Narrative of the Life by Frederick Douglass, he presents the reader the increasingly atrocious horrors of slavery (Douglas 5). Cotter says in the fourth stanza that "To Come will ever horror thee" (Cotter). Indeed, there were numerous cases of both physical and mental abuse that the slaves went through in the hands of the whites.
The struggle for freedom and the abolitionist movement
As such, there was the emergence of the abolitionist movement, and black opposition gained momentum and Fredrick states. The movement sought to battle discrimination in public schools, trains, vehicles and even in public facilities. Indeed, Cotter provides a clear view of the black struggles for freedom. Dignity, freedom and racial equality together with the need to bring a halt to violence drove the agenda of the protests. Cotter illuminates the dissent legacy portrayed by Fredrick and to the reader gets to understand how his actions were crucial in shaping the history of the blacks. Segregation in public accommodations including trains had taken deep roots in the America society. Besides, the Jim Crow laws propagated the white supremacist and left many Africans devastated.
Conclusion
Indeed, Cotter's poem is an excellent work which vividly illuminates the life of the blacks and the historical injustices propagated by the whites. The author carefully stresses the violence and the disfranchisement as well as the suffering of the blacks. Indeed, the events fueled the development of resistant and the abolitionist movement. The institution of slavery proved to be dehumanizing and detrimental to the life of the African Americans. They were brutally whipped and even murdered as a form of punishment. They lived in poor conditions, and thus they were always sick and nit healthy. Undeniably, the poem provides a hard history of racial injustices that only worked towards dehumanizing the African Americans and the re3sons why they sought for justice.
Works Cited
Cotter Joseph. Frederick Douglas. All Poetry. https://allpoetry.com/poem/8514039-Frederick-Douglass-by-Joseph-Seamon-Cotter----Sr. Accessed March 19, 2018.
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself. Eds. William L. Andrews and William S. McFeely. New York: Norton, 1997. Print.
