What I’m Reading: Life and Times of Frederick Douglass – 29 in a series – “Hence all sorts of petty deceptions were practiced to inspire fear.”

“There was no earthly inducement in the slave’s condition to incite him to labor faithfully. The fear of punishment was the sole motive of any sort of industry with him. Knowing this fact as the slaveholder did, and judging the slave by himself, he naturally concluded that the slave would be idle whenever the cause for this fear was absent. Hence all sorts of petty deceptions were practiced to inspire fear.”

From Life and Times of Frederick Douglass: (An African American Heritage Book)

Why I'm Reading: He was whipped oftener who was whipped easiest.

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