Primary Document Analysis

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Slave Narrative from Frederick Douglass
The author of this primary source is Frederick Douglass who was an abolitionist, book writer, and a popular orator. Douglass was there during the slavery days. He was born by slaves and spent all his early life as a slave before he ran away from his masters when he was 20 years old. Evidently, Douglass writes the account later after the events have already taken place (Douglass 31). It is certain that the author’s race plays a crucial part in the account. This is for the reason that as a black person, Douglass was born on the plantations and his parents were slaves. Perse, he uses his experiences as a black person to develop the narrative. Douglass is a credible source since his source was approved and published by ICON Group International, Inc.
The purpose of this document is to describe the life of Douglass as a slave. The document is in the form of a report since the author organizes his experiences and main life events in sections. The audience of the source is African Americans. The author tries to explain to them how he and other black people suffered during slavery. According to the source, the racial injustices that black people went through during the days of slavery. This is evident by the statement “He was one of those who could torture the slightest look, word, or gesture, on the part of the slave, into impudence, and would treat it accordingly” (Douglass 31).
The source gives comprehensive details of what happened during the days of slavery.

The source has one major bias which is the idea that all African Americans suffered (Douglass 35). This was not the case since some of them were house slaves and therefore enjoyed the proper treatment. Apparently, the bias does not affect the context since the author successfully conveys the main message.
Works Cited
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave. Random House Digital, Inc., 2000.