In the beginning of Frederick Douglass’ autobiography, readers see  how African-Americans were treated heinously.  Frederick Douglass witnessed the cruelty of Mr. Plummer and how he brutally whipped Douglass’ Aunt Hester.  As he saw her getting whipped, Douglass writes that he felt like the victim of the abuse.

The newspaper article touches on the idea of women’s lack of power that the film portrays.  In particular, the slave named Esther who was sexually assaulted had absolutely no power.  The article talks about how her silence in the film represents her utter absence of power.  She had no voice to act.

Similarly in Douglass’ autobiography, readers see how only Black women are victims.  There are many cases in his narrative of female slaves getting victimized or beaten.  Unlike those women, Mr. Auld’s wife does not face punishment when she is caught teaching Frederick Douglass how to read.  Black women in Douglass’ autobiography had a lesser role than Black men.  In his story, Black women were always matched with suffering.  Instead of being shielded from danger, they were thrown into pain and were living in suffering.  It seems that for Frederick Douglass, the suffering of Black women gave him a greater hate towards slavery.