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Frederick Douglass, an educated ex-slave who was able to use his intellect to inspire the thought of equal civil rights. His autobiography, "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave" tells his stories and experience within the institution of slavery. Speaking for the abolishment of slavery, his target audience being educated, “privileged” white people, and with that he knew he had to change the way in which he tried to influence them. In his use of language and detailed, objective descriptions, Douglass was able to place more influence on his audience. Knowing that his audience consisted of more of white and educated people, Douglass changed his vocabulary to better match the audience, and in a way shock them into listening to him. With the use of proper language, and more intellectual diction, such as "epoch" or “apostrophe”, Douglass was able to appeal more to the attention of his audience, as the traditional former sla...

The institution of slavery built the social and economic construct for the United States of America. With its abolishment in 1865 under the thirteenth amendment, came physical freedom. This freedom was not the kill all of all that one would expect, though. As countless ex-slaves had difficult time becoming a part of US society, their perspective on the world around has been mutilated. Sarah Gudger, 121 year old ex-slave, is a big example of that. Stating that the stars don’t shine as bright as they once did, Gudger helps show that with everything that happens to us, good or bad, there will always be a way that it affects the way we see the world. In terms of today, emotional and psychological trauma still impacts people in the same way. Emotional and psychological trauma is simply defined as moments of high stress or risk that shatter your sense of security. Things like rape, physical assault, abduction, or emotional abuse can cause both a long or short-term para...