220). Treated like animals, they were viciously beaten and even worked to death. Douglass tries to portray this outrage by describing brutal and intense scenes vividly. You will see one of these human flesh-jobbers, armed with pistol, whip, and bowie-knife, driving a company of a hundred men, women, and children, from the Potomac to the slave market at New Orleans. (220). Douglass not only describes such scenes, but he reflects on his own experiences and memories of slavery. He recalls, In the deep still darkness of midnight, I have been aroused by the dead heavy footsteps, and the piteous cries of the chained gangs that passed our door. The anguish of my boyish heart was intense (221). He sums up how he feels in this phrase, Go where you maysearch out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival. (219). Heartfelt, and deeply emotional feelings are given to the audience to experience. However, Langston (born a free man) cannot understand to the depth of Douglass knowledge of slavery. Due to the fact that Douglass first-handedly experienced the tortures of slavery, he is always one step ahead. In Langstons speech, he tries to portray the horrendous effects of slavery as well. He describes an event when slave-catchers were capturing numerous black men to take back to plantations as a fugitive slaves. It was to the extent that mothers were afraid to send their children to school because a slave-catcher might snatch a child on his/her way. Any free slave could be claimed a fugitive runaway and be taken back to a dreaded plantation. Langston states that all free men were, trembling alike for their safety, because they well knew their fate, should those men-hunters get their hands on them. (233). Langston and Douglass are both zealous in their ...
