n the institution of slavery, but Douglass saw that these laws were assembled and enforced because of the fear of equality, depletion of the superior feeling slavery brought to the slaveholders, and primarily to ensure the brutal imprisonment of the African race and lost feeling of belonging. A good example of many laws that had these effects is the law that prohibited slave to learn to read and write.
             This particular law, prohibiting slaves from reading, was an attempt to keep each slave illiterate. In times of slavery, literacy was a sign of superiority and class. Keeping slaves illiterate kept them out of those aspects of society. Doing this made it easier for the white people of this country to enslave the African race because they felt that their illiteracy brought them further away from being human and closer to being animals. This perspective of slavery is greatly described by Frederick Douglass in his personal narrative Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass when he writes, "A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master- to do what he is told to do (Douglass, 20)." In this simple sentence, Douglass tells his reader that literacy was intended for those who could use it and appreciate it because in the world of slavery a "nigger" was not seen as a human being, but
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