What kind of master is covey

With roots in the Latin word cor, we can understand courage as an act related to and requiring heart. I aim here to deepen our understanding of courage by drawing from the life and thought of Frederick Douglass. In his writings and speeches, Douglass offers a host of reflections on the tensions between courage and cowardice, in the role of courage played in his own transformation, and in the transformation of his relationship with those who enslaved him.

Through a close reading of several passages of the Narrative , I hope to open a discussion of courage as it relates to the ongoing project of human liberation and the work of building a better world. Confronting the massive strength of racial capitalism and its various forms of economic, legal, political, ideological, and cultural power is a daunting task.

Even doing so on a small scale, in one workplace or community, can often appear to be an insurmountable challenge. The limited horizons and paralysis of human action that result from such despair are among the aims of neoliberal ideologies that proclaim the end of history, with no alternatives.

Such, too, was the aim of enslavers like Edward Covey, whose role was to break human beings. Rather than showing sympathy or providing instruction on how to train and guide a team of oxen, Covey berates Douglass for the delays caused by the accident—and then beats him.

Notice that Covey does not whip the unbroken oxen, an implicit acknowledgement that something must be beaten out of Douglass—his humanity. In fact, Covey does not just treat Douglass as an animal; he treats him worse than an animal.

Covey gave us enough to eat, but scarce time to eat it. I was somewhat unmanageable when I first went there, but a few months of this discipline tamed me. Covey succeeded in breaking me. I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute!

As various elements of his personality disintegrate, Douglass feels himself becoming not himself. Douglass describes a day where he is so sick and exhausted that he literally falls to the ground ill, unable to work. Such a refusal should not surprise us. It was equally important to his development that this attempt to work within the rules of the system failed.

In the wake of this encounter, Douglass would now not merely be satisfied with being treated humane ly, but, rather, he would demand to be treated human ly. Although reduced by Covey to the status of a brute animal, he promises us we shall soon see how he again becomes a man.

After his return from his visit to Auld, a few days go by in which Douglass generally avoids Covey. One day as Douglass is working in the barn, Covey sneaks up on him and grabs him as he is descending a ladder—tossing him to the floor in order to tie him up and whip him:.

He held on to me, and I to him. My resistance was so entirely unexpected that Covey seemed taken all aback. He trembled like a leaf. This is an incredible moment, as Douglass surprises Covey and in some ways himself, although several earlier portions of the Narrative show his mental preparation to free himself by suddenly fighting back. The entire legal, political, social, economic structure of slave society is built around keeping Black people in bondage, servitude, and in a condition of non-humanity.

That is, Covey has and represents power. Douglass, as inexperienced as he was in training oxen, surely had no experience in fighting his enslavers—and likely very little experience in any fighting at all. He could not know for certain what the outcome of the fight would be—not just whether he would win or lose, but what the actual consequences would be for him because of the choice to fight.

The expected one would be his death. And yet he fights. Taken aback, Covey then calls upon another enslaved person named Hughes to help him restrain Douglass. Such divide and conquer strategies should be familiar to organizers, and the reason they are so common is that they often work.

Not this time, however. When Hughes steps in to help Covey, Douglass understands that he has made a choice about which side he is on, and Douglass acts accordingly—kicking Hughes squarely in the ribs. This kick fairly sickened Hughes, so that he left me in the hands of Mr.

This kick had the effect of not only weakening Hughes, but Covey also. When he saw Hughes bending over with pain, his courage quailed.

He asked me if I meant to persist in my resistance. I told him I did, come what might; that he had used me like a brute for six months, and that I was determined to be used so no longer. Although Douglass kicks Hughes, the blow weakens Covey—certainly in the sense of his morale and psyche, although possibly even physically.

He is losing his ability to control the situation and learning that Douglass will not be so easily broken after all. With Hughes out of the picture, Covey then turns to another enslaved person, Bill, for help in defeating Douglass.

This refusal to cooperate is significant. Throughout the Narrative , multiple acts of refusal are made by white people—refusing requests or appeals, refusing to work with Douglass in a Baltimore ship-building shop, etc. Gore for refusing to be whipped or in their immediate harm Henry, who is beaten by several constables for refusing to be tied up.

The fight between Douglass and Covey would go on for nearly two hours until, Douglass writes, Covey would give up and:. Covey was a poor land renter who took slaves and used them to work his land while receiving training and discipline.

Covey was known for his inhumane and harsh treatment of slaves. Under Covey, Douglass worked the land day and night and in all weathers, hot or cold, rain or snow. For the first six months he was constantly beaten and severely punished sometimes to increase his productivity but most of the times for no apparent reason.

He was whipped with sticks or cow skin. Covey was successful in breaking his spirit and soul, he crushed his intellect and any thought of happiness and was transformed into a beast like condition. Douglass came out victorious and in the next six months of his stay Covey did not dare put a hand on Frederick.

His resistance to Covey had given Douglass a new sense of empowerment, an attitude of independence and self determination to fight for his freedom. At the end of his first year with Covey, Douglass was rented out to another land owner, William Freeman.

According to Douglass, Freeman was the best master he had ever had. His slaves never went hungry and working hours were more humane, they were not allowed to work after dark. Douglass also presents Covey as a false Christian. Covey tries to deceive himself and God into believing that he is a true Christian, but his evil actions reveal him to be a sinner.

As Douglass associates himself with Christian faith, he heightens the sense of conflict between himself and Covey by showing Covey to be an enemy of Christianity itself. Douglass thus emerges as brave man, while Covey is exposed as a coward. Douglass is shown to be capable of restraint, while Covey is revealed to be an excessive braggart.

Finally, Douglass emerges as a leader of men, while Covey is shown to be an ineffectual master who cannot even enlist the aid of another slave, Bill, to help him.