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The Heroic Slave
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Themes
The Pursuit of Liberty
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of physical abuse, emotional abuse, and racism.
In his depiction of Madison’s journey to self-emancipation, Douglass explores how enslaved people pursued liberty heroically. Madison is determined to succeed and repeats his goal throughout Parts 1 and 2. Black people were denied basic human rights in the Southern states, while some Northerners, like Mr. Listwell, were committed to helping Black people obtain their liberty. However, on the ocean, liberty is the natural state. Madison’s quest is frequently compared to the American Revolution; Douglass connects them to persuade white readers at the time of his writing to become abolitionists.
Madison’s lamentation and prayers that Listwell overhears include declarations about the importance of liberty. He says, “Liberty, the inalienable birthright of every man, precious and priceless, will be mine. My resolution is fixed. I shall be free” (4). He argues that Black and white people all deserve liberty and freedom. Madison illustrates how enslaved people revolt against enslavement. He says, “I am no coward. Liberty I will have, or die in the attempt to gain it” (3). This can be contrasted with Jack Williams’s claims that Black people are “cowards.” Madison is brave and heroic for fighting for his liberty.
Pursuing liberty is a higher purpose than following laws about theft. Madison stole food to survive during his initial attempt at self-emancipation. He says, “During my flight, I felt myself robbed by society of all my just rights; that I was in an enemy’s land, who sought both my life and my liberty” (16). He didn’t have moral qualms about taking what his body needed after white enslavers had shackled, beaten, and psychologically damaged him. Liberty is more important than personal property; it resists the idea that people can be property. Douglass places liberty on a high pedestal to persuade white readers that theft for survival is sometimes necessary and not immoral.
The revolt that led to Madison finally attaining his liberty occurred at sea. Different laws apply on different lands, and the ocean does not have to adhere to many of them. Enslaved people’s revolts on land were often easier to contain than revolts at sea because the power of law backed those fighting on land. On the other hand, as Tom says, “It is […] quite another thing to quell an insurrection on the lonely billows of the Atlantic, where every breeze speaks of courage and liberty” (41). The ocean represents freedom. However, this idea was fraught for Black people because the enslavement ships were places of oppression and death. Yet Madison turns one into the battle place for liberty for himself and other enslaved people.
Douglass references the American Revolution when writing about the enslaved people revolting to morally align the two. This connection is clear when Tom says, “It was not that his principles were wrong in the abstract; for they are the principles of 1776” (48). The year 1776 is when America became free from British rule and created the constitution. Tom believes that Madison, like the Founding Fathers (such as Thomas Jefferson), is fighting a just fight. Douglass writes to convince other white people that Black people deserve liberty.
Presenting Models of White Allyship
Douglass offers several models for being a good ally in “The Heroic Slave.” Models include Mr. and Mrs. Listwell, Northerners who have not participated in enslaving people. Another model is Tom Grant, who worked on an enslavement ship but has since changed his ideological stance toward enslavement. Douglass uses these contrasting examples to show readers at the time of his writing that any white person can follow the correct path of abolition; they are not bound to continue evil actions. They can assist Black people in a variety of ways.
Before encountering Madison, Mr. Listwell has been complacent about enslavement. While he doesn’t take part in it personally, he doesn’t actively oppose it. After listening to Madison, Listwell decides,
From this hour I am an abolitionist. I have seen enough and heard enough, and I shall go to my home in Ohio resolved to atone for my past indifference to this ill-starred race, by making such exertions as I shall be able to do, for the speedy emancipation of every slave in the land (6).
Listwell feels guilty for not being involved with the abolitionist movement previously. He has been far enough removed from enslavement in the North that he is unaware of the depths of enslavement’s horrors. It is only after he visits Virginia that he understands why enslavement needs to be abolished. Douglass’s “The Heroic Slave” was partially targeted at white people in the North who may not have known the horrors of enslavement firsthand. They could and should help through abolitionist beliefs and tangible actions, Douglass argues in this book.
Listwell and his wife take practical actions to assist Madison in his self-emancipation. Their support for Black people is not just ideological; it also improves the material conditions of the formerly enslaved. This includes feeding Madison, providing him with supplies, and giving him monetary gifts. Mrs. Listwell, “not less than her husband, fe[els] for the sorrow of the oppressed and hunted ones of earth, and [i]s always glad of an opportunity to do them a service” (10). Here, the act of helping enslaved people is characterized as a morally correct action, as well as one that brings joy. Douglass wants his white readers to know how fulfilling it can feel to help someone obtain their freedom and emancipate themselves from violent enslavement.
On the other hand, Tom has directly participated in the “peculiar institution” of enslavement. He has monetarily benefited from it, making his conversion to abolition more fraught. Opposing enslavement means turning down work opportunities. However, Madison’s actions have inspired Tom to declare,
I have resolved to never set foot on the deck of a slave ship, either as officer, or common sailor again; I have got enough of it […] I’m resolved never to endanger my life again in a cause which my conscience does not approve. I dare say here what many men feel, but dare not speak, that this whole slave-trading business is a disgrace and scandal to Old Virginia (42).
He is driven to articulate what other people keep inside. This is Douglass’s way of indicating that he knows that some white people from the 19th century oppose enslavement but have yet to vocalize it or act according to abolitionist values. Tom becomes a model ally for coming forward to speak out about his morally incorrect actions and the immorality of the institution of enslavement as a whole.
Ultimately, the Listwells and Tom are vehicles for Douglass’s liberatory message to reach people in both the North and the South. White readers from his time could fall into the categories of apathy and abuse. Allyship necessitates overcoming these attitudes and fighting for Black people, which Douglass presents through these characters’ actions.
The Horrors of Enslavement
Douglass underscores the horrible treatment of enslaved people at the hands of their enslavers. This included being treated as possessions rather than people, being physically harmed, being emotionally abused, and being transported against their will. Some white people who harmed enslaved people, and some who knew about the harm, justified these abusive actions by arguing that Black people were subhuman and lacked morals. Douglass includes these horrific details to advocate for abolition.
Douglass describes various instances of violence to illustrate why enslavement should be abolished. White enslavers whipped Madison on several occasions, such as giving him 40 lashes while suspended from a tree, saying only that his “crime was that [he] had stayed longer at the mill, the day previous, than it was thought [he] ought to have done” (11). After the whipping, his wounds were covered with brine. When he tried to save his wife, the enslavers lashed him 60 times. These details are meant to evoke empathy in white readers at the time of Douglass’s writing, and they offer a history lesson for contemporary readers.
Enslaved people were also punished for having money, and the laws in Southern states contained retribution for Black people simply possessing a dollar. Madison gave an old Black man some money, and this man was whipped when white people discover this fact. In Virginia, “[i]t [wa]s so unusual for slaves in the country to have money, that fact, doubtless, excited suspicion, and gave rise to inquiry” (19). Money is a form of autonomy, and white racists wanted to deny this autonomy to enslaved people, even if it could help the economy. On land, “where, if a negro shall lift his hand against a white man, the whole community, with one accord, [we]re ready to unite in shooting him down” (41). This contrasts with the ocean, where the laws upholding enslavement have never been supported.
By the end of the book, Madison and the other enslaved people on his ship have made it to Nassau. As a British colony, it didn’t allow chattel enslavement. Its population included Black soldiers who did “not recognize persons as property” (48). In America, Black people were subject to violence and abuse because the law in the South indicated that they were property. However, abolitionists like Tom decried the “whole slave-trading business [as] a disgrace and scandal to Old Virginia” (42). Douglass’s recounting of how enslaved people were degraded and harmed is an emotional appeal to the readers, or the pathos form of persuasion.
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