Her rational powers and will to action facilitate her efforts to find strategies for dealing with sexual harassment from her master, for maintaining family unity, and in establishing a moral code in harmony with her beliefs and situation.
By publicly sharing her experiences with Dr. James Norcom (Flint), Jacobs presents the dilemma faced by all enslaved women: the conflict between virtuous, womanly ideals and sexual exploitation by white slave masters. In searching for a resolution to this conflict Jacobs demonstrates the power of personal agency in thought, speech and action. She suggests that women be judged by different standards than those applied to other women, and in doing so develops a moral code that addresses the specific social and historic position of captive, black women. Yet, Jacobs's work goes far beyond this: her ingenuity, strength of will and powers of speech were standards of womanly behavior being newly developed by the emerging feminist movement. .
In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass displays the psychological properties involved in the state of double-consciousness. His life was marked with the struggle of trying to embrace his multicultural heritage without compromising one over the other. Due to slavery and other prejudices that existed during Douglass" era, there was no resolution to his complex social struggle.
Frederick Douglas was born a slave in the year of 1818. His mother was another slave and his father a white slaveholder. He was separated from his mother at a very young age, as was typical of many Negro families. He was taught to read by one of his former mistresses, something very rare for a Black youth. From that moment his understanding of the world changed. He craved literacy and secretly worked to continue his education. Throughout his autobiography, Douglass conveys the horrors that were typical the average slave. He tells stories of savage beatings, as well as the unnecessary and unreasonable strife that was inflicted upon Negroes.
