The Narrative of Frederick Douglass: Appendix Summary & Analysis

Douglass realizes that his tone in the body of his narrative may have resembled a condemnation of all religion. The appendix is designed to set the record straight: Douglass is not opposed to all religion; he only takes issue with the religion that slaveholders use to justify their inhumane actions. In fact, Douglass “loves the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ.” It is only the distortion of Christianity that he experienced as a slave that he hates.

Douglass condemns the hypocrisy of so-called Christians who brutally beat slaves, use them for prostitution, disband their families, and steal from their fellow humans. Oftentimes, Douglass notes, the ill-gotten gains of slavery are funneled back into the church. Douglass uses Bible verses to support his arguments, and compares the immoral slaveholding Christians to the Pharisees who persecuted Christ. He also invokes abolitionist poetry and ironically lampoons Southerners’ own songs in order to drive his point home.