Slavery was a system made up of individuals where the strongest survive, and in the case of American slaves there was an extreme unfair advantage. The owners being American having had advanced technology and education created a tyrannical situation when controlling uneducated African slaves. Douglas described how Sophia had never been a slave owner which resulted in natural kindness towards hirn in the beginning. She taught him how to read when she was abruptly told to stop by her husband. Hugh explained that education makes slaves unmanageable and denying blacks the right to learn was the easiest way to control them. As Douglas used what he knew and learned to