Final answer:
Biracial children on slave plantations, often with white fathers, were legally considered slaves due to their mothers' status and faced immense hardships and cruel treatment, as documented by Frederick Douglass.
Step-by-step explanation:
Regarding the experiences of biracial children on slave plantations, these children, often fathered by white masters, were subjected to incredibly complex and harsh realities. Under the laws of the time, such as those in Virginia, children inherited the status of their mother; if she was enslaved, they too were enslaved for life, regardless of their father's status. Frederick Douglass, in his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, illustrates the moral dilemmas faced by white slaveholders who fathered biracial children. He describes the frequent cruelty these children endured, particularly from the white mistress of the house, who would show her pleasure when these children were punished. Often, these children represented a threat to the racial barriers and, as a result, might be sold or placed under even harsher treatment to prevent disruption of the social order. Slaveholders created a system to legitimize their own desires while maintaining an economic advantage by ensuring all offspring of enslaved women would also be enslaved. This legal framework entrenched racial divisions, with skin color becoming a marker of enslavement or freedom, sustaining slavery's brutal hierarchy.