Frederick Douglass was a man born into slavery. Separated from his mother and unaware of his father's identity, he was left to bear the burden of slavery all on his own. Early on Douglass realized that an education was his ticket to freedom. Throughout his life Douglas met many obstacles on his way to freedom, and more often than not these obstacles were created at the hands of one of his many masters. In his letters, Douglass speaks of no less than five masters under which he was forced to serve, his original master, the Auld brothers, Mr. Covey, and William Freeland. While all of these men were bad, some actually meant well and were simply victims of their time. However some of these men were cruel and vicious and were the lowest forms American society has ever had to offer. Now, let us attempt to separate the good apples from the bad. Douglass's first master, Captain Anthony, probably had the least direct influence in his life. While he was certainly a bad man, witnessed by Douglass in the beatings and torture of his aunt, his exposure to this man was limited due to the fact young children usually stayed on the outskirts of the plantation, so his time with this master was of smaller significance. Anthony's importance lies in the fact that he is probably Douglass's father. We learn that this is a suspicion of Frederick's, and this suspicion is backed up by the fact that he is sent away at an early age something that many slave owners do to their slave sons. The first family Frederick was sent to were the Aults. It is hard to categorize as either a bad or good master Hugh and Mrs. Ault. While with this family he was treated as good as could... ... middle of paper ... ...his seven years with this family proved to be invaluable to him in life. In Douglass's own words, "In learning to read, I owe almost as much to the bitter opposition of my master, as to the kindly aid of my mistress. I acknowledge the benefit of both." (p.946) As far as who was the worst master that Douglass had to endure it would have to be a two part answer. While his original master, Captain Anthony, never abused him physically, he did subject a young Douglass to not only the separation from his mother, but also to witnessing the torture of his Aunt. In contrast, Mr. Covey was clearly the most physically abusive toward Frederick. He would beat Frederick almost on a daily basis, in fact almost killing Frederick on one occasion. That is until a young Frederick Douglass decided to become a man and stand up to his tormentor.
Literacy plays an important part in helping Douglass achieve his freedom. Learning to read and write enlightened his mind to the injustice of slavery; it kindled in his heart longings for liberty. Douglass’s skills proved instrumental in his attempts to escape and afterwards in his mission as a spokesman against slavery. Douglass was motivated to learn how to read by hearing his master condemn the education of slaves. Mr. Auld declared that education would “spoil” him and “forever unfit him to be a slave” (2054).
Frederick Douglass was a magnificent and clever learner. Learning is as much a skill as the things it is used to acquire, and Douglass was very skillful. As a boy Douglass was abused and punished for his scholarly interests, but he never lost his passion and drive to gain more knowledge. He engaged in clever tricks, games, and habits to increase his literacy. Douglass says at the beginning of his life his knowledge was a curse, and it seemed so, but I think that into his teens he realized what a powerful ally it could be. Then in his later life it became his strongest ally. Douglass’s opinion of knowledge changed from negative to positive due to his change in position.
Frederick Douglass emphasizes the dehumanization aspect of slavery throughout his narrative. As is the general custom in slavery, Douglass is separated from his mother early in infancy and put under the care of his grandmother. He recalls having met his mother several times, but only during the night. She would make the trip from her farm twelve miles away just to spend a little time with her child. She dies when Douglass is about seven years old. He is withheld from seeing her in her illness, death, and burial. Having limited contact with her, the news of her death, at the time, is like a death of a stranger. Douglass also never really knew the identity of his father and conveys a feeling of emptiness and disgust when he writes, "the whisper that my master was my father, may or may not be true; and, true or false, it is of but little consequence to my purpose" (Douglass, 40). Douglass points out that many slave children have their masters as their father. In these times, frequently the master would take advantage of female slaves and the children born to the slave w...
a slave. Frederick was even invited to the White House by President Lincoln, and he traveled the
Frederick Douglass was an incredibly influential part of the abolitionist movement. He has seen the harshest acts induced by slavery, even in the kindest of people. Douglass worked his entire life to get away from slavery and secure his freedom. With this new found freedom, he chose to speak out against the institution of slavery and inform the public of the evil truths that lay within slavery. He used wit, humor, pathos, ridicule, satire, mimicry, intellectual and emotional appeal to reach out to his audience in hopes of enlightening them (Douglass, July 146). On July 5th, 1852, he gave a speech to whites in New York about the injustices of slavery and how inhumane it was. He did this to open the eyes of Americans who had not been fully exposed
Douglass also was not given much interaction or knowledge of his father other than knowing that his master was his father. "My father was a white man. He was admitted to be such by all I ever heard speak of my parentage." Having his master as his father made his treatment even less appealing. It would seem that his master treated him even worse because that was his son, so as not to let the other slaves know anything. He came from a mixed parentage and was often looked down on for being "yellow." He never had a kind word spoken to him by his father and to this day is not sure if his master really was his father but believes such because that is what he was always told.
douglass was born into slavery, back when slavery was legal. He didn't have his mom with him
This chapter is filled with details about the plantation Douglass grew up on. It's a large plantation, with three to four hundred slaves. Douglass gives a lot of details about the kinds of food and clothing the slaves were given, which range from very little to none at all. Children were often naked, a rough wool blanket was all they had to sleep on, and the food was fit for hogs.
Frederick talks about a man named Mr. Gore. He served colonel Lloyd as an overseer at one of the outer farms. He had proved himself worthy of the high station of overseers upon the great house farm. Frederick describes him as proud, cruel, artful, and ambitious. Mr. Gore was the most dreaded overseer by the slaves. He's presents were painful and he flashed confusion and when his voice was herd their was horror and trembling among the slaves. He committed the most grossest and most savage punishments, to the slaves. Their was a slave named Demby whom was getting punished, he was whipped a few times then ran and jumped in to the creek bed. Mr. Gore gave him three chances to get out of the creek. Demby did not budge each time he was told to get out. So gore took his gun out and shot him in the head. These incidents made the other slaves fear him more.
Douglass an individual who was born into slavery was separated from his mother at an early age, from my point of view without my parents specially my mother I would not be where I am today. Even though Douglass was separated from his family and in a way, did not have sense of family he did not let himself to be broken by this. He was a smart child who was determined to enjoy life to be best he could, even though at an early age all he understood about a slave life was misery. As he matured and grew, he started to noticed that there was more than just slavery but he was eventually broken by the harsh treatment of slavery. As Douglass
As he began to read about slaves, masters, and emancipation, Douglass experienced a deeper desire for freedom and a deeper animosity toward his master. The liberty that education brought to his mind caused him to be more keenly aware of his physical captivity. The stories he read stirred in him the hope for freedom – not only for himself, but for his fellow slaves. Douglass was driven to the point of madness as he contemplated his situation. He did not allow it to consume him, however. He, instead, allowed it to spur him on in his search for freedom. He learned (again, on his own) of the abolitionist movement and the abolitionists’ desire to see slaves freed. As he continued to contemplate the possibility of freedom, he also continued to further his
Slavery was abundant in the cities of the South, as well as the countryside. The roles of urban slaves varied greatly from plantation slaves. Frederick Douglass’ move to the city was the turning point in his life and without his move to the city, Fredrick Douglass would not have been the famous abolitionist and writer we know of today. Urban slaves typically partook in household, artisan or factory positions, while slaves from the plantation generally were out in the fields or doing some other agricultural work. Because Baltimore was a port city, during his time living there, Douglass had the opportunity of learning and working the trade of ship caulking, which is a type of artisan work. Urban slavery provided, most of the time, an easier life for a slave. Generally, a slave from the city would be better clothed, fed, and would avoid most of the physical abuse suffered by the rural slave. When Douglass lived as a slave in Baltimore, he was always well fed and clothed. Urban slavery also offered more opportunities to escape.due to the white abolitionists and free blacks that were there to help slaves escape to freedom. Douglass was able to successfully with the help of kind whites escape the shackles of freedom and go to the North. Frederick's life in the city shaped him into the powerful speaker and writer we know today.
Freedom to Frederick Douglass means a place where you are not scared of being taken into bondage. He didn’t believe anywhere in the United States is free because there is always the chance that a black man can be taken back into slavery because of the Fugitive Slave Laws. He believed that if a slave had the power to read or write, they had the power to free themselves. Frederick Douglass became the leading black abolitionist and one the most famous speakers of his time. His words about his treatment as a slave were a powerful weapon against slavery. People were starting to question whether he was a slave or not, which motivated him to publish his first autobiography. His narrative was one of the most effective accounts written by a fugitive slave, and it became a major source of information about slavery and a classic of American literature.
Douglass exclaims, “all its glaring odiousness … slaveholders have ordained, and by law established, that the children of slave women shall in all cases follow the condition of their mothers; and this is done too obviously to administer to their own lusts, and make a gratification of their wicked desires profitable as well as pleasurable; for by this cunning arrangement, the slaveholder, in cases not a few, sustains to his slaves the double relation of master and father”(Douglass 14). The ignorance of Douglass not knowing his father shows the lack of stability caused by the inhumanity of slavery. Biological fathers were commonly unknown, with the possibility of them being their own master. Crawford gives the information that “parental death and unknown fathers were common to both slave and free populations. But the reasons for the absence of fathers in slave families also includes sale and the fact that some fathers were white... Put another way, between 15 percent and 25 percent of the mother-headed households were formed because the father was white” (Crawford 336) . The intimidation of a father was different in the case of slavery due to the lawful abuse, control, and power exhibited by the master/father figure. Fathers did not have a strong figure or identity in slave
Without educating himself Douglass would not have completely understood the depravity of the slavery establishment in which he resided. Learning how to read