The Slave Years Of Frederick Douglass Essay

, Research Paper

The Slave Years of Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass was born a slave in 1817 as Frederick Bailey on a farm in Tuckahoe, near Easton town in Talbot County, Maryland. The owner of the farm, Captain Anthony, was Frederick’s first master. Frederick’s mother, Harriet Bailey, worked for long hours in the fields of Captain Anthony’s farm situated twelve miles away from their home. Because of this, Frederick’s mother was unable to take care of him and so Frederick was sent to live with his grandmother, Betsey Bailey. Betsey was too old for field labour; thus, her job was to take care of children until they were old enough to work. Being so far apart, Frederick was only able to see his mother four or five times in his life. Those times that they did meet were very short and happened during the nights (24; ch.1). Harriet Bailey died when Frederick was about seven years old, but he did not know anything about her death until much later. Hence, Frederick had little memory of his mother. It was unclear who Frederick’s father was. Frederick himself had very little information about his father except that he was white. Frederick had also speculated that his father might be Captain Anthony. Thus, Frederick spent his childhood with his grandmother on the outskirts of the plantation. During these years, he had no understanding of slavery or the situation that he was in.

At the age of six, Frederick began his work for Captain Anthony. The slave children of Captain Anthony were fed corn meal mush that was placed in a trough. They looked like so many pigs that ate mush with oyster-shells, naked hands until they left the trough satisfied (52; ch.5). Moreover, these slaves only got two coarse linen shirts, reaching to their knees, for clothing per year. Seven to ten years old children were almost naked all seasons. They were not provided beds or warm blankets. Hence, they slept in the kitchen on cold winter nights in order to keep themselves warm (51; ch.5).

On one night, Frederick witnessed a whipping of his Aunt Hester by Captain Anthony because she had disobeyed his orders. It was the first time that Frederick saw a horrible exhibition. It was also the first of a long series of outrages that he was a witness and later to be a victim of (28; ch.1). In 1826, Lucretia Auld, a daughter of Anthony, told Frederick that he was being sent to Baltimore to live with her husband’s brother, Mr. Hugh Auld. Thus, Frederick left Colonel Lloyd’s plantation when he was eight years old. He enjoyed his three happiest days before he left his home by washing off the plantation scurf in the creek, and preparing himself for his departure. He scrubbed himself clean, since Lucretia would give him a pair of pants to wear to Baltimore. Frederick left Tuckahoe with joy. He was eager to go to Baltimore and to leave his unhappy life at the plantation behind. His mother was now dead, his grandmother lived far away and his siblings were separated early in his life. As a result, Frederick was on his way to Baltimore to work, for the first time, with the hope of reward (53; ch.5).

After arriving to the Auld family, Frederick was told to take care of little Thomas, an infant son. Sophia Auld was his mistress, whom Frederick described as ” a woman of the kindest heart and finest feelings” (57; ch.6). Mrs. Auld taught him the ABC’s, and then to spell simple words. At that point, Mr. Auld found out and became furious because it was unlawful and unsafe to teach a slave to read. Hugh Auld said to his wife that teaching a slave to read and to write that would make him unfit to be a slave. He told his wife that a slave who can read and write would not obey his master any more. Furthermore, this slave could escape to freedom place (58; ch.6). From that moment, Frederick figured out what a slavery life was. He learned from Mr. Auld that knowing how to read and to write could lead him to freedom. Hence, he made gaining knowledge his primary goal. Sophia Auld, persuaded by her husband, changed her thoughts about teaching Frederick. She began treating him as a slave, not like any other child. Mrs. Auld would get angry whenever she caught Frederick reading a newspaper or books. Learning from her husband, Sophia recognized that education and slavery were the two opposite things that were not compatible with each other. On the other hand, Frederick was still learning to read from his poor white friends, whom he met on the streets while he was sent on errands. He paid “these teachers” pieces of bread in order to get more valuable bread of knowledge (65; ch.7). As a result, Frederick gradually learned to read. “A slave for life” was being thought heavily upon his head when he was twelve years old. He bought a book with a title “The Columbian Orator”, which contained dialogues dealing with liberty and human rights. Frederick was consumed with the thoughts written in this book. He then began to read city papers and learned the words abolition and abolitionist (69; ch.7). After that he succeeded in learning how to write from his friends and from his little Master Thomas’s copybooks. After living with the Aulds for about five years, he went back to the place of his birth to attend to Captain Anthony’s death. All Captain Anthony’s property was divided between his son and daughter, Andrew and Lucretia. After the division of the property, Frederick fell to the portion of Lucretia and was sent back to