Narrative of the life Flashcards
What was Frederick Douglass’ early life like?
He was born into slavery sometime in 1817 or 1818. (Doesn’t know) his exact date of birth. Douglass is separated from his mother, soon after he is born and was most likely born because his mother was raped by her master, Captain Anthony; the clerk of a rich man named Colonel Lloyd who owns hundreds of slaves at the “Great House Farm.”
Slaves are overworked and exhausted, receive little food, few articles of clothing, and no beds. People are often beaten, whipped, or sometimes by the plantation overseers, the cruelest of which are Mr. Severe and Mr. Austin Gore.
What was Douglass’ life on the plantation like?
Comparatively easy- he serves in the house. At 7, he’s given to Captain anthony’s son in law’s brother, Hugh Auld, in Baltimore. He’s freer there, and city slave owners are generally better than country.
What is Douglass’ life like in Baltimore? His ‘owners’? How does he start to learn to read? WHat impact does this have on him?
Sophia Auld, Hugh’s wife, has never had a slave before, and is surprisingly kind to Douglass at first. She even starts teaching him to read, but her husband orders her to stop, saying that education makes enslaved people unmanageable. Eventually, she loses her natural kindliness. Though Sophia and Hugh Auld become crueler toward him, Douglass still likes Baltimore and teaches himself to read with the help of local boys. As he learns to read and write, Douglass becomes conscious of the evils of slavery and of the existence of the abolitionist, or antislavery, movement. He resolves to escape to the North eventually.
What happens after Captain Anothony and his heirs die? Who is Covey? What changes Douglass’ spirit?
Douglass is taken back to serve Thomas Auld, Captain Anthony’s son‑in‑law. Auld is a mean man by his false religious piety. Auld considers Douglass unmanageable, so Auld rents him for one year to Edward Covey, a man known for “breaking” enslaved people. Covey manages, in the first six months, to work and whip all the spirit out of Douglass. Douglass becomes a brutish man, no longer interested in reading or freedom, capable only of resting from his injuries and exhaustion. The turning point comes when Douglass resolves to fight back against Covey. The two men have a two‑hour fight, after which Covey never touches Douglass again.
Where does Douglass go after Covey? What does he do there? Why is he arrested?
He’s rented to William Freeland for two years. Though Freeland is a milder, fairer man, Douglass’s will to escape is nonetheless renewed. At Freeland’s, Douglass begins educating his fellow enslaved people. Despite the danger they face, many enslaved people come to Douglass and work diligently to learn. At Freeland’s, Douglass also forms a plan of escape with three fellow enslaved men with whom he is close. Someone betrays their plan to Freeland, however, and Douglass and the others are taken to jail. Thomas Auld then sends Douglass back to Baltimore with Hugh Auld, to learn the trade of ship caulking.
What happens to Douglass in Baltimore when he learns to caulk ships/
Douglass runs up against strained race relations. White workers have been working alongside free Black workers, but the whites have begun to fear that the increasing numbers of free Black people will take their jobs. Though only an apprentice and still enslaved, Douglass encounters violent tactics of intimidation from his white coworkers and is forced to switch shipyards. In his new apprenticeship, Douglass quickly learns the trade of caulking and soon earns the highest wages possible, always turning them over to Hugh Auld.
How does Douglass escape?
Eventually, Douglass receives permission from Hugh Auld to hire out his extra time. He saves money and eventually makes his escape to New York. Douglass refrains from describing the details of his escape in order to protect the safety of future slaves who may attempt the journey. In New York, Douglass fears recapture and changes his name from Bailey to Douglass. Soon after, he marries Anna Murray, a free woman he met while in Baltimore. They move north to Massachusetts, where Douglass becomes deeply engaged with the abolitionist movement as both a writer and an orator
