Frederick Douglass: My Bondage And My Freedom

“It was not color, but crime, not God, but man that afforded the true explanation of the existence of slavery; nor was I long in finding out another important truth, what man can make, man can unmake” (Douglass 59). In My Bondage and My Freedom, Fredrick Douglass explains in detail the harsh and cruel realties of slavery and how slavery was an institution that victimized not only slaves, but slave holders, and non-slave holding whites. Fredrick Douglass could not have been more right with his observation of slavery. In my opinion, slavery is not only an institution, but is a prime example of a corrupt business model that thrives on free labor, ultimate control, and wealth.

Douglass's new master is a kind lady named Mrs. Auld. At first, Douglass does not know how to behave around her. He has been taught to speak to his master in a mean, rough way, and he gets in trouble when he does speak like this. Mrs. Auld starts teaching Douglass how to read but soon gets stopped by Mr. Auld since it's illegal to teach a slave. Not really been interested in learning before, now that he is not able to he wants to do it more than ever. He realizes that a slave untaught is the only way to keep it a slave. Douglass sees education as a new light, if he can learn to read, he won't have to be a slave anymore.

Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born on the year 1818 in Talbot County, Maryland, but no one really knows the exact date of his birth. His mother was also a slave and his father was, most likely, her master. Since no one really knew when exactly Frederick Douglass was born, when he got older he just decided to celebrate his birthday on February 14. As Frederick

the place he was birth in was Cordova, Maryland. Frederick douglass

Frederick Douglass was born February 1818 in Tuckahoe, Maryland. For a child that was born into slavery, life was hard. The exact birthday of Douglass is unknown. Later, Douglass chose the date February 14 to be his birthday. Douglass live with his maternal grandmother Betty Bailey. At a very young age Douglass was chosen to live in the big house with the owner of the plantation who is also his father. Douglass mother died at the age of 10. 12 When Auld forbade his wife’s lessons, Douglass continued to learn from white children and others in the neighborhood. It was through reading that Douglass’s ideological opposition to slavery began to take shape. He read newspapers avidly and sought out political writing and literature as much as possible.

Frederick Douglass, abolitionist leader was born into slavery around 1818 in Talbot County, Maryland. He became one of the most famous intellectuals of his 1800s he was a president’s advisor and diplomat, he also lectured to thousands on many causes that were around that time period, he even raised awareness for women’s rights. Douglass’s wrote many autobiographies describing his experiences in slavery and his life after the Civil War.

In 1838 Frederick Douglass had fled from Baltimore to New York, by train and disguised himself as a sailor. Frederick didn’t have any free papers due to him being a slave and he borrowed a Seaman’s Protection Certificate, which proved that the sailor was a citizen of the U.S. He successfully made it, but he was not legally a free man and slave catchers filled the streets looking for fugitives.

All throughout grade school, and even for a little while in high school, we are taught about slaves. We are taught about their experiences and we are reminded of the experiences that they never got to have. Teachers focus mainly on the Underground Railroad, the history of slavery, and the well-known escapees such as Frederick Douglass. However, the one thing that they don't teach or even mention is what it was like to be a slave - this is for good reason, though. You can't paint a clear image in a child's head of what it's like to owned and operated by another person so all you can do is teach them about what the lives of other children and adults before 1865. While reading the assigned pages from Frederick Douglass' narrative, I began to

While Fredrick Douglass was a slave he got the opportunity to learn things that were illegal for other slaves to know. His master’s wife, Mrs. Auld, taught him the alphabet. When her husband started pressuring her, she abandoned the effort of teaching Fredrick and he was forced to find other ways to learn. One of the tools that he used when learning to read was a children’s book called The Columbian Orator, which was a collection of many different poems and speeches. While learning to read with that book he discovered that the same place that enslaved him had fought in a revolution for freedom. He also found an understanding of the link between education and the desire for justice. During his time with Mrs. Auld he noticed many different things about her and her behavior.

Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born into slavery in Maryland, his mother, Harriet Bailey, and

Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in 1818. He was born in Tuckahoe, which is in Talbot County, Maryland. He always believed that his father was a white man. Douglass worked on numerous farms and also had numerous owners while working in those farms. Douglass learned to read and write which in time, he became a very important American Writer and Slave Abolitionist. He escaped to North in 1838 and lived to tell about it through his book which was published in 1845. Douglass became an abolitionist because he grew up in slavery. In time he grew to dislike slavery because of the unfair treatment the blacks received. He wrote his autobiography to give people in the North a clear visual aspect of

Frederick Douglass was born in an unfortunate time period, considering he was born a slave. He was born in a town of Maryland entitled Talbot County. What is surprising about Douglass is the fact that historians do not know the exact year and date he was born, even Frederick does not know his own birthday. Later in Douglass’s life, he was sent to a home of Hugh Auld in Baltimore. This is where the master’s wife, Sophia, taught Douglass how to read and write, which most slaves were denied this privilege. Even after Douglass’s master forced his wife to stop teaching, he continued to learn with the white children in the house. Through Douglass being educated in reading and writing, it caused him to form his own ideology about slavery.

I think that Douglass is writing to anyone who is seeking to be better at something but at the same feeling the will to quit. Like it describes the difficulties Frederick had to go through and although there was a point where he no longer wanted to give in, he eventually pulled through and learned how to read and write and soon became a free man. I feel the main message in Frederick’s essay is that Knowledge is the Path to Freedom. What I mean by Path to Freedom is that with the ability to read and write, Frederick found out that it was helping him go towards of being free and helped him recognized himself as a man and not a slave. Yes there was a time where he felt that learning to read was rather a curse than a blessing but he soon got over

Maryland and was a slave since childhood, his mother died when he was young, and his father,

Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born in February of 1818 in Maryland to a slave woman and a white man. 1 He was separated from his mother as an infant and the only thing that he knew for sure about his father was that he was white, although he thought it was a possibility that his father could have been his master. 2 He stayed with his aunt and grandparents