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How Did Frederick Douglass Escape From Slavery?

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Frederick Douglass wrote this narrative after he escaped from slavery. He planned many escapes from his slave owner’s plantations, but learned quickly he had to do it himself as opposed to with people, if he wanted it to work. At the Auld plantation, Mrs. Auld started to teach him how to read. This continued until one day when Mrs. Auld’s husband scolded her for doing so, explaining that slaves become dangerous when educated. Once he could read proficiently, Douglass began reading The Colombian Orator. This book, composed of 19th century speeches about the abolishment of slavery and freedom, pushed him even more to escape. The final escape he planned was set for September 3rd, where he would head to New York. In New York, he encountered Mr. Ruggles, …show more content…

His escape required many people, but he did not tell the story to keep slaver-owners of their slaves escaping, to leave the opportunity open to other slaves, and so he did not jeopardize the people who helped him. Slavery is a topic taught throughout basic schooling, but never as in depth as the Frederick Douglass narrative goes. I always knew that slaves were mistreated, but not to the extent Douglass tells us. Douglass describes the many struggles slaves went through by saying, “Here, too, the slaves of all the other farms received their monthly allowance of food and their yearly clothing… and one pair of shoes” (Douglass, 47). I find this to be an extremely small amount of food for the month and clothing to live with for the year. I always assumed that they were given clothes for church and a decent amount of clothes for the field. Also, the small amount of food they were given seems impossible to feed more than a few people. The other aspect that really jumped out at me was the fact the Douglass has no idea how old he is, or even who his father is. He believes that it could potentially be his owner, but he cannot figure it out. Lastly, the aspect of how the small children were still

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