The Slave Mother Analysis

By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves this ignorant” (Douglass 19). Douglass states that he doesn't even know his own birthday, unlike the white citizens, who know all the details of their lives. The slaves are completely oblivious about details of their personal life, just as if they are another animal on the farm. This institutes, to his audience, the fact that Douglass can be trusted, because of his own direct personal experience. Douglass’s credibility is demonstrated again when he was trying to escape and he was, “afraid to speak to any one for fear of speaking to the wrong one, and thereby falling

Slavery is a huge topic that consists of many inspirational stories about former slaves. The story of Frederick Douglass was one of them. Frederick Douglass was born in the year of 1818. He was a great civil rights activist that had a big impact on African American History. Douglass was born into slavery on a Maryland Eastern Shore Plantation. Unlike other slaves, Douglass was an individual who made great effort to obtain freedom and equality. Although Frederick Douglass was a slave, it did not stop him from getting his education, becoming a freeman, and becoming one of the most influential leaders in African American History.

While Frederick Douglass’s exact date of birth is unknown, he was born in the year 1818 in Talbot County, Maryland. Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was his real name until he changed his name. He later decided to celebrate his birthday on February 14. His mother is Harriet Bailey. There were also rumors of his father being his slave owner. Frederick’s mother and Frederick were separated when Douglass was still at a young age, but they still met a few times for a while. He got his education from his slave master’s wife, Sophia. Frederick Douglass kept learning until his slave master, Auld, stopped Sophia from teaching Frederick. He continued his education from the white children in the neighborhood. Douglass continued to learn how to read and write by reading pieces of literature. His knowledge was recognized by a slave owner called William Freeland. William hired Frederick to teach William’s slaves how to read and

In the memoir, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, a slave named Frederick Douglass wrote an autobiography to show the way slavery degraded slaves and slave masters. He was born in Tuckahoe, about twelve miles from Easton, Maryland. He was born into slavery and had no knowledge of his age. Douglass was separated from his mother after birth, never saw her, except when she would occasionally visit him at night. Douglass was transferred and sold repeatedly in the slave markets of the South. The physical abuse and physical neglect of the slaves resulted in mental fluctuation. As a result, the psychological consequences that were within these elements were more detrimental to the mental development and to the identity of the slaves.

Douglass begins with his childhood and the fact that he does not know his age in order to establish the lack of identity among slaves. He states, “I do not remember to have ever met a slave who could tell of his

Therefore, Douglass appeals to ethos in the beginning of chapter one. He then explains that he does not know his own birth date and or his age, "I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it" (Douglass 1). Why would the slaves, not be allowed to know the facts about their own life? The answer is simply that slaves weren't supposed to know the amount of things that white people had the privilege to know, only because the slave holders did not want them to have that sort of knowledge.

Frederick Douglass was born as a slave, in the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland. Slavery in Maryland was a very cruel and heartless institution started in the year 1642 when some of the first settlers of the New World brought Africans to do their work. These first settlers started what would eventually be a system that lasted until 1865, when Abraham Lincoln had the gall to free those who have never had a voice. Frederick Douglass, he was just another cog in the machine, just another wheel in the system that use him and exploited him for the benefit of wealthy plantation owners. The exact year Frederick Douglass was born is unknown currently, however, he chose to celebrate his birthday on February 14th.

Born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, Douglass begins the narrative by telling us what he does not know. “I have no accurate knowledge of my age,” he writes. He does not know his father’s

On the very first page of the text, Douglass explains why slaveholders tried to keep their slaves as unintelligent and uneducated as possible. This gives the reader an idea of how slaves were treated while setting the tone for the book before actually diving into the heart of the book and describing more about the horrific circumstances. He explains how he had “no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it… It is the wish of most masters

Frederick Douglass was born in Tuckahoe, which is located in the Talbot county of Maryland. He had no knowledge of his age. In fact, a large portion of the slaves did not. Frederick was not allowed to question the master concerning his age. The masters like to keep the slaves as ignorant as possible. The lack of knowledge he possessed was a source of unhappiness throughout his childhood. Frederick took note that white children knew their ages, but was not sure why he wasn't allowed the same privilege. The nearest estimate he possessed was made as a result of hearing his master state that he was about seventeen years old in the year of 1835.

There are many similarities between the life of an average slave in the 1800’s and the life of Frederick Douglass. One of the first pieces of his life that Douglass speaks of is that he has no accurate recollection of his age, and he states that he does not “remember to have met a slave who could tell of his birthday” (Douglass 1). On the same page, Douglass talks of his separation between he and his mother; the separation of slaves was very common, for in the Interview with an Ex-Slave of 101 Years of Age, the man being interviewed tells of just how quickly a newlywed couple could be separated, “Cause a couple would be married tonight an’ tomorrow one would be taken away and sold” (Ex-Slave #2 Paragraph 4). Douglass also would witness the hardships of whippings, sleeping on the cold hard floor with no blankets, and having little to no clothing to wear while his body was growing and maturing. Whippings

Slaves had to be sold to their owner and most got separated and we can see that is what happened to Frederick Douglass. “I never saw my mother, to know her as such, more than four or five times in my life…” (Douglass 20). During this time frame most families were split and sold to different owners but his mother worked on the plantation but did her best to see her son and say good night. While most others that were separated did not see each other for years and years and most children were left to live with aunts or grandmothers.

Douglass begins the story of his life as a slave by stating that he has no knowledge of his age along with other slaves, in fact Douglass has never met a slave who does know their birthday. Douglass is

Douglass was separated by his mother after she gave life to him and that is when he was introduced into slavery. He stated, "The white children could tell their ages. I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same privilege."(1.1) As a child, he felt confused in why he cannot know his own age, which makes him proved to us how slavery is a nonsense institution. Douglass later said, "This is the penalty of telling the truth, of telling the simple truth, in answer to a series of plain questions. (3.5) With this statement we can see how a

When Frederick Douglass was born in approximately 1818, he was born to a young colored woman and possibly the slave master. His name at birth was Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey. Frederick was born in the small town of Tuckahoe, Maryland (3, 15). He didn’t know his exact age, he never saw his birth certificate or any official paperwork. He was thought to have been born around February 1818, however, with so many other slaves being born, he never had any proper knowledge of his exact age and he would never know for his whole life (6). The slave masters kept the slaves from knowing their birth dates and ages to leave them dumb about their selves (3, 25). Frederick never did know who his father ever was, so he was never able to visit him (3, 26). He only knew that his father was a white man (who more than likely raped the mother) and after hearing so many stories, he always thought