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Title: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass


1
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
  • Cathy, Beryl, Kellie and Mindy

Cecilia H. C. Liu revised American Literature I
03/01/2005
2
Basic Background
  • Birth of Douglass - February 1818
  • Place - Holmes Hill Farm, near the town of Easton
    on Maryland's Eastern Shore
  • Aaron Anthony managed the plantations of Edward
    Lloyd V, one of the wealthiest men in Maryland
  • Mother - Harriet Bailey, who worked in the
    cornfields surrounding Holmes Hill
  • Father A White man , who was rumored to be
    Aaron Anthony

3
Early Years
  • Lived with Betsey Bailey
  • lived in a cabin within a short distance from
    Holmes Hill Farm.
  • Her job was to look after Harriet's children
    until they were old enough to work
  • Age 6 Brought to Lloyd Plantation
  • His siblings - Perry, Sara and Eliza

4
Early Years 2
  • When Douglass was young, he used to give bread to
    poor local boys in exchange for reading lessons.
  • When he was 12 years old, he had encountered a
    book called The Columbian Orator, which contains
    a philosophical dialogue between a master and a
    slave, which was the first time he heard the word
    abolitionist, which means anti-slavery
  • ?arrived at Thomas Auld s place

5
Freedom
  • September 3, 1838 Left Baltimore and went to
    Wilmington, Delaware
  • September 4, 1838 - arrived in New York.
  • Southern slave catchers Looked for fugitives in
    boarding houses that accepted Blacks

6
Life in New York City
  • Douglass met David Ruggles, who was an officer in
    the New York Vigilance Committee
  • He was the city's link in the underground
    railroad a network of people who harbored
    runaway slaves and helped transport them to safe
    areas in the United States and Canada
  • September 15, 1838 Douglass married Anna
    Murray, and then moved to Port of New Bedford,
    Massachusetts

7
Life in New Bedford
  • Douglass went to work for Nathan Johnson, who was
    from a well-to-do black family
  • Changed Bailey to Douglass, which the name came
    from The Lady of the Lake, a novel by Scottish
    author Sir Walter Scott
  • Worked as a common laborer
  • sawed wood, shoveled coal, dug cellars, and
    loaded and unloaded ships
  • 1833 - The American Anti-Slavery Society
  • a constant battle to reduce racial prejudice in
    the North

8
Life as an Abolitionist
  • August 1841 (23yrs old) met William Lloyd
    Garrison at an abolitionist meeting
  • Editor of Liberator outspoken leader of the
    American Anti-Slavery Society
  • "The paper became my meat and drink, my soul was
    set all on fire."
  • Hired to be an agent for the society (18411845)
  • a traveling lecturer on tours of the northern
    states
  • Purpose - to talk about his life and to sell
    subscriptions to the Liberator and another
    newspaper, the Anti-Slavery Standard.

9
Continued
  • 10 years - associated with the Garrisonian school
    of the antislavery movement
  • "He has wit, arguments, sarcasm, pathos - all
    that first rate men show in their master effort"
    (Herald of Freedom, Mass.)
  • 1844 Doubts
  • "How a man, only six years out of bondage, and
    who had never gone to school could speak with
    such eloquence - with such precision of language
    and power of thought - they were utterly at a
    loss to devise

10
Published Work
  • May 1845 - 5,000 copies of the Narrative of the
    Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave was
    published
  • The book had become a best-seller a story of the
    triumph of dignity, courage, and self-reliance
    over the evils of the brutal, degrading slave
    system.
  • It is a sermon on how slavery corrupts the human
    spirit and robs both master and slave of their
    freedom.
  • The book was enjoyed by the widespread popularity
    in the North, and even the editions in Europe
    also sold very well

11
Problem
  • Federal laws gave Thomas Auld the right to seize
    the property of Douglassthe fugitive slave
    Frederick Bailey
  • Summer of 1845decided to go to England
  • By 1838 all slaves within the British Empire had
    been given a gradual emancipation and were
  • December 5, 1846two English friends raised
    enough money to buy back the freedom of Frederick
    Douglass.
  • Amount 710.96
  • Hugh Auld signed the papers that declared the 28
    year old Douglass a free man.

12
Life in England
  • Traveled for nearly two years throughout the
    British Isles
  • Encountered little racial prejudice among the
    British
  • Spring of 1847 Returned to America

13
Life in Rochester
  • Fall of 1847 Douglass decided to move to
    Rochester, New York, which has a reputation for
    being pro-abolitionist
  • December 3, 1847 - his four page weekly
    newspaper, The North Star, came off the presses
  • Motto "Right is of no sex - Truth is of no color
    - God is the Father of us all, and we are all
    Brethren."
  • After 1851 He published Frederick Douglass'
    Weekly and Monthly, which symbolized the
    potential for blacks to achieve whatever goals
    they set. The paper provided a forum for black
    writers and highlighted the success achieved by
    prominent black figures in American society

14
After the Civil War
  • 1860s and beyondDouglass continued to campaign
    for the right of blacks to vote and receive equal
    treatment in public places
  • 1870s and 1880sDouglass served in government
    positions under several administrations
  • 1895died of a heart attack

15
His Works
  • 1845 Narrative of the Life of Frederick
    Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself
  • 1855 Revised the Narrative ? My Bondage and My
    Freedom
  • 1881 and 1892 The Life and Times of Frederick
    Douglass
  • Chronology of Frederick Douglass
  • Brief Summary of Narrative of the life of
    Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by
    Himself

16
Slavery
  • 1662 Virginia law
  • Africans would remain servants for life.
  • 1667
  • Baptism doth not alter the condition of the
    person as to his bondage or freedom.
  • 1740 Slavery system fully developed
  • Virginia law chattel personal in the hands of
    their owners and possessors for all intents,
    construction, and purpose whatsoever.

17
The Life of the Slaves
  • Being cut away from family as well as tribal
    links
  • Husbands were separated from wives, and children
    were separated from mothers.
  • My mother and I were separated when I was but an
    infant. (970 B 2040)
  • Harsh overseer and brutality was common
  • He always rest armed with a cowskin . . . I
    wish I could commit to paper the feelings with
    which I behold it. (972 B 2041-42)

18
The Life of the Slaves 2
  • The unfair treatment
  • Rape is not considered to be a crime.
  • Before he commenced whipping Aunt Hester, . .
    . red blood came dripping on the floor. (972 B
    2053)
  • Blacks cant present evidence in courts.
  • To teach a black to read/write is illegal.
  • Slavery soon proved . . . that educators and
    slavery were incompatible with each other. (975 B
    2055)

19
Summary I.VI.VII.IX.X
2
3
1
4
5
Captain Anthony
Sophia Auld
Hugh Auld
Thomas Auld
Edward Covey
8
6
7
Walter Price
William Freeland
William Gardner
5
20
Captain Anthony
  • Douglass was soon separated from his mother soon
    after he has been born
  • My mother and . . . very early age. (970
    B2040)
  • Father, a white man, whom was said to be
    Anthonyhis master
  • My father was a white man . . . the evitable
    result. (970 B2040)
  • The Captain frequently whipped Douglasss Aunt
    Hester for his particular sexual interest
  • He then said . . . after the bloody
    transaction was over. (972 B 2042)
  • Starts his poor life of slavery

21
Sophia Auld Hugh Auld
  • Sophia
  • A kind woman, who taught Douglass the alphabet
    words
  • My new mistress . . . her voice of
    tranquil. (973 B2053-54)
  • However, later on she turned her ways towards
    cruelty, which was considered to be a disease of
    slaveholding
  • But, alas! . . . gave place to that of a
    demon. (973 B2054)
  • Hugh Auld
  • When found out what Sophia did, he ordered her
    stop immediately, because education ruins slaves.
  • If you give nigger an inch, he will take an
    ell. (973 B2054)

22
Thomas Auld
  • A stingy and cruel master, who gives slaves a
    difficult time, for he does not give them enough
    food
  • I have now reached . . . though there are
    exceptions. (978-79 B2062)
  • After he has attended a Methodist camp
    meeting?Auld became more religious and even more
    cruel
  • In August, 1832, . . . been much worse after
    his conversions than before. (980 B2061)
  • Rented Douglass to Edward Covey, a poor man with
    reputation for successfully taming problematical
    slaves
  • He resolved to put me out . . . without any
    other comprehension. (981 B 2065)

23
Edward Covey
  • First 6 months was the hardest time of Douglass
  • I was now . . . midnight often caught us in
    the fields binding blades (982-83 B2065-66)
  • Runaway Sandys magical root
  • To please him, . . . I at first had taken it
    to be. (987-88 B2071)
  • Fights with Edward CoveyCovey never touches
    Douglass again
  • Mr. Covey seemed now to think he had me, . . .
    for you will come off worse than you did
    before. (988 B 2071-72)
  • Move to William Freeland

24
William Freeland
  • Worked slaves hard but fair
  • I soon found Mr. Freeland . . . and some
    respect for humanity. (990 B2074)
  • Holds a Sabbath school in the cabin
  • I held my Sabbath school . . . through my
    agency. (992-93 B2076)
  • This was the period when Douglass desired to live
    on the Free Land
  • At the close of the year, . . . I began to
    live upon freeland as well as with Freeland.
    (993 B2076)
  • Escapes party ?jail?Thomas Auld?Hugh Auld?William
    Gardner

25
William Gardner ? Walter Price
  • Severe physical intimidation from white
    apprentices
  • Four white apprentices attack Douglass?nearly
    destroyed his left eye
  • Later on, he returned back to Hugh Auld?stayed in
    Hughs shipyard? worked under Walter Price, had
    the highest possible wage, but had to turn back
    the wages to Hugh Auld
  • In a few weeks, . . . Mr. Gardeners
    shipyard. (998-99) B2081-82)

26
Theme
  • A. Ignorance as a Tool of Slavery
  • 1. white slaveholder control their slaves by
    keeping them ignorant.
  • 2. many people believe that slavery is a natural
    state of being.
  • I lived in Master Hughs . . . I were a
    brute. (975 B 2055)

27
Theme
  • B. Knowledge as the Path to Freedom
  • Knowledge helps slaves to articulate the
    injustice of slavery to themselves and others.
  • Knowledge helps slaves to recognize themselves as
    men rather than slaves.
  • Slavery soon proved . . . that education and
    slavery were incompatible with each other. (975
    B 2055)

28
Theme
  • C. Slaverys Damaging Effect on Slaveholders
  • The corrupt and irresponsible power that slave
    owners enjoy over their slaves has a detrimental
    effect on the slave owners own moral health.
  • In August, 1832, my master attended a Methodist
    . . . it made him cruel in hateful in all his
    ways. (980 B 2063-64)
  • Slavery soon proved its ability to divest her of
    these heavenly qualities . . . She finally
    became even more violent in her opposition than
    her husband himself. (975 B2056)

29
Symbol
  • A. White-Sailed Ships
  • Angels
  • Our house . . . multitude of ships. (984-85
    B 2068)
  • Freedom
  • The ships appear almost a spiritual and physical
    low point of his first months with Covey, as if
    they are a vision to Douglass as a sign of his
    demoralized state.

30
Symbol 2
  • B. Sandys root
  • A symbol of a traditional African Approach to
    religion and belief
  • That night I fell in love with . . . I had
    first taken it to be. (987-88 B 2071)
  • C. The Columbian Orator
  • A symbol not only of human rights, but also of
    the power of eloquence and articulation
  • I was now about 12 years old . . . died away
    for want of utterance. (976 B 2057)

31
Conclusion
  • Douglass progresses from uneducated, oppressed
    slave to worldly and articulated political
    commentator.
  • However, the road he took to freedom was not
    easy. Many people thought that such a powerful
    young man could have been a slave.
  • So Douglass wrote the book, Narrative of Life of
    Frederick Douglass, and this persistence of him
    took him to the final success to the land of
    freedom, where he could be a real man instead of
    a slave.

32
References
  • Slavery in America 2 Jan., 2005
    lthttp//www.simplcom.ca/lnq/mlk3/blackslavery.html
    gt.
  • Theme, Motif, and Symbols spraknotets 2 Jan
    2005 lthttp//www.sparknotes.com/lit/narr
    ative/gt.
  • Frederick Douglass Abolitionist/Editor
  • lthttp//www.history.rochester.edu/class/douglass/h
    ome.htmlcontentsgt.
  • Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
  • lthttp//www.sparknotes.com/lit/narrative/gt.

33
References
  • The Norton Anthology American Literature (Page
    967969)
  • Plot Overview Sparknotes 2 Jan. 2005
    lthttp//www.sparknotes.com/lit/narrative/summary.h
    tmlgt
  • Chapters III Sparknotes 2 Jan. 2005
    lthttp//www.sparknotes.com/lit/narrative/section2.
    rhtmlgt
  • Chapters VVI Sparknotes 2 Jan. 2005
    lthttp//www.sparknotes.com/lit/narrative/section4.
    rhtmlgt
  • Chapters VIIVIII Sparknotes 2 Jan. 2005
    lthttp//www.sparknotes.com/lit/narrative/section5.
    rhtmlgt
  • Chapters IXX Sparknotes 2 Jan. 2005
    lthttp//www.sparknotes.com/lit/narrative/section6.
    rhtmlgt
  • Chapter X (continued) Sparknotes 2 Jan. 2005
    lthttp//www.sparknotes.com/lit/narrative/section7.
    rhtmlgt
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