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