By Lauren Hanano
This biography begins by Frederick Douglass telling us how he does not know the exact date of his birthday and that he is relatively saddened by this, I would be also. He then continues by explaining his life to us and how his mother died when he was only at the age of 3 years old. According to Fred, this doesn't necessarly affect him very much because he was separated from his mother when he was very young, rather than loosing at mother when you've know her for soo long and become attached. Douglass belives that his father was his master, Colonel Lloyd. Lloyd's large central plantation was called the "Great House Farm" by the hundreds of slaves that he owned. The life on Colonel Lloyd’s plantations for the slaves were like similar to many other Southern plantations. It was is brutal, the slaves are being overworked and exhausted; yet they receive very little food, barely any clothes, and no beds to sleep on. The slaves who do and do not break rules are being beaten or whipped to death, and sometimes even shot by the overseers of the plantation. Some of the cruelest are Mr. Severe and Mr. Austin Gore.
Being a child, Douglass’s life on the plantation is not as hard as most of the other slaves and he works in the house instead of out in the fields. Douglass witnessed his first brutal act of slavery at a very young age when he saw his Aunty Hester being whipped. His biography then continues on and he tells us in more details about the structure of the farms, and what role the slaves played, and how they acted while interacting with their masters. A very important part of the book is at this point, when Douglass describes to us the singing of the slaves. Here, I started to gain respect towards Douglass, as it appears that he truly understans the lives that slaves is forced to live. Then, he explains the cruel interaction that occurs between the slaves and slave holders, also how slaves are supposed to behave while they are in the presence of their masters. I also learned that even when slaves tell the truth, they are penalized by their owners. Douglass continued on by describing several other events to us in which there were extreme brutality against his fellow slaves.
At seven years old, Douglass is given to Captain Anthony’s son-in-law’s brother, Hugh Auld, who lives in Baltimore. In Baltimore, Douglass enjoys a freer life. The slave-owners in the city only appearing cruel to their slaves in front of their non-slaveowning neighbors. Hugh’s wife, Sophia Auld has never owned a slave before, so in the beggining she is kind to Douglass. Sophia starts teaching Douglass how to read, but then her husband demands her to stop and tells her that education makes slaves unmanageable. Sophia eventually gets the idea of a slave owner and looses her kindness. Although Sophia and her husband Hugh become crueler towards him, Douglass still likes Baltimore and continues to try and teach himself how to read with the help of the local boys. As Douglass learns more of how to read and write, he decides that he wants to run away and escape to the North sooner or later.
After the death of Captain Anthony, Douglass is taken back to serve Captain Anthony’s son-in-law, Thomas Auld. Auld is a very cruel man who is made even harsher by his fake religiousness. Auld thinks that Douglass is an unmanageable slave so he rents him for one year to Edwars Covey. Covey is a man who is known for "breaking" slaves. Within the first six months, Covey manages to work and whip all of the spirit out of Douglass. Douglass no longer has an interested in learning how to read or becomming free. He is now only capable of resting from his injuries and exhaustion from being worked all day. The turning point in his life is when Douglass fights back against Cove; after the two-hour fight Covey dares to never touch Douglass ever again.
Douglass is then rented to William Freeland for two years. Though Freeland not as harsh, Douglass’s wish to escape is nonetheless renewed. While being a slave at Freeland’s, Douglass begins teaching his fellow slaves in a school at homes for free blacks. Despite the punishment and harsh violence that they face, many of slaves from close by farms went to go see Douglass and learn. While at Freeland’s, Douglass also plans an escape with three other slaves with whom he is very close to. Before they had a chance to escape, someone betrays them and tells the plan to Freeland and the gang is sent to jail. Once Douglass is out of jail, Thomas Auld then sends Douglass back to Baltimore with Hugh Auld to learn about the trade of ship caulking.
While working in the trade industry at Baltimore, Douglass has to go up against other races. The whites were working with the free black workers, but the whites were begging to fear that not before long, more of the free blacks come and take their jobs. Douglass is still a slave recived unwanted attention and violence from other white coworkers and is forced to switch to another shipyard. In Douglass's new apprenticeship, he quickly learns the trade of caulking and he soon earns the highest wage ammount as possible, but always giving them to his owner, Hugh Auld.
In the end, Douglass receives permission from Hugh Auld to hire out all of his extra time. Douglass saves up some of his money little by little nd eventually get enought money to make his escape to New York. Douglass is free at last but he refuses on describing how he exaclty escaped so that he could protect future slaves who want to follow him in the same escape route. When in New York, Douglass fears that he might get recapture and become a slave again so he changes his name from Bailey to Douglass. Soon after that, Douglass gets married to Annd Murray. Anna Murray is also a free woman that he met while he was still a slave working in Baltimore. They both moved north to Massachusetts together where Douglass then becomes a writer.
I'd have to say that Frederick Douglass is probably one of the most exciting and interesting non-fiction book that I've ever read! Well it's the only one that I've read besides Anne Frank, ha ha. But I still kind of perfer fiction books cause its jsuts soo much more.....interesting!
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