Frederick Douglass, He Tell Us of His Life as a Slave in His Autobiography

Today we will study and reflect on Fredrick Douglass’ first slave
autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.
Fredrick Douglass was born an illiterate slave who escaped slavery in
the decades before the Civil War. ith great effort he became truly
literate, and after he escaped he joined the abolition movement,
quickly becoming a leader of the movement after becoming a spell-
binding orator and becoming a best-selling author with his slave
autobiography.

You may ask, what can we learn by pondering the slave autobiography
by Fredrick Douglass?
We should never forget how brutal slavery was before the Civil War,
how this brutality and callousness toward the black race survived the
defeat of the Southern cause of slavery, how the brutality and
callousness of white supremacy poisons our politics today.
We can learn how we can be more compassionate towards the
legitimate fears of our black brothers by studying our history. We can
share this story with our acquaintances so we can defeat both
ignorance and prejudice.

Plus, it is a fascinating history of what it was to live in a very different
time and place where there were few of the modern conveniences we
take for granted had been invented.
We always like to select quotes from the author himself. At the end of
our talk, we will discuss our source for this video, and my blogs that
also cover this topic. Please, we welcome interesting questions in the
comments, sometimes these will generate short videos of their own.
Let us learn together!

YouTube Video:
Frederick Douglass Tells Us About His Life as a Slave in his
Autobiography
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Frederick Douglass wrote three autobiographies. His first
autobiography, which tells us his life as a slave and his escape to
freedom, is what we will review in this video. His third
autobiography includes much of the subject matter of his first
autobiography, plus the story of his life as a leading abolitionist
both before and during the Civil War, plus his years as a civil
rights activist and leading black leader during the Reconstruction
and the KKK dominated Redemption eras after the Civil War. We
will cut a video on the story of his life after he was freed in a
future video in 2021.

Frederick Douglass as DC Marshall, during Reconstruction With his grandson

Frederick Douglas was born a slave in Maryland in the late
1820’s, he can only guess how old he is, like most slaves he did
not know when he was born. Most of the plantations in Maryland
grew either cotton or tobacco. The upper south masters often
quickly broke up their slave families, as younger slaves were
valuable and selling slaves to the expanding plantations in
Alabama and Mississippi was very profitable, since the
international slave trade had been illegal since 1808.
Frederick was both a brilliant and a troublesome slave who had
many masters before he escaped to freedom in his early
twenties. His many masters included some of the most worse
possible masters, and some of the least worse masters, we
cannot say there are better masters, for that is an oxymoron.

A cotton plantation on the Mississippi, 1884

Slaves working in the tobacco sheds on a plantation (1670 painting)

For this video we will not try to track how Frederick came to be
with this master or that, since we are mainly interested in what
slavery was like and what his life as a slave was like.
As in Booker T Washington’s slave autobiography, Fredrick says
that slaves are treated like talking livestock on the very first page,
as he tells us that “most slaves know as little of their ages as
horses know of theirs.” Unlike the slave families of Booker T
Washington’s master broke up his and probably many other
slave families.
The black and white etchings in this video were illustrations in
the original printed copy of his third autobiography.

Frederick Douglass tells us, “my father was a
white man. . . The opinion was whispered that
my master was my father, but of the
correctness of this opinion I know nothing. . .
My mother and I were separated when I was
but an infant, before I knew her as my
mother. It is a common custom in Maryland
to part children from their mothers at an early
age.” Often these involuntary orphans would
be raised by “an old slave woman, too old for
field labor.” These slaveowners would be as
quick to separate slave children from their
parents as people give away puppies from
their pet dog’s litter.
Last Time he saw his Mother

His mother’s owner lived a dozen miles away,
he only saw her four or five times, and only at
night. “My mother died when I was about
seven years old. . . I was not allowed to be
present during her illness, at her death, or
burial. She was gone long before I knew
anything about it. Never having enjoyed, to
any considerable extent, her soothing
presence, her tender and watchful care, I
received the tidings of her death” as if she
were a stranger.
Last Time he saw his Mother

Frederick gives us many instances of the constant and cruel
whippings by cruel masters and overseers that were often
random and arbitrary.

One master, Mr. Plummer, was a “cruel man,
hardened by a long life of slaveholding. He took
great pleasure in whipping a slave. I have often been
awakened at dawn by the most heart-rending shrieks
of an aunt of mine, whom he used to tie up to a joist,
and whip her naked back until she was covered with
blood. . . The louder she screamed, the harder he
whipped; where the blood ran fastest, there he
whipped longest,” quitting only when he was
overcome by fatigue. He tells us of Mr. Hopkins, who
liked to “whip slaves in advance of deserving it. He
always managed to have one or more of his slaves to
whip every Monday morning.”
Whipping Old Barney

Another overseer, Mr. Severe, and that was his
name, once “whipped a woman, causing the
blood to run half an hour at the time; and this,
too, in the midst of her crying children, pleading
for their mother’s release. He seemed to take
pleasure in his fiendish barbarity.”
Slaves were given meager rations of food and
clothing. On his first farm the children were fed
mush, which was “coarse corn meal. It was put
into a large wooden tray or trough and set down
upon the ground. The children were called, like
so many pigs they would come and devour the
mush. . . The child that ate fastest got most, he
that was strongest got the best place; and few
left the trough satisfied.”

At the farms he worked on when he
was young, “men and women slaves
received, as their monthly ration,
eight pounds of pork, or its
equivalent in fish, and one bushel of
corn meal. Their yearly clothing
consisted of two coarse linen shirts,
one pair of linen trousers, like the
shirts, one jacket, one pair of winter
trousers, made of coarse negro
cloth, one pair of stockings, and one
pair of shoes. . . The children unable
to work had neither shoes, stocking,
jackets, or trousers; their clothing
consisted of two coarse linen shirts
per year. When these wore out, they
went naked until next allowance
day,” even in the winter.”

Slaves were given no beds. Frederick tells us
that at bedtime everyone, “old and young,
male and female, married and single,
dropped down side by side, on one common
bed, which was the cold, damp floor, each
covering themselves with their miserable
blankets.”
Negro quarters, Plantation,
Fort George Island, GA 1875

Slaves were occasionally reminded they were considered as mere property, as
chattel, such as when Frederick’s master died without a will. Frederick was called
back to his original master’s farm, which meant he likely had been leased to Mr
Auld in Baltimore.
For many days the slaves wondered, would some of them be sold at auction, at a
slave auction, auctioned off as if they were cattle?
They worried, would they be auctioned to many owners, breaking up their slave
families into smaller pieces? Would their new owners be particularly cruel
masters?

Lefevre James Cranstone - Slave Auction, Virginia, 1862

Husbands, wives, and
families sold
indiscriminately to
different purchasers, are
violently separated ;
probably never to meet
again. 1853

Plantation, Beaufort, Port
Royal Island, SC, 1862
Frederick Douglass remembered the valuation of the
estate, “Men and women, old and young, married and
single, were ranked with horses, sheep, and
swine.” All were physically inspected, then the
property was divided among the heirs. “Our fate for
life was now to be decided. We had no more voice in
that decision than the animals among whom we were
ranked. A single word from the white man was
enough, against all our wishes, prayers, and entreaties,
to sunder forever from us our dearest friends, kindred,
and the strongest ties known to human beings.”

One slave’s fate in this property division was especially
cruel, Frederick’s grandmother, “who had been the
source of the wealth of the deceased master, she had
peopled his plantation with slaves, she had rocked him
in infancy, attended him in childhood, served him
through life, and at his death wiped from his icy brow
the cold death-sweat, and closed his eyes forever.” The
ungrateful heirs “took her to the woods, built her a little
hut, put up a little mud-chimney, and then made her
welcome to the privilege of supporting herself there in
perfect loneliness; thus, virtually turning her out to die!”

Frederick reflects on how his slave master father forced himself
on to his slave mother. The freedom of the slave master to treat
his female slaves as concubines, willing or not, is a feature of
nearly all slave societies from the ancient world to the modern
abolition of slavery.

Plantation, Beaufort, Port
Royal Island, SC, 1862
Frederick notes that when
the master caters to his
“own lusts, this makes
gratification of their
wicked desires profitable
as well as pleasurable; for
by this cunning
engagement, the
slaveholder, in cases not a
few, sustains to his slaves
the double relation of
master and father.” These
slave concubines were
often a “constant offense
to their mistress,” she likes
to see them suffer under
the lash, and often sells
them off to be rid of them.

Although slaves were often mistreated by
their masters, rarely were they executed,
because slaves were worth as much before
the Civil Wars as economy cars are worth
today, they were valuable property. But
slaveowners were never brought to justice for
killing a slave, and Frederick witnesses three
occasions when a slave was murdered. One
slave, Denby, was shot by an overseer for
standing in a creek to avoid a harsh
whipping. Another female slave was beat to
death for falling asleep when she was tasked
with looking after a baby. Yet another was
shot for trespassing when hunting for oysters,
since his master did not feed him enough.
Overseer Gore shooting Denby

Frederick was delighted to be sent to Baltimore when he was
about eight years old to be the servant of a relative, Mr. and Mrs.
Auld, because he was able to clean up and was given a brand-
new pair of trousers!

Frederick liked being a city slave, as he
explains, “a city slave is almost a freeman,
compared with a slave on a plantation. He is
much better fed and clothed, and enjoys
privileges unknown to the slave on a
plantation. There is a vestige of decency, a
sense of shame, that does much to curb and
check those outbreaks of atrocious cruelty so
common on plantations. . . Few are willing to
gain the reputation of being a cruel master,”
and does not want to be known as a master
that did not give his slave enough to eat.
Unnamed private black servant

Mrs. Auld had never owned a slave
before. As Frederick tells us, prior to her
marriage she worked for a living, and “to a
good degree was preserved from the
blighting and dehumanizing effects of
slavery. I was utterly astonished at her
goodness. I scarcely knew how to behave
towards her. She was entirely unlike any other
white woman I have ever seen.” She treated
him like he was a fellow human being, and
even started teaching him how to read until
Frederick could spell out words of three and
four letters, until Mr. Auld caught on to what
was happening and put a stop to it.
Mrs. Auld teaching him to Read

Mr. Auld scolded his wife, ‘If you give a nigger
an inch, he will take a yard. A nigger should
know nothing but to obey his master, to do as
he is told. Learning would spoil the best
nigger in the world. If you teach that nigger
to read, there would be no keeping him. He
would be forever unfit to be a slave, he would
become unmanageable, and of no value to
his master, and do him no good.”
Mrs. Auld teaching him to Read

After she was scolded by her husband for teaching young
Frederick the basics of how to read and write, Mrs. Auld
developed a mild cruel streak, as do all slave owners the longer
they own slaves and realize the absolute power they have over
their lives.

As Frederick learned how to read the newspaper, he read about how the
abolitionists were trying to abolish slavery. But he discovered that his master’s fears
about his learning to read had some merit. He tells us, “I would at times feel that
learning how to read had been a curse rather than a blessing. It had given me a
view of my wretched condition, without the remedy. . . In moments of agony, I
envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity.”
Masthead of
the Liberator,
The leading
abolitionist
newspaper

Many vivid pictures of slavery were printed in the abolitionist
press, so it is little wonder that southern masters did all they
could to keep their slaves from learning how to read, as you can
see in this picture:

American Anti-Slavery Almanac 1838
American Anti-Slavery Almanac 1838

For six months Frederick had been handed over to a slave
breaker Master Covey, who had no slaves of his own but broke
individual slaves through constant harassment and cruelty. After
several months of this mistreatment, he got into a brawl with
Master Covey that lasted several hours. If Master Covey had
turned him in to the authorities he would have been executed,
but then he would lose his reputation as a slave breaker and
would no longer enjoy the free labor of troublesome
slaves. They established an uneasy truce for the remaining time
of his servitude with Mr. Covey, which meant that Frederick
Douglass had broken the slave breaker.

The second time he succeeded, he went to ew York where the
abolitionists told him he was not safe there, so he was sent on to
New Bedford, Massachusetts.
His observations of a society free of slavery resemble the
observations made by Booker T Washington about the morally
debilitating effects of slavery on both master and slave.

In his second attempt to escape slavery in 1838 he succeeded,
fleeing to New York.. There the abolitionists told him he was not
safe there, so he was sent on to New Bedford, Massachusetts.
His observations of a society free of slavery resemble the
observations made by Booker T Washington about the morally
debilitating effects of slavery on both master and slave.

Whaling industry, New Bedford, 1763

Whaling vessels at New Bedford, 1901
These are Frederick Douglass’ first impressions when he walked
the streets of New Bedford, Connecticut: “Almost everybody
seemed to be at work, but noiselessly so, compared to what I had
been accustomed to. . . I saw no whipping of men; but all seemed
to go smoothly on. Every man appeared to understand his work,
and went about it with a sober, yet cheerful earnestness. . . To me
this looked exceedingly strange.”

Paperboy, New Bedford, 1911
Frederick continues his
observations. “Everything looked
clean, new, and beautiful. I saw few
or no dilapidated houses; no half-
naked children and barefooted
women, such as I had been
accustomed to seeing. The people
looked more able, stronger,
healthier, and happier, than those
of Maryland. I was for one made
glad by a view of extreme wealth,
without being saddened by seeing
extreme poverty. But most
astonishing was the condition of
the colored people, a great many
of whom were escaped slaves like
me. I found many, who had not
been seven years out of their
chains, living in finer houses, and
evidently enjoying more of the
comforts of life, than the average
slaveholder in Maryland.”

Many years after the end of the Civil War, when they were both
old men, and when Mr. Auld was suffering from palsy, when he
heard Frederick was visiting Baltimore, he sent for Frederick to
call on him, as he was too infirm to easily leave the house.
Frederick asked him what he thought of his conduct when he ran
away to gain his freedom.

Mr. said, “Frederick, I always knew you were
too smart to be a slave, and had I been in
your place I should have done as you did.”
Later in the conversation he said, “I never
liked slavery, and I meant to emancipate all of
my slaves when they reached the age of 25.”
Mr. Auld then told Frederick that his brother-
in-law had inherited his grandmother, but
when he read the account in his first
autobiography of how she had been exiled to
that cabin in the woods, “he brought her
down to Baltimore and took care of her as
long as she lived.”
Douglass revisits his old home.

When Mr. Auld passed away a short time after their short
meeting, the obituary ironically noted that he was a former owner
of the famous abolitionist and civil rights leader Frederick
Douglass, since he was far more famous and notable than his
former master.

.
Frederick Douglas added an appendix when
he was challenged for his criticisms of the
hypocrisy of many white Christians:
“I mean strictly to apply (my criticisms) to
the slave-holding religion of this land, and
with no possible reference to Christianity
proper; for, between the Christianity of this
land, and the Christianity of Christ, I
recognize the widest, possible difference, so
wide, that to receive the one as good, pure,
and holy, is of necessity to reject the other
as bad, corrupt, and wicked. To be the friend
of the one, is of necessity to be the enemy
of the other. I love the pure, peaceable, and
impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore
hate the corrupt, slave-holding, women-
whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and
hypocritical Christianity of this land.”
Camp Meeting and Revival, 1829

.
Frederick Douglas continues: “I am filled with
unutterable loathing when I contemplate
the religious pomp and show, together
with the horrible inconsistencies, which
everywhere surround me. . . We have
men-stealers for ministers, women-
whippers for missionaries, and cradle-
plunderers for church members. The man
who robs me of my earnings at the end of
each week meets me as a class-leader on
Sunday morning, to show me the way of
life, and the path of salvation. He who
sells my sister, for purposes of
prostitution, stands forth as the pious
advocate of purity. He who proclaims it a
religious duty to read the Bible denies me
the right of learning to read the name of
the God who made me.”

This is only half of what I quoted in my blog.
Do we detect some bitterness in Frederick Douglas’ scathing
condemnations? Or is this rather justifiable anger and frustration
at white hypocrisy? Frederick Douglas tells us how one of his
masters acted cruelly towards his slaves, starving them though
he had food plenty in his larders, and how he acted with greater
cruelty after his so-called religious conversion.
For an example, you can consult my blog where Frederick
Douglas tells us how his so-called Christian master treated his
lame slave Henny, abusing her since she could not work,
eventually turning her out so she could starve.

In the Land of King Cotton, Picking, 1909
Frederick Douglass said that some people thought
that slaves were happy when they sang. Frederick
knows this is not true, rather, “slaves sing most when
they are unhappy. The songs of the slave represent
the sorrows of his heart, and he is relieved by them,
only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears.”

SOURCES:
There are many stories and details in his slave autobiography, The
Narratives of the Life of Frederick Douglass, that we did not cover in
this video. Since this was one of the best-sellers in pre-Civil War
America, we know it is well written, and it is a joy to read, except when
you just want to cringe from the unbelievable cruelties it sometimes
describes.
In this video we also had a flashback from his third autobiography, The
Life and Times of Frederick Douglas, when he reminisced with Mr Auld,
his least worst master in Baltimore. We plan on releasing a video and
blog on this third autobiography later in 2021.

This particular book on Amazon has slave autobiographies of
both Frederick Douglass and Booker T Washington, who
belonged to the next generation of black leaders who had to
tolerate the humiliations and brutalities of the Jim Crow, KKK
dominated Reconstruction and Redemption eras in order to fund
the black schools needed to help blacks gain a precarious
financial foothold in the American economy.

PLEASE click on the link for our blog on Frederick Douglass’ slave
autobiography.
And please click on the links for our other interesting YouTube videos
that will broaden your knowledge and improve your soul.

Frederick Douglass, He Tell Us of His Life as a Slave in His Autobiography

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