71 pages • 2-hour read
My Bondage and My Freedom
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Chapters 14-16
Chapter 14 Summary: “Experience in St. Michael’s”
In St. Michael’s, most of the buildings were made of well-worn wood. Its lifeline was Miles River, which was the town’s source of oysters. Fishermen were there at all hours during most seasons, carrying liquor with them to stave off the cold. The commonness of drinking in the town cultivated vulgarity among its citizens.
Douglass arrived in St. Michael’s in March 1833. He recalls the year well because it was one year after the cholera outbreak in Baltimore and the year “of that strange phenomenon, when the heavens seemed about to part with its starry train” (189). Douglass didn’t know Thomas Auld and hadn’t seen him in seven years. He had to learn about Thomas’s disposition and figure out how to please him. Douglass quickly learned that Thomas was a stingy enslaver, while his second wife, Rowena, was cruel and quickly made her aversion to Douglass clear. For the first time in seven years, Douglass went hungry, just as he had on Lloyd’s plantation.
There were four people in the household—Thomas, Rowena, Hadaway Auld (Thomas’s brother), and Amanda. There were also three enslaved people in the kitchen—all of them Douglass’s relatives. The enslaved people ate only cornmeal most of the time. Hunger compelled them to beg or steal.
In August 1833, Thomas Auld professed religious faith at a Methodist camp meeting. Douglass figured that this change would lead him to free his enslaved people or, at the very least, to treat them better, but no such thing occurred. Instead, he became more rigid, cruel, and mean, particularly toward Henny, of whom he wished to be rid. While his house became one of worship, where loud prayers took place at all hours, Thomas did not pay attention to the care of his enslaved people. He did, however, frequently invite preachers to the home and stuffed them with food. The only clergyman who took any interest in the enslaved people was Reverend George Cookman, an Englishman, who, supposedly, had convinced one of the largest enslavers in the region, Samuel Harrison, to free all of his enslaved people. Unfortunately, Reverend Cookman left Talbot County. One day, while on his way back to England, he perished at sea on a ship that sank.
At Thomas’s house, Douglass was neither allowed to teach nor learn. One day, however, a young man named Wilson asked if Douglass would like to help him teach at a Sunday school at the house of a free Black man who lived in St. Michael’s named James Mitchell. With 12 old spelling books and some testaments, they started teaching 20 pupils. Shortly after they began, a mob of white men entered, wielding sticks and other weapons, and drove everyone off. One of the men accused Douglass of trying to become another Nat Turner, which could lead to his death like Nat Turner.
Thomas had also had enough of Douglass’s behavior. After giving him numerous whippings in the nine months in which Douglass had lived with him, Thomas had seen no change in the young man’s character. He decided then that someone had to break Douglass’s spirit. Thomas decided to send Douglass to Edward Covey. Douglass was relieved to leave St. Michael’s. Though he didn’t relish the prospect of suffering at Covey’s hands, he figured that, now at least, he would get enough to eat.
Chapter 15 Summary: “Covey, The Negro Breaker”
On the morning of January 1, 1834, Douglass made his way to Edward Covey’s. The clothes that he carried were threadbare, due to Thomas Auld’s stinginess.
Three days after Douglass arrived at Covey’s farm, he received his first whipping. On one of the coldest days of the month, Covey ordered him to walk two miles from the house, at the break of dawn, to get a load of wood. To perform this task, Covey gave Douglass “a pair of unbroken oxen” (210), which he had to hold by a rope to keep them from running away. Douglass had never before driven oxen. He made it through the first mile and was fine with the animals until he reached the woods. There, the animals became frightened and ran off, dashing the cart against trees. They stopped, finally, after running themselves into trees and becoming tangled in a grove of saplings, turning the cart over. Douglass succeeded in getting it upright again. He then took an ax from the cart to cut the oxen free from the saplings. By then, the animals were calm.
Afternoon came. Douglass hurried to get back home where he told Covey what happened. Covey demanded that Douglass return to the woods and arrived at the place where the oxen were shortly after Douglass. Seeing the animals so well-behaved, Covey became convinced that the story was a lie and demanded that Douglass strip for a whipping. Douglass refused, causing Covey to tear the clothes off of the young man himself and proceed to whip him.
Such whippings continued to occur throughout the year that Douglass lived with Covey. Douglass worked from dawn until dark. The enslaved people labored in all weather and received only Sundays for leisure. Douglass’s spirit suffered under Covey’s rule. He lost all cheer and no longer had any desire to read. He thought sometimes about killing Covey and dying by suicide. A short distance from Covey’s house, he could see the Chesapeake Bay. He dreamt of taking a canoe and making his way into Delaware or Pennsylvania.
Chapter 16 Summary: “Another Pressure of the Tyrant’s Vice”
In August 1834, Douglass worked in a treading yard—that is, the place where “wheat is trodden out from the straw, by the horse’s feet” (223). Douglass carried wheat to the fan, while Bill Smith fed the fan. The work was easy but physically demanding. The intense heat from the sun, coupled with the arduous work, caused Douglass to faint. Covey heard the fan stop and came down from his house to inquire about why. Bill Smith told him about Douglass falling ill. Covey asked Douglass what the matter was. After the latter answered, Covey kicked him and demanded he get up. He gave Douglass a second kick, but Douglass still couldn’t rise. Determined to get the young man to get up, Covey got a hickory stick and claimed that, if Douglass had a headache, he had something to cure it. With that, Covey hit him on the head with the sharp edge of the stick, causing blood to gush down Douglass’s face.
After this incident, Douglass decided to go back to St. Michael’s to tell Thomas Auld about his treatment under Covey. Bleeding, Douglass got about halfway across the field and walked toward the woods. Covey saw him and demanded that he return, threatening him about what would happen if Douglass didn’t obey. The head wound caused Douglass to pass out again. He awoke around 45 minutes later and again made his way toward St. Michael’s. It took him five hours to march through the woods and into the town, which was seven or eight miles away.
Once he reached Thomas Auld’s home, Douglass proceeded to tell his enslaver about all of the mistreatment he had suffered under Edward Covey. At first, it seemed that Thomas Auld was sympathetic, but then he became cold and found excuses to justify Covey’s actions. He then asked Douglass what he expected him to do about this matter. Douglass requested a new home and a new enslaver. He argued that, if he returned to Covey, he would probably die, particularly after coming to the Auld home to file a complaint. Auld refused to believe any of this. He asserted that Covey was a good man and that Douglass would remain with him. Besides, if he didn’t return to Covey, Auld would lose Douglass’s wages for the year. He then demanded that Douglass return to Covey’s farm, otherwise Auld would whip the young man himself. Douglass asked if he could remain in the Auld home for the night to recover from his journey. Auld relented but said that Douglass had to leave by morning. He then made Douglass swallow Epsom salts, the only medicine enslaved people usually received.
Chapters 14-16 Analysis
Douglass opens these chapters with the wondrous occurrence of the Leonid meteor shower of 1833—once again, to provide historical context despite his own lack of certainty about his history. He juxtaposes this wondrousness with the mundane degradation of life as an enslaved person. Douglass was starving on Thomas Auld’s plantation. Hunger reduced him and other enslaved people to stealing, which influenced the stereotype that associated Black people with thievery.
Auld, like Covey, was a member of the Methodist Church. Douglass explores the hypocrisy of members of this church—a subject to which he later returns—and examines how men of the cloth used the Bible to justify enslavement. Douglass depicts a Maryland community whose citizens feigned religious devotion while drinking excessively (often considered a moral failing at the time). This is one example of Douglass using emotive anecdotes to highlight the hypocrisy of enslavement.
The white Southerners’ fear of Douglass teaching enslaved people to read was not only due to concern that this would make their enslaved people dissatisfied; it also reflected worry that there could be another uprising like the Nat Turner rebellion. After that revolt, enslavers forbade the congregation of enslaved people and more closely circumscribed their movements. This episode that Douglass recounts of white people attempting to stop Black people from learning highlights Literary as a Gateway to Freedom since enslavers are aware that education and literary can lead to an oppressive system being toppled.
The episode with the oxen in Chapter 15 is an analogy for The Dehumanizing Effects of Enslavement. The tied-up oxen forced to work represent enslaved people. When Douglass cuts them free, they are instantly calm, conveying a message that people will thrive and be able to contribute more to society if they are free. The fact that Covey does not see the benefits of the calm oxen and decides to tie the animals back up and whip Douglass draws attention to the real aim of enslavement: to subjugate.
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