61 pages • 2-hour read
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
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Key Figures
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey) was an influential abolitionist, orator, and writer. Douglass had white and Black heritage and born into slavery circa 1818. In 1838, Douglass escaped from slavery in Maryland and settled in New Bedford. He became involved with the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York, where he became a well-known orator and writer. His first autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845), was influential in shaping public attitudes toward abolition. In 1855, he wrote My Bondage and My Freedom, and in 1881 he published Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, which covered his life during and after the Civil War. Douglass was the first African American nominated for vice president of the United States as the running mate of presidential candidate Victoria Woodhull, who ran on the Equal Rights Party ticket.
The Auld Family
Douglass was born into slavery. When Douglass was six, he was separated from his grandparents and sent to the Wye House plantation, where Captain Aaron Anthony was the overseer. When Anthony died, Douglass was given to Lucretia Auld, who was married to Thomas Auld. Auld sent him to live with his brother Hugh Auld in Baltimore, where Hugh Auld’s wife Sophia began teaching Douglass how to read. Douglass remained enslaved by the Aulds until his escape.
Douglass’s recollections of Sophia Auld are particularly significant, as they exemplify slavery’s corrosive effects. In describing how Sophia’s initial kindness gave way to cruelty after she tasted the power and superiority white enslavers derived from slavery, Douglass demonstrates how the system dehumanizes everyone who comes in contact with it.
Edward Covey
After a falling out between Hugh and Thomas Auld, Thomas called Douglass back to the plantation. Thomas found Douglass to be strong-willed and hired him out to Edward Covey, who had a reputation for breaking the will of enslaved people, for a year. Douglass was around 16 years, and Covey’s frequent beatings took a toll on Douglass’s spirit. Six months after Douglass arrived, he confronted Covey during a beating, and Covey stopped whipping him after that.
William Freeland
Thomas Auld also hired Douglass out to William Freeland, who was a less cruel person. While at Freeland’s, Douglass taught other enslaved people how to read. He also made plans to run away with other enslaved people on the plantation, but they were betrayed, and Douglass was sent back to Baltimore.
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