Frederick Douglass

What three things speed up the civil war

1) Frederick Douglass autobiography 2) Harriot Beacherstone's Uncle Tom's Cabin (book) 3) 1859: John Brown's raid of Harper's Ferry

Slave jobs in order from worst to best

1. field slaves 2. horse tenders 3. house slaves 4. skilled laborers 5. sloop (ship) slaves (closest job to freedom)

What year was Frederick Douglass born

1818

Date published

1845

Civil war

1860-1865

What year did Frederick Douglass die

1895

Children's yearly allowance of clothing

2 coarse linen shirts

Edward Covey

A notorious slave "breaker" and Douglass's keeper for one year. Slave owners send their unruly slaves to Covey, who works and punishes them (thus getting free labor to cultivate his rented land) and returns them trained and docile. Covey's tactics as a slaveholder are both cruel and sneaky. He is deliberately deceptive and devious when interacting with his slaves, creating an atmosphere of constant surveillance and fear.

Colonel Edward Lloyd

Captain Anthony's boss and Douglass's first owner. Colonel Lloyd is an extremely rich man who owns all of the slaves and lands where Douglass grows up. Lloyd insists on extreme subservience from his slaves and often punishes them unjustly.

Lucretia Auld

Captain Anthony's daughter and Thomas Auld's wife. After Captain Anthony's death, Lucretia inherits half his property, including Douglass. Lucretia is as cruel an owner as her husband.

Plummer

Captain Anthony's overseer, a drunk and a cruel man who carries a whip and cudgel with him and often uses them on slaves.

Mr. Winder, Mr. Nicholson, and Mr. Lowndes

Colonel Lloyd's three son in laws

Edward, Murray, and Daniel Lloyd

Colonel Lloyd's three sons

Isaac Bailey and Betsy Bailey

Douglass' grandparents

Aunt Hester

Douglass's aunt. Aunt Hester is an exceptionally beautiful and noble-looking woman, superior to most white and black women. Captain Anthony is extraordinarily interested in Hester, and she therefore suffers countless whippings at his hands.

Captain Anthony

Douglass's first master and probably his father. Anthony is the clerk for Colonel Lloyd, managing Lloyd's surrounding plantations and the overseers of those plantations. Anthony is a cruel man who takes pleasure in whipping his slaves, especially Douglass's Aunt Hester. He is called "Captain" because he once piloted ships up the Chesapeake Bay.

Betsy Bailey

Douglass's grandmother. Betsy raised Douglass on Captain Anthony's land after Douglass's mother was taken away. Betsy served the Anthony family her whole life and had many children and grandchildren who became slaves for the Anthonys. After seeing Captain Anthony's children from birth to death, Betsy is abandoned to a hut in the woods instead of being allowed to go free.

Harriet Bailey

Douglass's mother. Harriet is separated from Douglass after his birth, but she still attempts to maintain family relations by walking twelve miles to see him at night. She dies when Douglass is young.

Sophia Auld

Hugh Auld's wife. Sophia was a working woman before marrying Hugh, and she had never owned slaves. The corruption of owning a slave transforms Sophia from a sympathetic, kind woman into a vengeful monster.

Captain Thomas Auld

Lucretia Auld's husband and Hugh Auld's brother. Thomas Auld did not grow up owning slaves, but gained them through his marriage to Lucretia. After attending a church meeting in Maryland, Thomas Auld becomes a "pious" man, but he uses his newfound Christianity to be even more self-righteously brutal toward his slaves. very cruel to his slaves but a cowardly master, slaves had little respect for him and although he wished for them to call him "master," they called him "captain" instead with no punishment. Andrew and Lucretia divide Captain Anthony's property after he and their brother Richard Auld die and Lucretia gets the slaves, her husband is Thomas so he becomes master. Him and Frederick equally hate each other and Thomas eventually sends him to Mr. Covey, who is well known for "breaking slaves." Marries Rowina Hamilton two years after Lucretia dies

When does Frederick Douglass go to live with Master Thomas at St. Michael's

March 1832

Target audience

Northerners who were undecided about slavery

Frederick Douglass

The author and narrator of the Narrative. Douglass, a rhetorically skilled and spirited man, is a powerful orator for the abolitionist movement. One of his reasons for writing the Narrative is to offer proof to critics who felt that such an articulate and intelligent man could not have once been a slave. The Narrative describes Douglass's experience under slavery from his early childhood until his escape North at the age of twenty. Within that time, Douglass progresses from unenlightened victim of the dehumanizing practices of slavery to educated and empowered young man. He gains the resources and convictions to escape to the North and wage a political fight against the institution of slavery.

Hugh Auld

Thomas Auld's brother and Douglass's occasional master. Hugh lives in Baltimore with his wife, Sophia. Thomas and Lucretia Auld allow Hugh to borrow Douglass as a servant for Hugh's son, Thomas. Hugh is well aware that whites maintain power over blacks by depriving them of education, and he unwittingly enlightens Douglass in this matter. Hugh is not as cruel as his brother Thomas, but he becomes harsher due to a drinking habit in his later years. Hugh seems to suffer some consciousness that slavery and the law's treatment of blacks are inhumane, but he does not allow this consciousness to interfere with his exercising power over Douglass.

Peter, Isaac, Rich, and Jack

boat drivers (sloop slaves) has best slave job

Mr. M'Durmond

chief gardener

MD cash crops

corn, tobacco, wheat- easier crops to harvest

Deep south cash crop

cotton- painful and difficult to harvest

Mr. Severe

cruel and harsh overseer

Mr. Hopkins

less cruel and profane overseer, makes less noise but is not as effective at his job as Mr. Severe, takes over after Mr. Severe dies

Mr. Gore

overseer who "blew its (his guns) deadly contents into the poor old man," shoots a disobedient slavs who sets a bad example for the other slave, does not lose his job because he tells slave owner that the slave he killed was out of control and other slaves would follow in his footsteps if he had not done something about it

Andrew Anthony

son of Captain Anthony

Richard Anthony

son of Captain Anthony

Monthly allowance of food

• 8 lbs pork or fish • 1 bushel of corn meal

Ways Frederick Douglass learned how to read and write

• befriended white boys and made them his teacher • he got as much bread as he wanted so he would take it to the poor and hungry white boys outside and exchange it for reading and writing lessons • tricked boys into writing letters for him to copy. "I bet I can write (letter) better than you and I don't even go to school" • got free/cheap newspaper to practice reading- learned what abolitionist were from it • uses Thomas Auld's old copy books from school to practice writing • Sophia Auld teaches him to read for a period of time before slavery changes her • when he was sent on errands he completed them quickly so he had time to learn something before he returned • copied italics in Webster's Spelling Book • wrote on board, fence, brick wall, and pavement with a lump of chalk • watching ship carpenters prepare lumber in Durgin and Bailey's ship‐yard. -timber intended for larboard side marked "L." -timber intended for starboard side marked "S.F." -timber intended for larboard aft marked "L.A." -timber intended for starboard aft marked "S.A."

Why it was better to be a MD slave

• no cotton- easier crops to harvest • corn, what, and tobacco (the MD cash crops) are easy to harvest • no year round growing season- slaves got to take time off in the winter • MD is close to freedom- borderline Mason Dixon line • slaves treated better in MD- smaller plantations, less slaves= slaves worth more

Adult yearly allowance of clothing

• two coarse linen shirts • one pair linen trousers • one jacket • one pair trousers for winter made of coarse cloth • one pair of stockings • one pair of shoes

Why city is better than plantation for slaves

• working conditions better- slaves work indoors, jobs include taking care of children and running errands • lots of people- fewer harsh beatings because more people around to judge masters who beat their slaves • more to eat- masters did not want slaves to looked thin and starved for fear of being judged, city slaves ate leftovers- more variety than plantation slaves easier to escape- cities had methods of transportation such as trains and wagons that plantation slaves didn't have access to