Frederick Douglass Characters

Mr. 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.

Sandy Jenkins

A slave acquaintance of Douglass. The highly superstitious Sandy stands in the Narrative as a representative of all uneducated, superstitious slaves. Sandy is kind to Douglass when Douglass runs away from Covey's, but the Narrative also implies that Sandy may have informed William Freeland about Douglass's plans to escape.

Mr. Freedland

After his service to Mr. Covey, Douglass goes to work for Mr. Freeland, a fair and respectable slaveholder. Douglass considers Mr. Freeland the best master he had before becoming his own master. Unlike many slaveholders, Mr. Freeland has no religious pretensions. While working for Mr. Freeland, Douglass tries an unsuccessful escape with two of Mr. Freeland's slaves. Mr. Freeland's mother blames Douglass for corrupting the minds of her slaves.

Mr. Severe

An overseer at the Great House Farm, he dies shortly after young Douglass arrives. A cruel man known for constantly swearing, the slaves consider his death an act of mercy. He took pleasure in his beatings. Lived up to his name

Colonel 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.

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. Douglass at a young age witnesses a particularly brutal whipping in which she is stripped and then terribly whipped. It shows him the terrible cruelties of slavery.

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. He is not considered a rich slave-owner, he only has 2 or 3 farms and about 30 slaves

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. She used to be kind to Douglass and even started to teach him to read, but she was told not to and became really mean. It shows the brutality of not only being a slave, but being a slavemaster transforms you as well.

Thomas

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. He was extremely cruel and justified his actions with scripture. He was particularly cruel because he didnt give his slaves enough to eat. 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. He did not get along at all with Douglass so he sent him to Mr. Covey. He is inconcsistent, because he is cruel but cowardly.

Whittier (Grandmother)

Out of all the injustices of slavery, Douglass finds that the way his grandmother is treated toward the end of her life is the cruelest. He quotes Whittier's poem about slavery, relating the line 'Gone, gone, sold and gone...' to his grandmother's fate in seeing her children and grandchildren taken away from her. She was taken away at this point and left to fend for herself until death. Douglass is outraged.

Harriet Bailey

She is Douglass' mom that he barely knows. Douglass only sees her a few times in younger years and it is always at night. She would walk miles to see him for a few hours. She shows readers the separation that the slave masters intentionally caused. She dies when Douglass is young, he does not really care because they didnt have a relationship.

Mr. Gore

The overseer of the Great House Farm after Mr. Hopkins. He has all the qualities of a first-rate overseer: ambition, discipline, and severity. Mr. Gore shoots and kills a slave named Demby because he would not listen to his warnings. He defends himself by making the argument that if slaves are not punished for disobedience, it will be mean the end of slavery. His explanation is accepted and his reputation as a quality overseer spreads. The slave is ALWAYS WRONG --> to be accused was to be convicted. Everyone feared him and he was considered to be the worst of the worst.

Mr. Hopkins

The overseer of the Great House Farm, he is the replacement for Mr. Severe. Mr. Hopkins is quiet, reserved, and fair; the slaves consider him a good overseer. Mr. Gore replaces him, perhaps because he lacks the severity Colonel Lloyd looks for in an overseer.

Mr. Beal Bondly

The person who's land Demby went on by accident while fishing for food. He took offence to this and shot and killed him on the spot. The next day he went to see Colonel Lloyd for an unknown reason. Nothing was done about this, proving the extremely unjust system. Douglass includes him to show the difference between slave justice and white justice.