Frederick Douglass (1818–1895)

Frederick Douglass published his first memoir in 1845. It tells of his childhood and early adulthood spent in slavery in Maryland. It is a first-hand account of what life was like for slaves, citing the many methods used to dehumanize them. He vividly describes the horrible treatment doled out by his so-called “Christian” owners and calls out their hypocrisy. Douglass examines the role of religion in justifying and perpetuating slavery. He distinguishes between true Christianity, which show more he respects, and the hypocritical slaveholders’ version.

One of the most prominent themes is the transformative power of literacy. Douglass describes how learning to read and write was a pivotal moment in his life. He was taught the basics by the wife of one of his owners, but her husband quickly put an end to it. Slaveowners obviously knew their slaves were intelligent, so there was a systemic effort to keep them uneducated and, therefore, more dependent. His eloquence provides a powerful counter-narrative to the rhetoric of the time.

He describes the psychological struggle of being treated as property, stripped of his humanity, and denied any sense of individuality. His quest for freedom is not just a physical escape but also a reclaiming of his personhood. Douglass was not willing to share the exact methods of his escape to protect those who helped him. I would have liked to know more about his relationship with his future wife, Anna, but again, it just shows how much was at stake that he did not feel comfortable divulging the details. In addition to an Appendix, my version included an introduction, which I suggest saving to read at the end. This book is a powerful indictment of slavery, and I am glad I finally took the time to read it. show less

What a powerful and wrenching narrative this is! How amazing that Frederick Douglass managed to teach himself to read and write in the manner in which he did, which opened the door to his eventually being able to escape his imprisonment in slavery. This has so much more impact than any novelization of what slavery was, because it is one man’s personal experience, set down in a very straightforward manner without any attempt at sensationalism. And, believe me, no embellishment is needed, show more the facts are quite horrific enough.

Douglass’ is a compelling tale, put forth by an obviously intelligent man. Not only does he understand the mind of the slave, but he sheds a light upon the thinking of the slave-holders as well. It is a glimpse into why even a “good master” is a bad man, why any form of slavery is the equivalent of the worst kind of slavery, and how the institution itself harmed both its victims, the slaves, and those who participated as slave-holders.

I found the appendix to be of especial interest, since, as a Christian, I have often wondered how anyone could possibly profess to believe in Christ and ever hold a slave or support the existence of the institution of slavery in any form. Douglass points to the hypocrisy of the men dealing in bodies and souls, selling women into prostitution and forcing them into adultery, separating families while touting family values, and denying blacks the right to read the Bible that they hold up to them as a justification for the holding of slaves in the first place.

Everyone should read this man’s account of his own experiences in slavery. That he was able to escape is a miracle, that he found his way to people who encouraged him to tell of his life is another. We should be careful to see that his words continue to be read--there are so few first hand accounts by those who lived in and escaped this system. show less

“You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man.”

This is the incredible story of Frederick Douglass' education and subsequent escape from slavery. This is very easily read, considering how antiquated it is, and I fully believe that is due to Douglass' writing.

He is honest, humble, vulnerable and desperate to live a life he feels he deserves. When he wrote of his isolation, of his loss, of his hunger for freedom, for respect, I felt every moment. show more

Interesting that there were times in the text that I felt had certainly been touched by white editors. A mention of so-and-so's house (the finest house in Baltimore) and his masters number of horses, the condition of the stables and I knew.

I didn't care about horses or houses. I wanted Douglass' life, but instead I'm having to read about what white editors in 1845 considered important. I admire editors a lot and think they do a very necessary and unnoticed job, but I felt like these editors tampered with his work.

Of course, Douglass' words still often came through, ringing out like a bell in the darkness. But every once and a while I would pause and ask myself what a different this book would be if white people had left it well alone.

We're so lucky Douglass survived and even luckier this book also survived. show less

This is a gloriously well-written memoir, but certainly not an easy one. Douglass’s narrative of his life as a slave includes accounts of humans being viciously flayed, sometimes for over 12hrs at a time; women being repeatedly raped to satiate lust and/or create new slaves; children starved, families deliberately separated, men murdered, and religion used as a justification for the worst imaginable atrocities. A world in which overseers viewed their reputation for cruelty as a competitive show more advantage, and in which even the most high-minded, virtuous masters were eventually corrupted into immorality by the collective operation of peer pressure, greed, and specious moral justifications. Hardest of all to stomach: accepting that every word of this horror show is actual, lived history.

As certain cultural forces seem intent on “whitewashing” our country’s racial history, feel like eyewitness accounts of our nation’s history serve a more critical purpose than ever before. In fact, I’d speculate that if we were to assign this short, accessible text to high school students (as we should), these are just a few of the positive outcomes we might anticipate:

• Student complaints about the high quality of prose being demanded of them by their English teachers would be forcibly moderated, as students were exposed to the astonishing level of literacy and rhetoric achieved by this self-taught, disenfranchised, enslaved son of immigrants.

• Students might cast a more skeptical eye on the motives of politicians and their fundraisers (“masters of business”) intent upon degrading the public education system - for, as Douglass notes: “If you teach [someone] how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master.” In other words, uneducated workers make more docile and manageable workers – and who stands to profit from that?

• Douglass’s horrific tales of atrocities that he personally experienced would profoundly discredit attempts by modern politicians to cast slavery as some sort of inconvenient memory rather than a moral atrocity; also ongoing attempts to cast slaveholders as “good men who were merely abiding by the norms of their times” – because, I’m sorry, but you simply don’t get to be called a good man if condone the rape, starvation, and torture of ANY living thing – certainly not a fellow human.

• Students might notice that while our country has certainly made enormous headways since the days of slavery, some of the iniquities that Douglass highlights this account – black workers being blackballed by white workers afraid of competition, the willingness of supposedly devout people and institutions to condone irreligious deeds – continue today. show less