Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave

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 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 show more 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, 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 show more 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.

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 show more 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 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 show more 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

Frederick Douglass rose to great heights as a renowned figure in Washington D.C., and represents the epitome of "a man of humble origins". He began life as a slave on a Maryland plantation. While he was still a child, through a stroke of good fortune he was delivered to Baltimore to serve his master's relation. His discovery of the path from slavery via literacy was equally fortuitous, but it took a great deal of ingenuity to become literate. After escaping slavery altogether, he came among abolitionists who encouraged him to share his story in this written form in 1845. From that point on he was famous, earning high regard in America and beyond.

Hollywood has many times depicted the life of the American slave, but they are all a step show more removed from reading of the actual experience in the words of an actual witness and victim of the crime. Douglass does not overly dwell on the horrors as much as he challenges the morality of such acts and counts his blessings for having escaped them. I find it remarkable that he clearly stated the identities of his former masters, when the law still allowed for escaped slaves to be reclaimed. His account accuses them of everything up to and including murder. Many memoirs written today feature altered names and anonymity for less reason than that (and he does extend this courtesy to those whom he needs to protect). Public opinion being the only thing he could turn to for justice, its achievement must have been his aim. I doubt whether he saw full justice done - he has written two more biographies and I look forward to the rest of his story - but in any case those recorded names are now justly maligned for as long as his memoir continues to be read.

It's a work that fully deserves five stars in light of what it records, when it was recorded, and what it represents. show less

Another life changing book. This should be required reading in public schools. Fredrick Douglass' first-hand account of being a slave is horrifying. Period. It doesn't depict any sort of kindness or humanity. This is a gut wrenching account of how slave owners, whipped, beat, and murdered slaves and got away with it. This does not end with some realization that freedom for slaves was right around the corner nor that Fredrick Douglass freeing himself, somehow was a spark that ignited a revolution. No, this is real account of survival and what the dregs of humanity wrought on one man, as well as a nation of black people. Knowledge freed his mind, and knowledge ignited his desire to be a free man. His courage and defince towards injustice show more brought him all the way. This account is priceless for understanding American History and is relevant today as it was when it was first written.

If a white person ever asks you, "why do we still need a black history month?" I implore you to hand them this book and say, "Start here." show less

What to say of a book like this? I can see why it is required reading in many high schools in this country, as well it should be. Part of the reason is to be a record of the physical cruelty of chattel slavery, but equally as important is to record the social and psychological cruelty that accompanied it. It is alarming, even if not a surprise, to see how the social and psychological cruelties persist to this very day. They may take a different shape, even appearing in the guise of progressive, self-congratulatory speech of those who claim that we have conquered racism, that minorities have “never had it so good,” that they “have more opportunities than ever,” and that they are mistakenly reading “good intentions” as show more micro-aggressions that reinforce narratives of hierarchical otherness.

The modern corollaries are clearly traceable here in an autobiographical slave narrative from the 1830’s. It’s the most astonishing thing to me, as a reader today. And I truly challenge anyone to read this narrative account, think about what is being said with an open heart and mind and not see an uncomfortable reflection of ourselves in the process. If there is one big take away for me, it’s that people today who think that racism and the psychological and social legacy of chattel slavery is a thing of the past do not know enough about it, from a historical perspective, to see how it persists and has been smuggled into our modern context. show less