Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

“There is one circumstance which makes your recollections peculiarly valuable, and renders your early insight the more remarkable. You come from that part of the country where we are told slavery appears with its fairest features. Let us hear, then, what it is at its best estate—gaze on its bright side, if it has one; and then imagination may task her powers to add dark lines to the picture, as she travels southward to that (for the colored man) Valley of the Shadow of Death, where the Mississippi sweeps along.”

Wendell Phillips makes a similar point to Garrison, though he states it more directly. He tells Douglass that readers will have to imagine the horrors experienced in the Deep South, evoking the biblical Valley of the Shadow of Death.

“The whisper that my master was my father, may or may not be true; and, true or false, it is of but little consequence to my purpose whilst the fact remains, in all its glaring odiousness, that slaveholders have ordained, and by law established, that the children of slave women shall in all cases follow the condition of their mothers; and this is done too obviously to administer to their own lusts, and make a gratification of their wicked desires profitable as well as pleasurable; for by this cunning arrangement, the slaveholder, in cases not a few, sustains to his slaves the double relation of master and father.”

Douglass underscores the immorality of slavery by highlighting how many enslaved people were born to enslaved mothers and white fathers, drawing attention to the perversion of the dual relation of enslaver and father. Douglass was white and Black, and it was believed that his father was his enslaver. Through rape, then, enslavers increased their chattel, as their own children became their property.

“I received the tidings of her death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger.”

One of the common aspects of slavery involved breaking the bonds between mothers and children. Douglass was taken away from his mother as an infant, and she was assigned to another farm. He lived with his grandmother, and his mother visited him occasionally, but they were unable to form the affection that would normally exist between mother and son. Douglass argues that this forced separation kept enslaved people from forming family ties and knowing things about their past.

“It was the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery, through which I was about to pass.”

When Douglass was quite young, he watched Caption Anthony whip his Aunt Hester. He was horrified by the brutality of the scene, but he came to learn that this violence was common. His evocative use of language—the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery—reflects his skill with words, which earned him a reputation as a talented orator and writer.

“The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears.”

Douglass describes the songs sung by enslaved people on Colonel Lloyd’s plantation on allowance day, which he says demonstrate the soul-crushing nature of slavery. He contests the narrative that enslaved people sing because of their contentment and happiness.

“He argued that if one slave refused to be corrected, and escaped with his life, the other slaves would soon copy the example; the result of which would be, the freedom of the slaves, and the enslavement of the whites.”

At various moments throughout his autobiography, Douglass draws attention to the fear at the root of institutional slavery. In this quote he describes the incredible cruelty of Mr. Gore, an overseer who shot an enslaved person. Gore held that if a single act of disobedience went unpunished, the system would collapse. The fear that freeing enslaved people would result in white people being themselves enslaved reflects anxieties about the narratives of white supremacy that circulated in the period to justify slavery.

“Going to live at Baltimore laid the foundation, and opened the gateway, to all my subsequent prosperity. I have ever regarded it as the first plain manifestation of that kind providence which has ever since attended me and marked my life with so many favors. I regarded the selection of myself as being somewhat remarkable. There were a number of slave children that might have been sent from the plantation to Baltimore. There were those younger, those older, and those of the same age. I was chosen from among them all, and was the first, last, and only choice.”

Several events in Douglass’s life made his eventual freedom possible, including his time in Baltimore. Getting sent to Baltimore saved him from the brutal work of being a plantation field hand as a young boy. Baltimore was also where he learned to read and write. Several years later, Douglass was sent back to Baltimore rather than sold to a slave trader after running away. If this hadn’t happened, his fate may have turned out differently.

“From my earliest recollection, I date the entertainment of a deep conviction that slavery would not always be able to hold me within its foul embrace; and in the darkest hours of my career in slavery, this living word of faith and spirit of hope departed not from me, but remained like ministering angels to cheer me through the gloom.”

The desire for freedom is persistent in Douglass’s life. The belief that he would one day be free stokes his hope and motivation, helping him survive.

“The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced its infernal work. That cheerful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage; that voice, made all of sweet accord, changed to one of harsh and horrid discord; and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon.”

A central argument in Douglass’s attack on slavery is that it is corrosive to both the enslaved and the enslaver. In this quote, he describes Sophia Auld’s transformation from a kindhearted woman to a zealous defender of white supremacy. He argues that her proximity to slavery and her power over Douglass were corrosive to her soul.

“As I read and contemplated the subject, behold! that very discontentment which Master Hugh had predicted would follow my learning to read had already come, to torment and sting my soul to unutterable anguish. As I writhed under it, I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing. It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy. It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out. In moments of agony, I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity.”

Hugh Auld told Sophia that she could not teach Douglass to read or write because an educated enslaved person would be ungovernable. Hugh was correct, for the more Douglass learned, the more he realized how slavery was evil and unnecessary. This knowledge caused him considerable pain and fueled his desire for freedom.

“It looked from every star, it smiled in every calm, breathed in every wind, and moved in every storm.”

Freedom haunted Douglass. He dreamed of it all the time and saw it everywhere. It was his most consuming thought.

“If a slave ran away and succeeded in getting clear, or if a slave killed his master, set fire to a barn, or did any thing very wrong in the mind of a slaveholder, it was spoken of as the fruit of abolition.”

As Douglass learned how to read and write, he began to hear about abolition. At first, he didn’t know what it meant, but he learned that abolitionists advocated for the end of slavery. The rise of the abolitionist movement scared enslavers who believed it would embolden enslaved people.

“I have now reached a period of my life when I can give dates.”

In Chapter 1, Douglass complains that he was robbed of basic facts of his life, like his birthday, his age, and the name of his father. He links this to slavery’s control of knowledge. As he progresses in life, gaining more control and more knowledge, he provides these details to the reader in his autobiographies. In doing so, he advocates for the importance of personal details, which are a key element of a person’s identity and autonomy.

“Their object seems to be, to disgust their slaves with freedom, by plunging them into the lowest depths of dissipation.”

Enslaved people very rarely had any time off, with the exception of the period between Christmas and the New Year as well as Sundays. During holidays, however, enslaved people were encouraged to indulge in vices as a method of social control. Douglass draws a clear link between banning enslaved people from learning and encouraging them to drink and fight. Enslaved people were taught to associate freedom with dissipation or vice.

“I assert most unhesitatingly, that the religion of the south is a mere covering for the most horrid crimes,—a justifier of the most appalling barbarity,—a sanctifier of the most hateful frauds,—and a dark shelter under, which the darkest, foulest, grossest, and most infernal deeds of slaveholders find the strongest protection.”

Another theme that runs through the book is the perversion of religious faith that happened under slavery. Douglass argues that religion serves as a cover for the immorality of slavery, which provides further evidence that neither human decency nor morality can survive under slavery as an institution, for it is slavery itself that is evil.

“They had been shut up in mental darkness. I taught them, because it was the delight of my soul to be doing something that looked like bettering the condition of my race.”

Darkness is a motif used by Douglass throughout the memoir. Here, he describes how enslavers trapped enslaved people in “mental darkness” to keep them subjugated. He sees education as a way to improve the condition of enslaved people, by giving them tools to criticize slavery and by exposing white people to its horrors.

“It is sometimes said that we slaves do not love and confide in each other. In answer to this assertion, I can say, I never loved any or confided in any people more than my fellow-slaves, and especially those with whom I lived at Mr. Freeland’s. I believe we would have died for each other.”

In Chapter 1, Douglass documents how enslavers deliberately broke familial bonds. However, this did not make enslaved people incapable of forming close and intense connections. The importance of friendship is asserted throughout the autobiography.

“In coming to a fixed determination to run away, we did more than Patrick Henry, when he resolved upon liberty or death. With us it was a doubtful liberty at most, and almost certain death if we failed. For my part, I should prefer death to hopeless bondage.”

Patrick Henry was a famous American revolutionary who said, “Give me liberty or give me death.” Douglass references Henry twice in his autobiography, drawing a parallel between enslaved people escaping to freedom and the American Revolution, lending legitimacy to the abolitionist cause.

“I contracted for it; I earned it; it was paid to me; it was rightfully my own; yet, upon each returning Saturday night, I was compelled to deliver every cent of that money to Master Hugh. And why? Not because he earned it,—not because he had any hand in earning it,—not because I owed it to him,—nor because he possessed the slightest shadow of a right to it; but solely because he had the power to compel me to give it up.”

There are various moments when Douglass describes what it meant to be chattel. In this passage he recounts giving his hard-earned wages to Hugh Auld and how illogical that was. He asserts that enslavers did not earn the right to the wealth produced by the labor of enslaved people.

“I have never approved of the very public manner in which some of our western friends have conducted what they call the Underground Railroad, but which I think, by their open declarations, has been made most emphatically the upperground railroad.”

In Chapter 11, Douglass describes his journey to freedom without providing specific details. He is critical of the famous route to freedom, the Underground Railroad, suggesting that “upperground railroad” would be a more accurate name because it is so public. He cautions that the prominence of this route encourages enslavers to watch the people they’d enslaved more closely, which may hinder escape.

“It is my opinion that thousands would escape from slavery, who now remain, but for the strong cords of affection that bind them to their friends. The thought of leaving my friends was decidedly the most painful thought with which I had to contend. The love of them was my tender point, and shook my decision more than all things else.”

Douglass describes the human cost of both slavery and the pursuit of freedom. Douglass strongly desires to be free, but pursuing freedom means leaving people he loves behind. He knows he will never see them again, which makes it especially painful.

“I expected to meet with a rough, hard-handed, and uncultivated population, living in the most Spartan-like simplicity, knowing nothing of the ease, luxury, pomp, and grandeur of southern slaveholders. Such being my conjectures, any one acquainted with the appearance of New Bedford may very readily infer how palpably I must have seen my mistake.”

Because the North had abolished slavery, Douglass assumed that the wealth he saw on Southern plantations and in cities would not exist there. He was shocked to see that the North was richer and more refined. This undermines a key argument in defense of slavery: that it was economically necessary.

“My soul was set all on fire.”

In New Bedford Douglass subscribed to the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, edited by William Lloyd Garrison, who wrote the Preface to this autobiography. When Douglass read of the abolitionist cause, his passions and intellect were ignited.