Why does Douglass think the life of “city slave” was often different from those enslaved-on farms?
In this passage, Douglass writes about his motivation for learning to read. In Chapter VII of his Narrative, Frederick Douglass goes into more detail about the arduous process by which he learned to read and write. What steps did he have to take to become literate? What inspired him to do so?
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Introduction
Frederick Douglass had established himself as the leading African American abolitionist of his generation before the Civil War began. Born into slavery in Talbot County, MD in 1818, he escaped to New England twenty years later where he met fellow abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison and began speaking to white audiences about his experiences as a slave. He wrote the first of three autobiographies, Narrative of the Life of a Slave, in 1845 to counter criticism that his story was contrived. Some whites, who heard Douglass speak, or read newspaper accounts of his talks, expressed doubts that a black man, especially a former slave, could be as intelligent and articulate as Douglass. They speculated that Douglass’s white sponsors wrote his speeches and coached him on his presentations. His detailed descriptions of enslaved life and straight-forward prose silenced many doubters. They also made him a marked man. Legally, he remained a fugitive slave, subject to arrest and re-enslavement. Fearing capture, Douglass sailed to England in 1845 where he continued speaking against American slavery. Friends purchased his freedom while he was in England. He returned to the United States in 1847 and continued his crusade to end American slavery.
Douglass begins his Narrative by sketching details of his birth to an enslaved woman named Harriet Bailey. He had “no accurate knowledge of” his age because the birthdays of enslaved persons were seldom recorded. He later learned he was “about seventeen years old in” 1835 so many scholars date his birth year as 1818. Douglass knew his father to be a white man and suspected his father was his enslaver, Aaron Anthony. At age six, he was sent to William Lloyd’s plantation to prepare for a life as a field hand. Following the death of his mother and grandmother, he was reassigned to the home of Thomas and Sophia Auld in Baltimore. It was a fortuitous change for young Frederick. In Baltimore, Douglass taught himself to read and write and began developing the rhetorical skills that were to bring him fame as an abolitionist.
In this passage from Chapter VI of the Narrative, Douglass writes of how Sophia’s treatment of him both surprised and delighted him. He perceived that Sophia Auld had not yet been tainted by the dehumanization of the slavery system went she first met little Frederick. Therefore, she treated him as she would an eight-year-old white child and began teaching him the alphabet and how to form simple words. When her husband discovered the lessons, he harshly ordered they be stopped. Douglass writes that the lessons he learned from both Mr. and Mrs. Auld served to motivate him to become literate, a process he describes in detail in Chapters VI and VII of the Narrative.
—TAH Staff
Source: Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself (Boston: the Anti-Slavery Office, 1845). https://www.google.com/books/edition/Narrative_of_the_Life_of_Frederick_Dougl/ds08RYrDBPIC?hl=en&gbpv=0.
My new mistress proved to be all she appeared when I first met her at the door,—a woman of the kindest heart and finest feelings. She had never had a slave under her control previously to myself, and prior to her marriage she had been dependent upon her own industry for a living. She was by trade a weaver; and by constant application to her business, she had been in a good degree preserved from the blighting and dehumanizing effects of slavery. I was utterly astonished at her goodness. I scarcely knew how to behave towards her. She was entirely unlike any other white woman I had ever seen. I could not approach her as I was accustomed to approach other white ladies. My early instruction was all out of place. The crouching servility, usually so acceptable a quality in a slave, did not answer when manifested toward her. Her favor was not gained by it; she seemed to be disturbed by it. She did not deem it impudent or unmannerly for a slave to look her in the face. The meanest slave was put fully at ease in her presence, and none left without feeling better for having seen her. Her face was made of heavenly smiles, and her voice of tranquil music.
But, alas! this kind heart had but a short time to remain such. 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.
Very soon after I went to live with Mr. and Mrs. Auld, she very kindly commenced to teach me the A, B, C. After I had learned this, she assisted me in learning to spell words of three or four letters. Just at this point of my progress, Mr. Auld found out what was going on, and at once forbade Mrs. Auld to instruct me further, telling her, among other things, that it was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read. To use his own words, further, he said, "If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master—to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world. Now," said he, "if you teach that nigger (speaking of myself) 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. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy." These words sank deep into my heart, stirred up sentiments within that lay slumbering, and called into existence an entirely new train of thought. It was a new and special revelation, explaining dark and mysterious things, with which my youthful understanding had struggled, but struggled in vain. I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty—to wit, the white man’s power to enslave the black man. It was a grand achievement, and I prized it highly. From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom. It was just what I wanted, and I got it at a time when I the least expected it. Whilst I was saddened by the thought of losing the aid of my kind mistress, I was gladdened by the invaluable instruction which, by the merest accident, I had gained from my master. Though conscious of the difficulty of learning without a teacher, I set out with high hope, and a fixed purpose, at whatever cost of trouble, to learn how to read. The very decided manner with which he spoke, and strove to impress his wife with the evil consequences of giving me instruction, served to convince me that he was deeply sensible of the truths he was uttering. It gave me the best assurance that I might rely with the utmost confidence on the results which, he said, would flow from teaching me to read. What he most dreaded, that I most desired. What he most loved, that I most hated. That which to him was a great evil, to be carefully shunned, was to me a great good, to be diligently sought; and the argument which he so warmly urged, against my learning to read, only served to inspire me with a desire and determination to learn. In learning to read, I owe almost as much to the bitter opposition of my master, as to the kindly aid of my mistress. I acknowledge the benefit of both.
I had resided but a short time in Baltimore before I observed a marked difference, in the treatment of slaves, from that which I had witnessed in the country. A city slave is almost a freeman, compared with a slave on the plantation. He is much better fed and clothed, and enjoys privileges altogether unknown to the slave on the plantation. There is a vestige of decency, a sense of shame, that does much to curb and check those outbreaks of atrocious cruelty so commonly enacted upon the plantation. He is a desperate slaveholder, who will shock the humanity of his non-slaveholding neighbors with the cries of his lacerated slave. Few are willing to incur the odium attaching to the reputation of being a cruel master; and above all things, they would not be known as not giving a slave enough to eat. Every city slaveholder is anxious to have it known of him, that he feeds his slaves well; and it is due to them to say, that most of them do give their slaves enough to eat. There are, however, some painful exceptions to this rule. Directly opposite to us, on Philpot Street, lived Mr. Thomas Hamilton. He owned two slaves. Their names were Henrietta and Mary. Henrietta was about twenty-two years of age, Mary was about fourteen; and of all the mangled and emaciated creatures I ever looked upon, these two were the most so. His heart must be harder than stone, that could look upon these unmoved. The head, neck, and shoulders of Mary were literally cut to pieces. I have frequently felt her head, and found it nearly covered with festering sores, caused by the lash of her cruel mistress. I do not know that her master ever whipped her, but I have been an eye witness to the cruelty of Mrs. Hamilton. I used to be in Mr. Hamilton’s house nearly every day. Mrs. Hamilton used to sit in a large chair in the middle of the room, with a heavy cowskin always by her side, and scarce an hour passed during the day but was marked by the blood of one of these slaves. The girls seldom passed her without her saying, "Move faster, you black gip!" at the same time giving them a blow with the cowskin over the head or shoulders, often drawing the blood. She would then say, "Take that, you black gip!"—continuing, "If you don’t move faster, I’ll move you!" Added to the cruel lashings to which these slaves were subjected, they were kept nearly half-starved. They seldom knew what it was to eat a full meal. I have seen Mary contending with the pigs for the offal thrown into the street. So much was Mary kicked and cut to pieces, that she was oftener called "pecked" than by her name.
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