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Fredric Douglass: A Life Of Slavery

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Around the year of 1818 in Talbot County, Maryland, Fredric Douglass was born into a life of slavery. Douglass was always determined to gain knowledge, this determination for an education allowed him to break from his chains and gain freedom. He spent most of his life facing obstacles because of the color of his skin. He taught himself how to read and write with old books in his “owners” house. By doing this it showed how driven he was, being able to break the boundaries placed on African Americans in the 1800’s. Fredric Douglass thought differently from many of the other African Americans of his time, he believed that he could change his future, he did not let the normality of slavery choose what his future would entail. There was no way …show more content…

He knew once he learned to read and write he had a greater chance at becoming a free man like he always dreamed. Just like every slave, Douglass was taken from his mother as soon as he was born so she could continue working. The masters had no empathy for the mothers, they only worried about their work being done. He never had a chance to really meet his mother, only a few times before her death. Douglass witnessed many things as a child that no child should have to deal with. He lost his mother at a very young age and was left alone with all the other slaves. He also witnessed his first whipping in his younger years which scared him for the rest of his life. Unlike many of the other slaves Fredric Douglass grew big and strong, to a point were at a time in his life the decided that he would never be whipped by any man. He would use all of his power to stop from being whipped, even if it meant becoming physical with his …show more content…

But I will never understand how someone could physical abuse someone, or work them to their death. Douglass’s story shows how hard it really was to live in this period as an African American, and the fact that he was able to use his paid to push him forward is incredible. I personally would have never been able to endure the life he had and I would have cracked under all of the physical and emotional pain. This autobiography shows the cruel truth to slavery that everyone wants to move on from and forget. But if you do not learn from history it will repeat

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