“Now I’ve been free, I know what a dreadful condition slavery is. I have seen hundreds of escaped slaves, but I never saw one who was willing to go back and be a slave,” said Harriet Tubman. Both Booker T. Washington and Fredrick Douglas experienced the horrible life of slavery. The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglas tells the story of a slave who experienced many hardships, while Up From Slavery tells of a slave who was fortunate to be freed as a young boy. Booker T. Washington and Fredrick Douglas lived in the 1800’s. Douglas was born forty years before Washington. Despite the age difference they managed to meet each other later in life. These two black American men are famous for their successes in life. They were both slaves. However, they differ in their relationships to their families, how they gained freedom, and how they …show more content…
Washington had a black mother and a white father. He did not know for sure who his father was, but he knew that he was a white man. Unlike some other slaves who had their mothers taken away at an early age, his mother was allowed to stay with him. He had a brother and a sister who also stayed with him and his mother. Fredrick Douglas had a black mother and white father as well. He did not know who his father was but there was a rumor that his master was his father. Fredrick’s mother was taken away from him when he was very young. She was moved to another planation nearby. He only saw his mother a few times in his life and they were usually at night. He had no other siblings that he knew of. In addition, Booker T. Washington and Fredrick Douglas gained their freedom in different ways. Washington, who was born in 1858 or 1859 (he did not know), was freed around age seven by the Emancipation Proclamation. After he was freed, he and his family moved to a small house in West Virginia. His family was poor so Washington worked in the coal mines to support