Frederick Douglass was a brave and determined slave who overcame many obstacles and hardships throughout his life. Without parents or much family, he moved frequently to different plantations acquiring many different jobs like cooking or cleaning and hard work on the fields. Frederick didn 't have it easy. Some of his different slave owners were very cruel and weren 't afraid to punish a slave who didn’t complete their job or task.
Frederick began his life on The Great House Farm under his first master, Captain Anthony. Frederick was merely a child when his mother died. Since they lived on different plantations he only saw his mother “no more than four or five times in my whole life” (Douglass 2). He never confirmed who his father was but
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Shortly after, Frederick was sent to work for the Aulds family who lived in Baltimore, MD. This is where Frederick lived his city life and learned how to read and write. The Aulds didn 't know how to take care of or treat a slave. Because of this, Frederick was treated very well. Frederick’s main job was simple in that he took care of the Aulds’ son Thomas. Mrs. Auld taught Frederick some letters and words early on in his stay. Over time though, the relationship changed, and Mrs. Auld who became greedy with power started to treat Frederick terribly and beat him. Mr. Auld’s behavior towards Douglass was even worse due to his excessive drinking.
This mistreatment only fueled Frederick’s quest for knowledge. The Aulds had a lot of food and Frederick would take a loaf of bread with him when he ran errands for the family. The bread was cleverly used in exchange for reading and writing lessons from the poor local white boys. Frederick was smart and would challenge the boys to a game with the objective being whoever could write the most letters would win. Knowing full well that he would lose, these games ultimately benefitted him, as he would learn new letters with each game he played. Very soon, Douglass could read and write just like the average white