Freedom You are free. These days, freedom in the United States is provides to all—all who don't take advantage of it. Unfortunately, it hasn't always been this way. Up until 1865, African American slaves were seen as property. As harrowing as it was, the African Americans were not free. A courageous African American by the name of Frederick Douglass shared his tragic story. Among many others, Douglass knew he was not property, but instead a human being. He knew he was not an animal nor land and he wasn't born for a white mans convenience. The North was well-known to the slaves. Most would yearn at the thought of traveling to the North in order to liberate themselves from their "masters". Douglass felt a sense of pessimism when it came to freedom;