Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass Essay

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass, the Dover thrift edition, published by Dover Publications Inc. in the United States in 1995, is exactly what the title displays, a narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass. The book started out when he was born. There is not an exact record of his birth, but it was sometime around 1817 or 1818. He was separated from his mother, Harriet Bailey, moments after he was born, and he father was more than likely the white master, Captain Anthony. Captain Anthony was the clerk of the plantation owner, Colonel Lloyd, who owned hundreds of slaves. He called his large central plantation the “Great House Farm”. Lloyd’s plantation was brutal, but Douglass got is easy, being a child. Her served the house

Thomas Auld then sends Douglass back to Hugh Auld. Auld tries to use Douglass’s yearning for education for his own gain. He teaches him the trade of ship caulking and sends him off to work in the trade industry. Douglass faces severe problems here. Whites have always worked side by side with blacks, but with the changing ideology towards slaves and African Americans, the whites fear that employers will soon prefer a black worker to a white one. Even though Douglass is not free, he is bullied by his white co-workers and is sent to another shipyard. As soon as Douglass gets a hang of how to caulk, he is soon the highest paid worker, but he always gave his wages to Auld. He makes an agreement to be able to work in his free time and be able to keep his own wages. He saves up and finally completes his plan of escaping. Douglass does not give any details of his escape, but he wants to give future slaves the chance of attempting it again. Douglass is afraid that he will be found, so he changes his name from Bailey to Douglass. He marries a free woman named Anna