As a slave, he determined that his intense desire in his life was getting education and found a way for hisfreedom. When Frederick was eight, he was sent to Baltimore as a houseboy for Hugh Auld, Captain 's son-in-law 's brother. Sophia, Auld 's wife, taught Frederick to read, but Auld, who believed that education would ruin slaves, made them unhappy and run away; so that Sophia turned to cruelty and became an evil with inhuman as the slavery being. From that point on, Frederick was grateful Hugh Auld and his wife who unwittingly gave Douglass the key to escape slavery because he realized that education and knowledge would be enlightenment and the path to freedomfor himself and his colored people later. He continued teaching himself to read and tried to grow up his knowledge by learning from the local boys in exchanging for reading lessons, the ships’ carpenters, and theMethodist hymn books. …show more content…
After seven years in Baltimore, Frederick was able to read and write well.In later years, Frederick encountered a dialogue, ' ' The Columbian Orator ' ' which made him discover a clear articulation of the argument for the emancipation of Irish Catholics and the case against slavery as well as defining his views on liberty and