What Is Frederick Douglass's Guilt

Frederick Douglass was born sometime around the year of 1818 in Talbot County, Maryland. He was born into slavery on a plantation owned by Colonel Lloyd. Though born into slavery, Douglass does not have to work in the fields and does not get punished. Not only did he not know who his father was, but he also was not given the opportunity to build a relationship with his mother. He only saw her a few times and when she passed, Douglass was not allowed to go to her funeral. Douglass thinks this way of life is normal and does not know he is a slave and what being a slave involves. When he is seven years old, Frederick is sent away to work with different masters in Baltimore. This is where Douglass begins to learn how to read. His new master’s

Himself, along with a group of slaves decided to plan their getaway. Their plan was to steal a small boat and row up north, pretending to be fisherman. However, when the day came for them to leave all of the slaves were caught and tied up. Douglass assumes that one of the slaves became overcome with guilt and confessed their plans to their master. Though Douglass states this, he never tells who may have betrayed him and the group. After being held in jail for a few weeks, Frederick Douglass was sent to Baltimore to build ships. He was confused but somewhat excited to be moving closer to the north. Douglass enjoyed working on the shipyard and appreciated the fact that black and white people were working together. However, that quickly came to an end when the white workers attacked him. Enraged, his master decided to have Douglass work in his shipyard as a calker. Once he came to the realization that douglass was very good at this skill, he started to rent him out to others. Douglass was making a good amount of money but was upset that at the end of the day he had to give all of his earnings to his

Millions of Africans were abducted from their homeland and forced to endure months of inhumane conditions aboard slave ships. Once they met their destinations, they were sold like animals and forced into chattel slavery. That thought is a powerful one intiself. However, the next thought, “you shall see how a slave was made a man” is what made this quote so famous. This describes an uprising that was soon coming. For Frederick Douglass this would be standing up and fighting his master to let him know that he will no longer be tolerated being treated like an animal. With respects to the abolitionists movement, this quote is not a cry for help. This quote is telling the abolitionist that the slaves are taking a stand. The abolitionist were in the position to change things more efficiently than slaves could. This quote can be viewed as the slaves saying we are standing with you and will no longer take this treatment, but will help fight for emancipation. In my opinion, this statement speaks to both the overall theme of this autobiography and as a motivation. The overall motivation of this book was to teach people of slavery and also to inspire