Frederick Douglass was a Man

Frederick Douglass was a man born to slavery. It is the worst birth in anyone’s life. He was born in 1818, and he was born a great man. He like many others escaped slavery, but he was so clever you wouldn’t have expected this. In 1845 Douglass knew english enough to write his own book. It was an autobiography written in his time being a slave. The book’s title was Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave.

Douglass’s name before he escaped actually happened to be his mother’s last name, Bailey. After being born he soon became separated from his mother only to be put in the care of his maternal Grandmother. At age six he was separated from his Grandmother and placed into the Wye house plantation to work.

Not long after he was given away to Lucretia Auld. Her husband, Thomas Auld, sent him to his Brother, Hugh, to work for him. Hugh’s wife taught young Douglass the alphabet. From there he taught himself to read and write. When he was hired out to William Freeland, he was already teaching other slaves to read from the bible.

When word spread of him teaching others, Thomas Auld took him back. He sent him to a man known for his brutality, his name was Edward Covey. By the time Douglass was 16 he was being regularly beaten by Covey. He had tried many times to escape but failed. He left Covey’s farm in 1838, boarding a train to Maryland. He then traveled to Delaware, from there he went to New York, where a safe house awaited him.
Once there he sent for a black woman, whom he had met when he was placed with the Auld’s. Her name was Anna Murray and she was a free slave. The two married in late of 1838.

Together they had five children. Soon after Douglass and his wife became abolitionists. Though there were many consequences to Douglass becoming a speaker at the American Anti-Slavery Society’s conventions, he never gave up. On February 20, 1895 Douglass died, but his movements continued and no one gave up on him.

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