3
About the Selection
In this excerpt from his second autobiography, Douglass tries to show
that slavery corrupted, dehumanized,
and victimized everyone––including
slaveholders. The passage describes
how his master’s kind wife, Mrs.
Auld, feels compelled to abandon her
efforts to educate young Frederick.
Convinced by her husband that slavery and education are incompatible,
she attempts to block any learning
opportunities for the young boy,
even though such hard-heartedness
goes against her nature. Douglass
continues to learn from his white
playmates, trading biscuits for lessons. Influenced by the ideas he discovers through his reading, Douglass
becomes consumed by a constant
yearning for freedom and thoughts
about the evils of slavery. He grows
to hate the institution of slavery,
which has made enemies of him and
his mistress, who might otherwise
have been friends.
3
Background
Frederick Douglass was perhaps the most
prominent African American leader of the nineteenth century, and his
influence is still felt. As a crusader for human rights, Douglass served as a
role model for African American leaders such as Booker T. Washington and
W.E.B. DuBois. In our own era, the civil rights movement has drawn
inspiration from Douglass, who opposed segregation decades before
other voices were raised. As a young man, Douglass protested segregated
seating on trains by sitting in cars reserved for whites until the authorities
forcibly removed him. Later, he fought job discrimination against African
Americans, protested segregation in school, and fought for civil rights for
all Americans.
4
Vocabulary Builder
Latin Root -benelived in the family of Master Hugh, at Baltimore, seven years, during which time—as the almanac makers say of the weather—my
condition was variable. The most interesting feature of my history
here, was my learning to read and write, under somewhat marked disadvantages. In attaining this knowledge, I was compelled to resort to
Vocabulary Builder
indirections by no means congenial to my nature, and which were really
congenial (kßn jèn« yßl) adj.
agreeable
humiliating to me. My mistress—who had begun to teach me—was
suddenly checked in her benevolent design, by the strong advice of her 4 benevolent (bß nev« ß lßnt)
husband. In faithful compliance with this advice, the good lady had not
adj. kindly; charitable
only ceased to instruct me, herself, but had set her face as a flint
stringency (strin« jßn sè) n.
against my learning to read by any means. It is due, however, to my
strictness; severity
mistress to say, that she did not adopt this course in all its stringency
depravity (di prav« ß tè) n.
at the first. She either thought it unnecessary, or she lacked the
corruption; wickedness
depravity indispensable to shutting me up in mental darkness. It was,
at least, necessary for her to have some training, and some hardening,
5
in the exercise of the slaveholder’s prerogative, to make her equal to
Why did Douglass’s
forgetting my human nature and character, and to treating me as a
mistress stop teaching
thing destitute of a moral or an intellectual nature. Mrs. Auld—my
him to read and write?
• Draw students’ attention to
Douglass’s use of the word benevolent, and read its definition. Then,
tell students that the root -benederives from the Latin word meaning “well,” or “good.”
• Invite students to suggest other
words that Douglass might have
used to convey his meaning, and
list these words on the chalkboard.
Possibilities include kind, goodhearted, and generous.
• Guide students to see that the
word benevolent encompasses the
ideas of both kindness and generosity. Douglass uses it to emphasize his mistress’s natural greatness
of heart.
from My Bondage and My Freedom ■ 507
5
Reading Check
Answer: The mistress’s husband
insisted that she stop.
Vocabulary for English Learners
Strategy for Advanced Readers
Help students use context clues and a dictionary to decode the meanings of unfamiliar
words such as marked, checked, and waxed,
used here by Douglass in less familiar ways.
Then, have them brainstorm for other words
that Douglass might have used to convey similar meanings. For example, for the word
marked, students might provide the synonyms
noticeable, striking, or distinct. For the word
checked, students might suggest words such as
prevented, stopped, or prohibited.
Encourage students to look closely at
Douglass’s opening paragraph, examining it
for the ways in which he begins to convey his
essential message about the unnaturalness of
slavery. Ask students to answer this question:
What does Douglass say his mistress must
undergo in order to become an effective slaveholder? Then, invite students to speculate
about what might be involved in such “training.” Why is it essential that a slaveholder
“forget” the “human nature and character”
of a slave?
507
6
Background
mistress—was, as I have said, a most kind and tender-hearted woman;
and, in the humanity of her heart, and the simplicity of her mind, she
set out, when I first went to live with her, to treat me as she supposed
one human being ought to treat another.
It is easy to see, that, in entering upon the duties of a slaveholder,
some little experience is needed. Nature has done almost nothing to
prepare men and women to be either slaves or slaveholders. Nothing
but rigid training, long persisted in, can perfect the character of the one
or the other. One cannot easily forget to love freedom; and it is as hard
to cease to respect that natural love in our fellow creatures. On entering
upon the career of a slaveholding mistress, Mrs. Auld was singularly
deficient; nature, which fits nobody for such an office, had done less for
her than any lady I had known. It was no easy matter to induce her to
think and to feel that the curly-headed boy, who stood by her side, and
even leaned on her lap; who was loved by little Tommy, and who loved
little Tommy in turn; sustained to her only the relation of a chattel. I
was more than that, and she felt me to be more than that. I could talk 7
and sing; I could laugh and weep; I could reason and remember; I could
love and hate. I was human, and she, dear lady, knew and felt me to be
so. How could she, then, treat me as a brute, without a mighty struggle
with all the noble powers of her own soul. That struggle came, and the
will and power of the husband was victorious. Her noble soul was
History
Help students put this remarkable
statement into historical perspective.
In 1825, many whites in the United
States of America, in their ignorance,
did not believe that people with dark
skin were truly human. Through her
experience with Frederick, Mrs. Auld
learned the truth.
7
Critical Viewing
Possible response: The painting
suggests that plantation owners lived
lives of luxury that contrasted sharply
with the experiences of the slaves.
8
Humanities
6
A Home on the Mississippi, 1871,
by Currier and Ives
8
A Home on the Mississippi, Currier & Ives, The Museum of the City of New York
Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888) and
James Ives (1824–1895) started the
firm of Currier and Ives in 1857 to
produce commercially countless lithographic chronicles of nineteenthcentury American life. Hand-colored
scenes like this one were immensely
popular with the American public.
People obtained them by mail order,
from traveling salespeople, and from
the partners’ shop in New York City.
A favorite Currier and Ives theme was
the home. A Home on the Mississippi
was reproduced more than 3.5 billion times on the label of a popular
beverage. The scene is filled with typical Southern atmosphere accentuated by the gracious verandah on the
house and the Spanish moss hanging
from the trees.
Critical Viewing
How does this idealized
picture of plantation life
contrast with Douglass’s
experiences as an
enslaved African
American? [Contrast]
Use these questions for discussion:
1. What impression of southern
living does this print convey?
Possible answer: Students may
say that it suggests a calm, genteel, leisurely lifestyle.
2. Do you think this view of the
South matches Frederick
Douglass’s? Why or why not?
Answer: Students may say that it
does in that it shows the southern
gentry riding in elegant carriages
while the slaves walk along the
side of the road or stand outside
the fences.
508
508 ■ Division, Reconciliation, and Expansion (1850–1914)
Slavery
Slavery neither began nor ended with southern
plantation owners. A common practice since
ancient times, slavery originated with conquest;
it was the fate that awaited the conquered.
Slave markets existed by the time of the first
Babylonian Empire, more than three thousand
years ago. Sadly, slavery continues to exist in
parts of the world even today.
Students have read about one slave’s reaction to his circumstances. Invite them to find
out how other slaves have responded to their
bondage. They might, for instance, obtain a
copy of a Haggadah (the narrative of the
Exodus from Egypt that is read every year at the
Jewish festival of Passover) to read about what
the slave Nachshon did to obtain his freedom.
Or they can research one of the several slave
revolts in America; in particular, they can find
out about the only sustained slave revolt in
American history, the 1831 rebellion led by
Nat Turner.
9
9
overthrown; but, he that overthrew it did not, himself, escape the consequences. He, not less than the other parties, was injured in his
domestic peace by the fall.
When I went into their family, it was the abode of happiness and
contentment. The mistress of the house was a model of affection and
tenderness. Her fervent piety and watchful uprightness made it
impossible to see her without thinking and feeling—“that woman is a
Christian.” There was no sorrow nor suffering for which she had not a
tear, and there was no innocent joy for which she did not [have] a smile.
She had bread for the hungry, clothes for the naked, and comfort for
every mourner that came within her reach. Slavery soon proved its
ability to divest her of these excellent qualities, and her home of its
early happiness. Conscience cannot stand much violence. Once
thoroughly broken down, who is he that can repair the damage? It may
be broken toward the slave, on Sunday, and toward the master on
Monday. It cannot endure such shocks. It must stand entire, or it does
not stand at all. If my condition waxed bad, that of the family waxed
not better. The first step, in the wrong direction, was the violence done
to nature and to conscience, in arresting the benevolence that would
have enlightened my young mind. In ceasing to instruct me, she must
begin to justify herself to herself; and, once consenting to take sides in
such a debate, she was riveted to her position. One needs very little
knowledge of moral philosophy, to see where my mistress now landed.
She finally became even more violent in her opposition to my learning
to read, than was her husband himself. She was not satisfied with
simply doing as well as her husband had commanded her, but seemed
resolved to better his instruction. Nothing appeared to make my poor
mistress—after her turning toward the downward path—more angry,
than seeing me, seated in some nook or corner, quietly reading a book
or a newspaper. I have had her rush at me, with the utmost fury, and
snatch from my hand such newspaper or book, with something of the
wrath and consternation which a traitor might be supposed to feel on
being discovered in a plot by some dangerous spy.
Mrs. Auld was an apt woman, and the advice of her husband, and
her own experience, soon demonstrated, to her entire satisfaction, that
education and slavery are incompatible with each other. When this
conviction was thoroughly established, I was most narrowly watched in
all my movements. If I remained in a separate room from the family for
any considerable length of time, I was sure to be suspected of having a
book, and was at once called upon to give an account of myself. All this,
however, was entirely too late. The first, and never to be retraced, step
had been taken. In teaching me the alphabet, in the days of her simplicity and kindness, my mistress had given me the “inch,” and now, no
ordinary precaution could prevent me from taking the “ell.”1
Literary Analysis
Autobiography
• Have a student volunteer read this
passage aloud, and invite students
to listen for the distinctive tone of
civility, intelligence, compassion,
and determination in the narrative
voice of Frederick Douglass.
Literary Analysis
Autobiography Douglass
blames the institution of
slavery, rather than Mrs.
Auld for the changes in
the household. What does
this tell you about him?
• Ask students the Literary Analysis
question: Douglass blames the
institution of slavery, rather than
Mrs. Auld, for the changes in the
household. What does this tell you
about him?
Answer: Students may respond
that Douglass has a positive view of
human nature despite his experiences as a slave.
10
Reading Check
Answer: Mrs. Auld becomes “even
more violent [than Mr. Auld] in her
opposition” to Douglass’s reading.
Vocabulary Builder
consternation (kän« stßr nà«
shßn) n. great fear or
shock that makes one feel
helpless or bewildered
10
1. ell n. former English measure of length, equal to forty-five inches.
What extreme measure
does Mrs. Auld take?
from My Bondage and My Freedom ■ 509
Strategy for Special Needs Students
Enrichment for Gifted/Talented Students
Frederick Douglass makes frequent use of long
sentences that may pose a challenge for students. Help them break down the long sentences by identifying the core of each one—its
subject and verb—and stating the main action
described. Then, have students look at how the
other groups of words in the sentence relate to
the subject and the verb.
Guide students to appreciate Douglass’s views
on the intrinsic right of an individual to acquire
knowledge and on the negative effects of
denying a person that right. Invite students to
discuss why the Aulds’ decision regarding
Douglass’s education places them in a “condition” Douglass views as worse than his own.
Encourage students to create a drawing or
other visual image that captures the power of
knowledge and the opposing relationships of
the Aulds and Douglass.
509
11
The American
Experience
Slave Narratives The first known
slave narrative––A Narrative of the
Uncommon Sufferings and Surprising
Deliverance of Briton Hammon, a
Negro Man––appeared in 1760 in
Boston. Other notable examples of
this sub-genre of autobiography
include A Narrative of the Lord’s
Wonderful Dealings with J. Murrant, a
Black, Taken Down from His Own
Relation (1784), Incidents in the Life of
a Slave Girl, Written by Herself (1861)
by Harriet Jacobs, and Scenes in the
Life of Harriet Tubman (1869).
12
Connect to the Literature
Encourage students to consider why
children whose own parents were
slaveholders did not support keeping
people in bondage.
Possible answer: By showing children’s opposition to slavery, Douglass
may have wanted readers to observe
that support for slavery was learned,
not natural.
12
Critical Thinking
Interpret/Support
• Invite students to explain the
meaning of the expression “Give
[him] an inch and [he’ll] take a
mile” and to support their definitions with examples.
• Then, point out that this saying
summarizes Mr. Auld’s fears
regarding the potential results of
Douglass’s education. Auld once
said that if Frederick learned to
read “there would be no keeping
him. . . . If you learn him how to
read, he’ll want to know how to
write; and this accomplished, he’ll
be running away with himself.”
13
Background
History
Remind students that Maryland was
not one of the states that seceded
from the United States of America to
join the Confederacy. Point out that
although slavery was present in
Maryland, it was not as prevalent as
it was in states of the Deep South.
510
13
Seized with a determination to learn to read, at any cost,
I hit upon many expedients to accomplish the desired end.
The plea which I mainly adopted, and the one by which I was
most successful, was that of using my young white playmates,
with whom I met in the street, as teachers. I used to carry,
Slave Narratives
11
almost constantly, a copy of Webster’s spelling book in my
From 1760 to the end of
pocket; and, when sent on errands, or when play time was
the Civil War, when slavery was
allowed me, I would step, with my young friends, aside, and
officially abolished, the
testimonies of hundreds of
take a lesson in spelling. I generally paid my tuition fee to the
fugitive and former slaves
boys, with bread, which I also carried in my pocket. For a
appeared in the form of slave
single biscuit, any of my hungry little comrades would give me
narratives. Like the precedenta lesson more valuable to me than bread. Not everyone, however,
setting Interesting Narrative of
demanded this consideration, for there were those who took
the Life of Olaudah Equiano
(page 160), these slave narratives
pleasure in teaching me, whenever I had a chance to be taught
exposed the inhumanities of the
by them. I am strongly tempted to give the names of two or
slave system. Former slaves
three of those little boys, as a slight testimonial of the gratitude
recorded the oppressive
and affection I bear them, but prudence forbids; not that it
conditions they suffered under
would injure me, but it might, possibly, embarrass them; for it
their owners, not only to
is almost an unpardonable offense to do anything, directly or
document their experiences but
also to ensure that the reunified
indirectly, to promote a slave’s freedom, in a slave state. It is
nation would not soon forget. The
enough to say, of my warm-hearted little play fellows, that they
Federal Writers Project of the
lived on Philpot Street, very near Durgin & Bailey’s shipyard.
1920s and 1930s gathered the
Although slavery was a delicate subject, and very cautiously
narratives and documented them,
talked about among grownup people in Maryland, I frequently
creating an archive attesting to
the terrible experience of
talked about it—and that very freely—with the white boys. I
American slavery.
would, sometimes, say to them, while seated on a curbstone or
a cellar door, “I wish I could be free, as you will be when you
get to be men.” “You will be free, you know, as soon as you are
Douglass intended his narrative
twenty-one, and can go where you like, but I am a slave for life.
to be read by both black and
Have I not as good a right to be free as you have?” Words like
white audiences. What do you
think was his purpose in
these, I observed, always troubled them; and I had no small
describing the white boys’
satisfaction in wringing from the boys, occasionally, that fresh
attitude toward slavery?
and bitter condemnation of slavery, that springs from nature,
unseared and unperverted.2 Of all consciences let me have
those to deal with which have not been bewildered by the cares
of life. I do not remember ever to have met with a boy, while I was in
slavery, who defended the slave system; but I have often had boys to
console me, with the hope that something would yet occur, by which I
might be made free. Over and over again, they have told me, that “they
believed I had as good a right to be free as they had”; and that “they did
not believe God ever made anyone to be a slave.” The reader will easily
see, that such little conversations with my play fellows, had no tendency
to weaken my love of liberty, nor to render me contented with my
condition as a slave.
2. unperverted (un« pßr v†rt« id) adj. uncorrupted; pure.
510 ■ Division, Reconciliation, and Expansion (1850–1914)
14
14
When I was about thirteen years old, and had succeeded in
learning to read, every increase of knowledge, especially respecting the
free states, added something to the almost intolerable burden of the
thought—“I am a slave for life.” To my bondage I saw no end. It was a
terrible reality, and I shall never be able to tell how sadly that thought
chafed my young spirit. Fortunately, or unfortunately, about this time
in my life, I had made enough money to buy what was then a very popular schoolbook, the Columbian Orator. I bought this addition to my
library, of Mr. Knight, on Thames street, Fell’s Point, Baltimore, and
paid him fifty cents for it. I was first led to buy this book, by hearing
some little boys say they were going to learn some little pieces out of it
for the exhibition. This volume was, indeed, a rich treasure, and every
opportunity afforded me, for a time, was spent in diligently perusing
it . . . The dialogue and the speeches were all redolent of the principles
of liberty, and poured floods of light on the nature and character of slavery. As I read, behold! the very discontent so graphically predicted by
Master Hugh, had already come upon me. I was no longer the lighthearted, gleesome boy, full of mirth and play, as when I landed first at
Baltimore. Knowledge had come . . . This knowledge opened my eyes to
the horrible pit, and revealed the teeth of the frightful dragon that was
ready to pounce upon me, but it opened no way for my escape. I have
often wished myself a beast, or a bird—anything, rather than a slave. I
was wretched and gloomy, beyond my ability to describe. I was too
thoughtful to be happy. It was this everlasting thinking which distressed and tormented me; and yet there was no getting rid of the
subject of my thoughts. All nature was redolent of it. Once awakened
by the silver trump3 of knowledge, my spirit was roused to eternal
wakefulness. Liberty! the inestimable birthright of every man, had, for
me, converted every object into an asserter of this great right. It was
heard in every sound, and beheld in every object. It was ever present, to
torment me with a sense of my wretched condition. The more beautiful
and charming were the smiles of nature, the more horrible and desolate was my condition. I saw nothing without seeing it, and I heard
nothing without hearing it. I do not exaggerate, when I say, that it
looked from every star, smiled in every calm, breathed in every wind,
and moved in every storm.
I have no doubt that my state of mind had something to do with the
change in the treatment adopted, by my once kind mistress toward me.
I can easily believe, that my leaden, downcast, and discontented look,
was very offensive to her. Poor lady! She did not know my trouble, and I
dared not tell her. Could I have freely made her acquainted with the
real state of my mind, and given her the reasons therefor, it might have
been well for both of us. Her abuse of me fell upon me like the blows of
the false prophet upon his ass; she did not know that an angel stood in 15
3. trump trumpet.
Literary Analysis
Autobiography and Tone
• Ask a strong reader to read aloud
this powerful, impassioned passage
from Douglass’s autobiography.
Invite students to describe
Douglass’s tone using details in the
passage to support their ideas.
Vocabulary Builder
redolent (red« ßl ßnt) adj.
suggestive
Literary Analysis
Autobiography and Tone
What does Douglass’s
tone here reveal about
the importance of
reading this book?
Monitor Progress Then, ask students the Literary Analysis question:
What does Douglass’s tone here
reveal about the importance of
reading this book?
Answer: For Douglass, reading the
book was crucial: it validated his
private thoughts and feelings and
fueled his determination to break
the bonds of slavery.
15
Reading Check
Answer: He grows “wretched and
gloomy” and “too thoughtful to be
happy.”
What significant changes
take place in Douglass
after reading Columbian
Orator?
from My Bondage and My Freedom ■ 511
Vocabulary for Special Needs Students
Strategy for Less Proficient Readers
Clarify the meaning of the term nature for students by pointing out that Douglass is not
using it in the strict sense as a reference to the
natural world. Instead, he uses nature to mean
all of creation—the natural world as well as the
human. On page 512, when he states that
“Nature had made us friends,” he is referring
to “human nature”—the qualities all human
beings share.
In the long paragraph that begins at the top of
this page, Douglass presents one of the key
ideas of this selection: reading the Columbian
Orator caused him to develop an overpowering
desire for freedom. This point is made toward
the middle of the paragraph, and it is restated
and reinforced in the sentences that follow.
Assist students in identifying the main idea and
noting the ways in which Douglass develops
and supports it.
511
Answers
1. Students should offer clear, solid
reasons to back up their points of
view.
2. (a) He is first taught by Mrs. Auld
and later, by young white playmates. (b) At first, she approves of
it and actively supports it. (c) In
order to compensate for her initial, natural reaction of support,
Mrs. Auld adopts an attitude even
more extreme than her husband’s.
In this way she may hope to fool
herself into thinking that she is
comfortable with suppressing the
intellectual curiosity of a boy.
3. (a) They believe slavery is wrong
and that black and white children
are inherently equal. (b) Students
may point out that a human
being’s “natural” or “pure”
impulse is to treat other people as
equals. Children may be closer to
this state of purity.
the way;4 and—such is the relation of master and slave—I could not tell
her. Nature had made us friends; slavery made us enemies. My interests were in a direction opposite to hers, and we both had our private
thoughts and plans. She aimed to keep me ignorant; and I resolved to
know, although knowledge only increased my discontent. My feelings
were not the result of any marked cruelty in the treatment I received;
they sprung from the consideration of my being a slave at all. It was
slavery—not its mere incidents—that I hated. I had been cheated. I saw
through the attempt to keep me in ignorance . . . The feeding and
clothing me well, could not atone for taking my liberty from me. The
smiles of my mistress could not remove the deep sorrow that dwelt in
my young bosom. Indeed, these, in time, came only to deepen my sorrow.
She had changed; and the reader will see that I had changed, too. We
were both victims to the same overshadowing evil—she, as mistress, I,
as slave. I will not censure her harshly; she cannot censure me, for she
knows I speak but the truth, and have acted in my opposition to slavery,
just as she herself would have acted, in a reverse of circumstances.
4. blows . . . the way allusion to a biblical tale (Numbers 22:21–35) about an ass that
cannot move, though she is beaten by her master, because her path is blocked
by an angel.
Critical Reading
1. Respond: Do you think it is possible to be a benevolent slaveholder?
Why or why not?
4. (a) He reads a book about liberty
and realizes he can no longer tolerate his bondage. (b) Knowledge
opens his eyes to the pain and evil
of slavery, but gives him few
tools—at least initially—with
which to escape it.
2. (a) Recall: How does Douglass learn to read? (b) Recall: What does
Mrs. Auld initially think about Douglass’s reading?
(c) Draw Conclusions: Why do you think she was later “violent in her
opposition” to Douglass’s reading?
5. (a) He is consumed by his desire
for freedom. (b) The ability to read
gives Douglass access to voices
and ideas that challenge and condemn the institution of slavery.
Without education, he would have
remained ignorant of these ideas
and received no validation for his
innate desire to be free.
4. (a) Recall: What circumstance transforms Douglass from “lighthearted” to “wretched and gloomy”? (b) Connect: What does
knowledge do for him?
6. Some students may observe that,
in one sense, Douglass was free
because he realized his self-worth
and saw slavery as an invalid system. This awareness led him to
seek actual freedom. Many other
students will respond that
Douglass was not free while still in
bondage.
For additional information about Frederick
Douglass, have students type in the Web
Code, then select D from the alphabet,
and then select Frederick Douglass.
512
3. (a) Recall: What is the attitude toward slavery of the white boys who
help Douglass learn to read? (b) Analyze: Why do you think they have
that attitude toward the slaves?
5. (a) Recall: What consumed Douglass once he obtained knowledge?
(b) Support: How does his experience prove his mistress’s belief that
education and slavery are incompatible?
6. Apply: Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “The moment the slave resolves that
he will no longer be a slave, his fetters fall.” Explain whether or not you
feel Douglass was free even while in bondage.
512 ■ Division, Reconciliation, and Expansion (1850–1914)
For: More about
Frederick Douglass
Visit: www.PHSchool.com
Web Code: ere-9403