Frederick Douglass and American Slavery
Coffee with the Principal #10
March 3, 2017
Golden View Classical Academy students read the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass in 5th
Grade Literature as part of their study of the Civil War and American slavery. It is a tough read
for both students and their parents. But the toughness is one of its virtues, as one of our goals is
to have students disapprove of slavery in their bones with a real, vital awareness of its barbarity.
There are a few scenes in which this barbarity is striking, and gives rise to the question whether
students should be exposed to it at all. We think they should, and this Coffee with the Principal
was intended to make that case.
Together, we read a passage explaining Douglass’s transition from his childhood home under the
care of his grandmother to the plantation under the rule of the master. There are no whips or
other hallmarks of slave-master barbarity, but there is nevertheless an image which rivets our
attention and brings to light the system’s evil. At one point, we see how the slave-system
convinces a young Douglass to blame his grandmother for their separation. He comes to think
that she deceived him and broke his trust, whereas the heart-wrenching moment of final
separation is due solely to their enslavement. He was but a boy at this point, and already the
destruction of his family was complete. We read on as his grandmother, for her part, undergoes
the most painful loss, one that she has been dreading for some time, and which she cannot
avoid.
We read this book and others like it not to meet any prefabricated reading standards but to learn
to love the things that are lovable and hate the things that are hateful. We want students to
develop a deep-seated abhorrence at slavery, and at the same time a powerful love of and
admiration for the man that overcame it in his own case and argued forcefully for its abolition.
The result, we hope, is to have within an image of beautiful and noble action.