Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, and American Slave by Frederick Douglass

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass

                Frederick Douglass was born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey in Tuckahoe, Maryland. He was born a slave to Harriet Bailey. His father was a white man but his name Frederick never knew. Frederick also never knew his mother, only seeing her a few times in his life before her death. He never knew when he was born and could only guess his age based on passed information. Sophia Auld was the woman who taught Frederick his ABC’s. She was the wife of Hugh Auld, the man who Frederick’s master sent Frederick to live with to be a companion to their young son Thomas.  Hugh disagreed with Frederick learning his ABC’s or how to read stating “if you teach that nigger how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave.” Sophia stopped teaching Frederick and eventually turned cold against him. Hugh Auld’s words sank deep into Frederick’s mind and he realized that by reading and being educated he would one day be able to escape. He would one day be free.

                This autobiography is an incredible feat for a runaway slave who is believed to have been twenty eight or twenty nine at the time this narrative is written. Douglass relays his message with such elegance and poise. He states his circumstances with a tone I can only describe as solemn and matter of fact. The honesty and emotion is felt throughout the pages. Douglass emphasized that he was one of the many who suffered at the hands of slavery and many far worse than he did. He mentions and ridicules the irony of religion and its bearing on slave owners, even stating “For of all slaveholders with whom I have ever met, religious slaveholders are the worst.” Douglass while revealing as much as he can about his circumstances is cautious about revealing too much. He was fearful of the retribution that would be shown to those who helped him or the embarrassment they may feel at being mentioned. Douglass doesn’t even describe his escape into freedom, simply stating what it felt like to be on free land. The peril was still real for him and would be for quite some time.

                Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, an American Slave is very hard to describe. I started reading and immediately was swept into this unimaginable life of a young slave. Douglass was so straight to the point that it just felt stripped, raw and emotionally draining. Douglass detailed what it was like for him as a slave. It’s unimaginable the treatment that he describes and yet here is this story from a man who ended up being a pivotal figure in the abolishment of slavery. This autobiography was an eye opener, then and now. This is an autobiography that still needs to be read, in order to grasp what human beings are capable of doing to one another. My only complaint is that I didn’t learn enough about the man that is Frederick Douglass from this narrative. This was more of a history of slavery, in my opinion than it was a history of Frederick. We see everything through him, but we see through the lens of slavery. For that reason I give the book 4 out of 5 stars.