Frederick Douglass Reading Guide

FREDERICK DOUGLASS

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In the summer of 1843, I was traveling and lecturing, in company with William A. White, Esq., through the state of Indiana. Anti- slavery friends were not very abundant in Indiana, at that time, and beds were not more plentiful than friends. We often slept out, in preference to sleeping in the houses, at some points. At the close of one of our meetings, we were invited home with a kindly-disposed old farmer, who, in the generous enthusiasm of the moment, seemed to have forgotten that he had but one spare bed, and that his guests were an ill-matched pair. All went on pretty well, till near bed time, when signs of uneasiness began to show themselves, among the unsophisticated sons and daughters. White is remarkably fine looking, and very evidently a born gentleman; the idea of putting us in the same bed was hardly to be tolerated; and yet, there we were, and but the one bed for us, and that, by the way, was in the same room occupied by the other members of the family. White, as well as I, perceived the difficulty, for yonder slept the old folks, there the sons, and a little farther along slept the daughters; and but one other bed remained. Who should have this bed, was the puzzling question. There was some whispering between the old folks, some confused looks among the young, as the time for going to bed approached. After witnessing the confusion as long as I liked, I relieved the kindly-disposed family by playfully saying, "Friend White, having got entirely rid of my prejudice against color, I think, as a proof of it, I must allow you to sleep with me to-night." White kept up the joke, by seeming to esteem himself the favored party, and thus the difficulty was removed.

MyBondage and My Freedom, another FD autobio

FREDERICK DOUGLASS

DISCUSSION:

INTERPRET THE FOLLOWING QUOTES:

"The slaveholder, in cases not a few, sustains to his slaves the double relation of master and father." (20)

"The more I read, the more I was lead to abhor and detest my enslavers." (53)

"In August, 1832, my master attended a Methodist camp-meeting held in the Bayside, Talbot county, and there experienced religion. I indulged a faint hope that his conversion would lead him to emancipate his slaves, and that, if he did not do this, it would, at any rate, make him more kind and humane. I was disappointed in both respects...If it had any effect on his character, it made him more cruel and hateful in all his ways." (65)

"It was deemed a disgrace not to get drunk at Christmas; and he was regarded as lazy indeed, who had not provided himself with the necessary means, during the year, to get whisky enough to last him through Christmas." (83)

   Are there any modern parallels to this, people expected and encouraged to adopt personality traits that are harmful?

"I received the tidings of her death (his mother) with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger." (19)

[“Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know." Camus, The Stranger]

Is Douglass representative of slavery or a singular and unique case?

What happens to FD's grandmother in this narrative? What is the relationship with Mr. Auld?

What are Douglass' best arguments against slavery?

According to Douglass, how does slavery affect slaves' human development (personality, behavior, sense of self)?

“I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed…behold a man transformed into a brute.”(75)

After his confrontation with Mr. Covey, why does Douglass write, "however long I might remain a slave in form, the day had passed forever when I could be a slave in fact"?

Why is Douglass able to "understand the deep meaning of those rude and apparently incoherent songs" sung by slaves only when he no longer is a slave himself?

When Douglass writes, "You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man," what does he understand a man to be?

What does Douglass mean when he talks of "the right of each man to own his own body and soul"?

How is Douglass able to maintain his religious faith when that of his owners is used to justify their treatment of him?

Why does Douglass consider holiday celebrations as part of the "inhumanity of slavery"? (p. 115)

Douglass says that "Slavery proved as injurious to his master's wife as it did to him." What impact does slavery have on gender roles in the South?

Douglass describes knowledge as "valuable bread" and the Liberator as his "meat and drink.” Discuss.

This is the story of a man struggling to break free from a system that HELD HIM captive. Are any of the ideas of this story still analogous today?