English 2.0 Frederick Douglass – Flashcards

The words of this slave song show the deep longing of American slaves to be freed from their human bondage. Songs like these were sung across the South during the many years of American slavery. In this lesson, you will learn about the historical background of American slavery, the abolitionist movement, and the life of Frederick Douglass.

The first Africans brought to North America came as indentured servants who had contracted to work for a certain amount of time in exchange for passage to America. But by 1700, the economy of agricultural colonies such as Virginia demanded a cheaper and more controllable labor force. These plantation farmers instituted chattel slavery, in which an individual black person became the property of a white master for life. After the United States gained its independence, slavery flourished in the South as plantations became economically prosperous. Over time, the states in the North abolished slavery. By the 1830s, tension between abolitionists (people who opposed slavery) in the North and slave owners in the South was high. As early as 1829, David Walker, the son of a slave father and a free black mother, secretly published his Appeal—a denunciation of slavery that encouraged slaves to rebel. Slaves carrying cotton on a plantation Slaves doing backbreaking work on southern plantations In 1831, Nat Turner, a slave, led a slave revolt that resulted in the deaths of more than 55 white people. Congress tried to reach compromises that would keep both parts of the country appeased, but both sides were fighting hard. The abolitionists published newspapers and organized white reformers and free blacks—people who had been freed by an owner or who had bought their own freedom. Through information from escaped slaves, abolitionists were able to create the Underground Railroad—a network of routes that hid escaped slaves until they reached freedom in the North. Southerners pressured the government for protection of their rights through the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which ordered all escaped slaves to be returned to their masters. Some white abolitionists like John Brown fought slavery through violence. In 1859, he tried to start a slave revolt and was executed as a result. His passion inspired other abolitionists to the cause of freedom. As Abraham Lincoln would soon learn, the country would have to go through the great crisis of the Civil War before it could become unified again.

conflicted. Despite attempts within government, the tension between pro- and anti-slavery factions continued to grow.

One ex-slave who became very important in the abolitionist movement was Frederick Douglass. You will read about his life from his birth in approximately 1818 to the time when his first autobiography Opens in modal popup window was published (1845). By that time, Douglass had earned his freedom, worked for several years, and made an important speech to a white audience. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass was so well written that many people doubted whether the writer had really been a slave. And it was so successful that Douglass had to flee to England to avoid being caught by slave hunters who were chasing him in the North. Eventually, several British friends paid Douglass's former master for Douglass's freedom, and Douglass returned to the United States as a legally free man. In 1860, Douglass worked for the presidential campaign of Abraham Lincoln. During the Civil War that soon followed, Douglass recruited Union soldiers, including black soldiers, for two regiments in Massachusetts. Douglass went on to publish two updates to his autobiography later in life—one in 1855 (still pre-Civil War) and another in 1881. He published a newspaper, gave lectures, and spoke out for human rights around the world. Look at the time line to get an idea of where Frederick Douglass belongs in a historical context. Be sure to click the area between 1845 and 1865 for details about Douglass's role in the years leading up to, and including, the Civil War.

Harriet Beecher Stowe's abolitionist novel Uncle Tom's Cabin was written in 1852. Famous abolitionists published papers as part of the anti-slavery movement. In 1831, William Lloyd Garrison, for example, began to publish a newspaper called The Liberator.

You have read autobiographies in the past. An autobiography is a person's nonfiction, narrative account of his or her own life, using the first-person point of view. The events are usually presented in chronological order. An autobiography is typically written from a distance. Experience and time allow the writer to identify the people and events that had the largest impact in creating the person he or she has become.

A book about the life of President John F. Kennedy. A text explaining the history of the Civil Rights Movement.A nonfiction narrative is the story of someone or something real, rather than imaginary.

The other voice is that of the free man who writes the book in retrospect, looking back in wisdom on his experiences. This voice is more distant and Douglass uses this voice to present the overall case against slavery throughout the entire Narrative.

But sometimes he uses himself as a character to show something unique about himself. For example, he might explain that he was very fortunate to have had a mistress who was willing to teach him to read and write for a short time. This special attention gave him an advantage that most slaves did not have. As you read, ask yourself how the author uses his voice and his own character to present the story of his life.

Pathways to Freedom: Maryland and the Underground Railroad (http://pathways.thinkport.org/eyewitness/douglassintro.cfm) This website, dedicated to the Underground Railroad in Maryland, includes information about Frederick Douglass's life and his writings. It has a dramatic reading of an excerpt from the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, with the text alongside, so readers can follow along. The website also has maps of the Underground Railroad and opportunities to hear examples of slave music, to see photos, and to hear an imaginary story designed to help the user become "an eyewitness to history."The Frederick Douglass Papers (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/doughtml/doughome.html) This is the Library of Congress's exhibit on Frederick Douglass. The website features the papers of Douglass, including speeches, letters, and articles of Douglass and his contemporaries. It also has photos of Douglass, his home, his newspaper The North Star, as well as maps, a family tree, and a time line.

What were the early years of Douglass's life like? What was his early childhood experience? Who comforted him when he was sad? Who nurtured him when he was needy? These are some of the questions about Douglass you will consider.

have a white man lend credibility to a black author. show Douglass's role in a larger political cause. reinforce the abolitionists' arguments against slavery.Garrison's Preface serves as a reinforcement and endorsement of Douglass's case against slavery.

The keep their birth records from them. They do not release the names of many slaves' fathers. They separate children of slaves from their mothers at an early age.Slaveholders keep information about slaves' birth dates and fathers a secret. They also seek to destroy any relationship between an enslaved mother and her children.

Their presence upsets the mistress of the farm. Slaves fathered by the master face being sold or cruelly punished more than other slaves because the master wants to keep his wife satisfied.

To show how cruel and controlling the master is. This incident shows the violence, both mental and physical, of the master, who does not allow his slaves to have their own personal relationships.

"By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant." By keeping slaves uneducated, masters have greater control.

Through his masterful writing, Douglass makes the world of a slave come horrifically alive. The reader begins to feel the hunger of the young slave child or the cold of the hard ground or the ache of being sleep deprived. Douglass uses detail and imagery Opens in modal popup window to put the reader into the situation of a suffering slave—evoking the senses and the emotions. It is through his detailed accounts of slavery that he reveals the true nature of the institution. Let's look at how he uses specific details.

miserable, drunk, and savage. Douglass does not mince words when he describes the cruel taskmaster Mr. Plummer.

Think about the way he describes his relationship with his mother—both in life and in death: "I received the tidings of her death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger." Douglass's relationship with his mother reveals just how cruel slavery is. One of the most important human relationships is nonexistent—that of a mother and her child. Harriet Bailey's death is meaningless to Douglass. Both Douglass and his mother are deprived of the joy of knowing and loving each other. They have been stripped of their humanity.

"It was the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery, through which I was about to pass." Yet Douglass admits that language escapes him, when he says: "It was a most terrible spectacle. I wish I could commit to paper the feelings with which I beheld it." What might Douglass have been feeling as he witnessed the "most terrible spectacle"?

As you read more of Douglass's Narrative, look for how he uses language in portraying slavery and in developing the logic of his argument against it.

Sad songs have probably always been a part of human life. In this activity, you will consider the songs of the slaves who mourned their bondage.

It is a spiritual—a song sung by slaves, passed on by word of mouth over the many years of slavery in the United States. Spirituals express both a longing for freedom in this life and a desire for spiritual salvation. Some spirituals were "signal" songs, meaning they carried messages that only the slaves could understand. For example, slaves could pass on information about following the Big Dipper north to freedom in the signal song "Follow the Drinking Gourd."

"The singing of a man cast away upon a desolate island might be as appropriately considered as evidence of contentment and happiness, as the singing of a slave; the songs of the one and of the other are prompted by the same emotion."

Loneliness. Both the castaway and the slave feel alone in the world, without friend or comfort.

"I have often been utterly astonished, since I came to the north, to find persons who could speak of the singing, among slaves, as evidence of their contentment and happiness....Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears."

Now it is time to put your thoughts and examples on paper. Today you will focus on pages vii-9 of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. You can write quotations, paraphrases, or summaries that apply to each idea. You may find several examples of one main idea and not find any examples of another main idea.

He puts tar on the fence so that anyone who goes near the trees will be marked. Anyone with tar marks is considered guilty of stealing from the trees.

He has high hopes about finding happiness in the future. He has heard a lot about Baltimore. He knows that he can endure bad conditions because of his experience at Colonel Lloyd's. Although he does not know that Baltimore will be better, Douglass cannot imagine that it will be worse than at Colonel Lloyd's.

Douglass does not expect to be treated with kindness from a white person. Douglass says that unlike other whites he has known, Mrs. Auld's face "was a white face beaming with the most kindly emotions."

proud, cruel, violent, and ambitious. "Mr. Gore was proud, ambitious, and persevering. He was artful, cruel, and obdurate. He was just the man for such a place...."

Fear. Slaves are afraid that anything they say about their master might get back to him.

Douglass serves as a reporter in his Narrative, recording his observations in a straightforward manner. But he has chosen all his details for a reason. In Chapters 3-5, Douglass continues to use sensory details Opens in modal popup window to paint a picture of the horrific sphere in which he once lived.

"Mr. Gore then, without consultation or deliberation with anyone, not even giving Demby an additional call, raised his musket to his face, taking deadly aim at his standing victim, and in an instant poor Demby was no more. His mangled body sank out of sight, and blood and brains marked the water where he had stood." And remember: Douglass wrote this more than 150 years ago, at a time when graphic violence was not usually included in writing.

Douglass tells the story about the slave who unknowingly meets his master and tells him that his master does not treat him well—and is sold as a result.

the master's wealth. the slave owner's cruelty. the power of a slave owner. Douglass's story shows the wealth, power, and cruelty of slave owners.

On the right is the first of three maxims. Read it to see what it means and what it reveals about people at that point in history. Then click the next two icons when you are ready to read the remaining maxims.

For example, he says on page 12: "I always measured the kindness of my master by the standard of kindness set up among slaveholders around us."

Daniel protects Douglass from older boys. Daniel shares food with Douglass. Master Daniel helps Douglass because he keeps him from trouble with the other children and splits his cakes with him. Douglass's relationship with Daniel is different from his relationship with other slaveholders because Daniel is still young. Douglass shows how people learn the institution of slavery. They learn to be inhuman, like Sophia Auld does.

"In hottest summer and coldest winter, I was kept almost naked—no shoes, no stockings, no jacket, no trousers, nothing on but a coarse tow linen shirt, reaching only to my knees."

"He spoke but to command, and commanded but to be obeyed; he dealt sparingly with his words, and bountifully with his whip, never using the former where the latter would answer as well."

What does he learn there, and how does it change him? Focus on the development of Douglass's character based on his experiences in Baltimore.

They are better fed and clothed. City slave owners are less likely to be physically violent. Slaves in cities such as Baltimore are better taken care of than those on plantations. Cruel slave owners were looked down upon by others in the city.

He uses the white schoolboys as teachers. He finds and reads a Baltimore newspaper. He reads The Columbian Orator. He studies and copies the letters from pieces of timber. Douglass does not let the Aulds stop him. He is creative in finding ways to increase his knowledge about the world.

He has to be counted among all of his master's assets. All the slaves are gathered to be counted, assessed, and redistributed to the master's children.

He is becoming educated, so he knows how to find and track dates. As Douglass learns more, he is able to use his resources to find out more about the world.

Because Thomas Auld becomes a slaveholder later in life, he is crueler, yet cowardly. Thomas Auld is not "trained" as a slaveholder, so he does a bad job of instructing and controlling his slaves.

When Douglass first arrives in Baltimore, his mistress, Sophia Auld, is a kind and tender-hearted woman. She begins to teach him to read, and Douglass is a willing pupil. Douglass states the following: "She at first lacked the depravity indispensable to shutting me up in mental darkness." When her husband discovers what she is doing, he stops her, saying that slaves will become "discontented and unhappy" if they know too much. Why might education make slaves discontent? The more slaves know about the world, the more they realize the injustice of their situation. As they recognize the abolitionist cause, slaves become more determined to get out of their bondage. Slaveholders know that a broader knowledge of the world will open the eyes of the slaves and make them restless for a different kind of life.

"It [the master's words and manner about education of slaves] gave me the best assurance that I might rely with the utmost confidence on the results which, he said, would flow from teaching me to read." By opposing Douglass's education, the master convinces Douglass that education is critical, and Sophia Auld helps him make the start. "I owe almost as much to the bitter opposition of my master, as to the kindly aid of my mistress."

Oddly, as he learns more, Douglass says the following: "In moments of agony, I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity. I have often wished myself a beast. I preferred the condition of the meanest reptile to my own." Think about Douglass's words and then answer the question.

One of Douglass's key examples of the dehumanizing nature of slaveholding is Mrs. Sophia Auld, the woman who starts to teach Douglass to read and then stops because of her husband's displeasure.

Remember that by the time he writes his Narrative, Douglass has studied rhetoric, is well grounded in logic, and is an accomplished orator. He uses these skills to argue against slavery in numerous ways. Another example of slavery dehumanizing the slave owners occurs when Douglass's already cruel master Thomas Auld undergoes a religious conversion.

Will Douglass ever be able to gain his freedom? In this lesson, you will explore the events that lead Douglass to become a man.

He exhausts them. He beats them regularly. He sneaks up on them. Under Covey, the slaves endure physical and mental torture.

He hopes Auld will intervene on his behalf. When Douglass is beaten by Covey, he goes to Auld to ask for help.

Covey cannot risk having his reputation ruined. If people find out that Douglass beat Covey, Covey's reputation as a slave breaker will be destroyed.

considers taking his own life. thinks about killing Covey. watches the white sails and cries out to God for freedom. Douglass's anguish takes different forms. Sometimes he is so despairing he wants to die or kill Covey. Other times he watches the sailing vessels and talks to God about his longing for freedom.

Sandy believes the root will protect Douglass from being beaten. Sandy himself keeps a root and has not been beaten.

Douglass spends a great deal of his narrative describing his time at Covey's. He tells how Covey sneaks up on slaves, keeps them fearful, works them to the point of exhaustion, and acts deceitfully.

"Mr. Covey succeeded in breaking me. I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute!"

He cries out to God in anguish as he watches the white sailing vessels in the Chesapeake Bay. He contrasts his own condition with that of the sailing ships.

On page 39 of the Narrative, Douglass announces the pivotal moment when his life began to change for the better. "I have already intimated that my condition was much worse, during the first six months of my stay at Mr. Covey's, than in the last six. The circumstances leading to the change in Mr. Covey's course toward me form an epoch in my humble history. You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man."

This fight is the result of Douglass's long discontent and misery as a slave. The slave who has always had to endure beatings suddenly becomes active in his fight for his own life. To show the action to readers, Douglass uses strong action verbs so that readers can picture what happens.

Through much of the Narrative, Douglass's tone Opens in modal popup window has been objective and factual. But as he reaches the climax, we see a more emotional tone to his language. It is as if the emotions that have been trapped in his body for his whole life come bursting out onto the page. For example, as he tries to take his beaten body to Auld's, Douglass says, "I nerved myself up, and started on my way, through bogs and briers, barefooted and bareheaded, tearing my feet sometimes at nearly every step...." He uses alliteration Opens in modal popup window to give the plodding journey a rhythmic quality. The reader is rooting for him each time he falls: Get up, Douglass. Get up and keep moving.

And, he paints an even bleaker picture as he tells what will happen if they are caught. Think about what the slaves have to go through as they try to escape and then answer the question.

How will he escape the bonds of slavery? Review the dangers that Douglass faces as his narrative comes to an end.

He does not want to risk the safety of those who helped him escape. He does not want to cause slave owners to be more cautious about certain methods of escape. He does not want to stand in the way of any of his fellow slaves escaping. Douglass wants to do nothing that will jeopardize the various systems set in place for bringing slaves to freedom.

He wants to motivate Douglass to earn more money. The foolish Hugh Auld believes that by giving Douglass a few pennies, he provides motivation for harder work. What he does not understand is that Douglass's motivation for earning that money is for a far greater cause.

Douglass leaves Baltimore for a camp and neglects to tell Hugh. Hugh Auld is furious when Douglass finally returns to pay him the money he owes him.

New York is not safe. He believes Douglass will find calking work there. Mr. Ruggles fears for Douglass's safety in New York, where slave hunters frequently search. In New Bedford, Mr. Ruggles suspects that Douglass can find work as a calker.

hardworking, discreet, courageous, intelligent