Basic Important Facts About
Douglass
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Believed to have been born in 1817, perhaps February
Original name was Frederick Augustus Washington
Bailey, but he seldom used his middle names
His first escape attempt failed but his second was
successful. He fled to NYC where he married a free
Negro woman with whom he moved to New Bedford,
Mass.
After escaping, his name became Frederick Stanley,
then Frederick Johnson, and finally Frederick Douglass
Dated his freedom from September 3, 1838
Basic Important Facts About Douglass
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His speeches earned him the praise and encouragement
of both William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips.
Garrison urged him to write an autobiography, but after its
completion, Phillips urged Douglass to burn the
manuscript fearing so controversial a memoir would
greatly endanger Douglass, whose visibility as a speaker
already made him a target of The Fugitive Slave Law.
Douglass, however, bravely published the manuscript in
1845 (btw twenty-seven and twenty-eight years of age)
and then fled to Great Britain and Ireland for two years,
where he experienced both literary notoriety and
economic security for the first time.
He returned to America in 1847 and with his newfound
wealth purchased his freedom, a controversial move
which some saw as legitimizing the notion of bondage.
Basic Important Facts About Douglass
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He then established a newspaper, the North Star, which he
published for seventeen* years.
Even during Douglass' lifetime his speeches and written works
earned him near mythical status and he was a valued friend and
advisor to Abraham Lincoln. During the civil war, Douglass advised
Lincoln to support emancipation and the use of black troops.
He rewrote his biography twice and revised it a third time, but the
original remains the most famous version.
Douglass died on Feb 20th 1895 having attended a woman's
suffrage movement that day. He was eighty-eight years old.
Grammar Note: In academic writing numbers under 100 are to be
spelled out. Any number, even those over 100, that begins a
sentence should also be spelled out.
It's not just a matter of color...*
Douglass' narrative has endured even after the
abolishment of slavery not merely because it provides an
important glimpse into our history's past but because it
continues to have current and universal significance in
many other categories, including:
Power (“When the Lions Write History”)
Injustice/ Equality
Self-determinism / Fate
Do any other categories come to mind?
Stephens believes the novel “still describes the mental slavery of
many 'contented consumers' of our own day, whose 'power to
reason' and 'moral vision' seems to have been annihilated” (135).
*Douglass noticed this fact as well (see pg. vii)
It's not just a matter of color...*
“I knew of blacks who were not slaves; I knew of whites who were
not slaveholders; and I knew of persons who were nearly white, who
were slaves. Color, therefore, was a very unsatisfactory basis for
slavery” (vii).
“It was not color, but crime, not God, but man, that afforded the true
explanation of the existence of slavery; nor was I long in finding out
another important truth, viz: what man can make, man can unmake.
The appalling darkness faded away, and I was master of the
subject” (viii).
Douglass' statement connects to the themes of inequality, power,
and self-determinism (free will). He determines that the inequality of
slavery is due to man's desire for power AND determines that where
one man can set up a system of injustice another can demolish it.
Grammar note: notice Douglass' use of the colon (:). He is utilizing
two colon rules here which state the : may be used to define a
previously introduced idea and that a complete sentence should
follow the colon.
Power
(“When the Lions Write History”)
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Those in power have the tendency and the ability to
define culture/ morals. The pre-civil war south did just
this when they made slavery an acceptable and
expected custom.
What examples from Frederick's Douglass narrative
emphasize just how much power others had over
him/ his race?
What other examples through out history delineate
this tendency of the powerful to shape cultural
opinion/ history?
* One of the major writing objectives this year will be to lend your writing a
sophistication that it may have lacked in the past. One way to accomplish
this objective is to eliminate weak words such as “show” from your
vocabulary.
Power
(“When the Lions Write History”)
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Douglass did not know the date of his own birth and while he suspected his father
was a white man, perhaps his master, he was never sure (vi)
“I have no accurate knowledge of my age …. 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”
(19). He goes on to say, “A want of information concerning my own was a
source of unhappiness to me even during childhood” (19).
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“My mother and I were separated when I was but an infant.... It is a
common custom... to part children from their mothers at a very
young age” (20). The purpose of this practice eluded Douglass, but he
claimed the “inevitable result” was the destruction of “the natural affection
of the mother for the child” (20).
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Consider why this might be a desired practice of slave owners. If you
have no fierce love between relations there is less hope or reason to
contest the current system.
“I was not allowed to be present during her illness, at her death,
or burial” (20).
Power
(“When the Lions Write History”)
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The slaves fear of their master was such that they learned to submit
to their punishments rather than continually revolt.
Colonel Lloyd questions a slave about his master's treatment of him.
The slave answers honestly that he is overworked, unaware that the
Colonel is his master. A month after this duplicitous encounter the
slave is seized, chained and handcuffed, forever sundered from his
family and friends, and sold for finding fault with his master (34-35).
Douglass claims that such instances result in the slaves' “suppress[ion]
of the truth rather than tak[ing] the consequences of telling it” (35). In
other words, slaves learn honesty results in punishment and that by
lying and saying they are well treated they might avoid their owner's
wrath.
In some cases, the master dominates the slaves lives to the point that
they come to perceive their value by their owner's status. Douglass
relays how when slaves from different plantations meet “they seldom
parted without a quarrel about their masters. …They seemed to think
that the greatness of their masters was transferable to themselves”
(26).
Power
(“When the Lions Write History”)
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Douglass notes that slavery is destructive not only to the slave but also to
the slave holder. Mrs. Auld, his mistress in Baltimore, is soon changed by
“the fatal poison of irresponsible power” and her “cheerful eye, under the
influence of slavery, soon became red with rage; that voice made all of
sweet accord, changed to one of harsh and horrid discord; and that
angelic face gave place to that of a demon” (48).
This change in Mrs. Auld is the result of her husband's warning “that it was
unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read” (48). Mr. Auld claims,
“ A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master—to do as he is told
to do. Learning will spoil the best nigger in the world. ...[I]f you teach that
nigger...how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit
him to be a slave” (48).
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Mr. Auld's statement recognizes that education is the pathway to
power and the key to maintaining the unequal slave system.
Douglass gleans this from Mr. Auld's warning to his wife and thus
becomes dedicated to learning to read. Douglass ability to read
and later write plays a key role in his successful escape from
slavery.
The Power of Literacy
Stephens notes the power of literacy in the Afterword where he states:
“Beyond the literal level, this [desire of Douglass to 'write [his] own pass']
can be seen as a prefiguration of Douglass' use of literacy to carve out new
personal, social, and political space. Douglass was forever 'writing his own
pass' into domains from which he, and the people he represented, had been
previously excluded” (134).
**DISCUSS SINGLE QUOTE USE
Power
(“When the Lions Write History”)
Douglass confesses that Mr. Covey succeeded in “breaking” him, but he
also reveals how “a slave was made a man” again (76). After taking
more abuse then he could bear, Douglass defied Covey and eventually
fought him. Douglass states, “I considered him as getting entirely the
worst end of the bargain; for he had drawn no blood from me, but I
had from him,” but Covey acts as if he has won the encounter, so
important is it that he maintain his sense of dominance and control. He
tells Douglass, “if [you] had not resisted, [I] would not have whipped
[you] half so much” and later warns him “you will come off worse
than you did before” (82). Ironically, where Covey clings to the notion
that he has won, Douglass regards the incident as “the turning point in
[his] career as a slave” as “[i]t rekindled the few expiring embers of
freedom, and revived within [him] a sense of [his] own manhood”
(82). From this point on, Douglass does not consider himself “a slave in
fact” and manages to avoid being whipped by making it known “that the
white man who expected to succeed in whipping, must also succeed in
killing me” (82-83). Thus, Douglass' defiance empowers him both in
confidence and in fact.
*** Discuss imbedding & the difference btw restatement, summary, and analysis.
Injustice / Equality
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Claiming ownership of an individual
immediately establishes a hierarchy of power
and individual value that is antithetical to the
idea of equality. However, the injustices
Douglass experiences go way beyond a mere
title of ownership.
What other injustices does he experience?
What actions/contemplations of Douglass'
demonstrate his desire for equality?
Injustice / Equality
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“the children of slave women shall in all cases follow the
condition of their mothers; and this is done too obviously
to administer to their own lusts, and make a gratification
of their wicked desires profitable as well as pleasurable.
...such slaves invariably suffer greater hardships [as they
are] a constant offense to their mistress” (21).
“I have often been awakened at the dawn of day by the
most heartrending shrieks of an own aunt of mine, whom
he used to tie up to a joist, and whip upon her naked
back till she was literally covered with blood. ...The louder
she screamed, the harder he whipped; and where the
blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest” (23).
Injustice / Equality
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“Their yearly clothing consisted of two coarse linen shirts,
one pair of linen trousers,...one jacket, one pair of trousers
for winter, … one pair of stockings, and one pair of shoes....
The children unable to work in the field had neither shoes,
stockings, jackets, nor trousers...; their clothing consisted of
two coarse linen shirts per year. When these failed them,
they went naked until the next allowance-day” (26).
“There were no beds given the slaves, unless one course
blanket could be considered such, and none but the men and
women had these” (27).
“To those songs I trace my first glimmering conception of the
dehumanizing character of slavery. ...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 tears” (30).
Injustice / Equality
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“They never knew when they were safe from punishment. They
were frequently whipped when least deserving, and escaped
whipping when most deserving it” (33).
Douglass described the “artful, cruel, and obdurate” behavior of
the overseer Mr. Gore (38). He states: “To be accused was to be
convicted, and to be convicted was to be punished; the one always
following the other with immutable certainty. ...His savage barbarity
was equalled only by the consummate coolness with which he
committed the grossest and most savage deeds...” (38). Indeed,
according to Douglass, Gore once shot and killed a slave who
refused to leave a creek and submit to more lashings. Gore's
statement that the slave “had become unmanageable” and “a
dangerous example to the other slaves” was deemed a reasonable
explanation and “[h]is horrible crime was not even submitted to
judicial investigation” (39).
“...killing a slave, or any colored person, in Talbot county,
Maryland, is not treated as a crime, either by the courts or the
community” (40).
Injustice / Equality
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“Our food was course corn meal boiled. This was called mush”
(43). Children were called to a trough to eat like pigs with use of
hands or a broken single, but never spoons (43).
Douglass' desire for equality was so great, even as a child of
seven or eight, that when informed he was going to be sent to
Baltimore he leapt at the opportunity, unhesitating scrubbing away
layers of skin to appear satisfactory clean to his mistress and earn
a new pair of trousers. The stories he had heard of Baltimore had
convinced him it was the height of civilization. (43)
“...we were allowed less than a half of a bushel of corn-meal per
week, and very little else.... It was not enough for us to subsist
upon. We were therefore reduced to the wretched necessity of
living at the expense of our neighbors. This we did by begging
and stealing...” (65).
Injustice / Equality
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According to Douglass, “The holidays are part and parcel of the
gross fraud, wrong, and inhumanity of slavery” (84). He believes it
falsely represents slaveholders as beneficent when “[t]hey do not
give the slaves this time because they would not like to have their
work during its continuance, but because they know it would be
unsafe to deprive them off it” (84). Moreover, slaveowners use the
holidays as a means of disenchanting slaves with the idea of
freedom by encouraging drunkenness, which results “plung[es] them
into the lowest depth of dissipation” (85).
Just as slave owners manipulate the holidays to their advantage so
too with religion. “The religion in the south is a mere covering for the
most horrid crimes, --a justifier of the most appalling barbarity, --a
sanctifier of the most hateful frauds, --and a dark shelter under which
the darkest, foulest, grossest, and most infernal deeds of
slaveholders find the strongest protection,” asserts Douglass (86).
Indeed, Douglass' christian owner violent broke up Douglass'
sabbath school, which he was using to teach slaves to read.
Injustice / Equality
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Sadly, even after Douglass had escaped to New Bedford and
freedom, he still faced prejudice. Yet, his desire for equality was so
great that he did not hesitate to abandon the trade he knew (calking)
in favor of learning new skills which let him advance in trade.
Furthermore, his desire for equality for all is what motivated him to
purchase “The Liberator,” an anti-slavery paper, as soon as he could
afford to do so and to eventually speak at anti-slavery gatherings and
write his autobiography (120). Indeed, in the Appendix, Douglass
writes that he “[s]incerely and earnestly hop[es] that this little book
may do something toward throwing light on the American slave
system, and hastening the glad day of deliverance to the millions of
my brethren in bonds” (128).
Douglass' desire for freedom from injustice extended well beyond the
American slave system, however. Stephens, in the Afterword, points
out how Douglass was a self-described “women's right's man” and
close friend of many suffragettes. Furthermore, he served as a
diplomat in Haiti and the Dominican Republic and the masthead of
his paper, the North Star, proclaimed, “Right is of no sex, truth is of
no color” (132).
Injustice/ Equality con...
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Equality is a deceptively simple word. Indeed, the Declaration of
Independence states: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the
pursuit of Happiness.” Yet, the word “equality” derives from the latin
word “aequalis,” which means uniform, identical, equal. In what ways
does Douglass demonstrate he is NOT identical to his owners? What
implications does this hold for Douglass' story? For society?
The above question exemplifies two other skills you will need to utilize
this year. First, you need to connect the works we read and discuss to
other works you know and knowledge you possess. It's okay if we
don't know them! Actually it's great! When you explain the connection
we'll all learn something else. Next, you need to practice being a
philosopher and think about the implications/meanings of everything!
What relevance do these sometimes archaic works hold for modern
audiences (that means YOU!)? Do you agree with what's being
suggested? Again, it's terrific if occasionally you don't! Just be able to
expound on why.
Self-determinism / Fate
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Is Douglass' ending the result of fate or his own
actions? What examples from the novel prove your
conclusion?
This idea of self-determinism vs. fate will be a MAJOR
theme this year.
How much of your sitting* in this classroom is a result
of fate? How much of it is due to decisions you've
made? Explain.
Where do you see your future going? Are you as
determined to accomplish something as Douglass
was? What obstacles do you foresee facing? What is
your plan for surmounting them?
*Grammar note: the possessive case is needed when dealing
with gerunds (verbs with -ing ends that function as nouns)
Self-determinism / Fate
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Unwilling to settle for a life of slavery Douglass doggedly
pursued freedom. His first attempt ended in failure and jail
time, but he refused to give up. His second attempt was
successful (vii).
“It is possible, and even quite probable, that but for the mere
circumstance of being removed from that plantation to
Baltimore, I should to-day, instead of being here seated by my
own table, in the enjoyment of freedom and the happiness of
home, writing this Narrative, been confined in the galling
chains of slavery. Going to live at Baltimore laid the
foundation, and opened the gateway, to all my subsequent
prosperity. I have ever regarded it as the first plain
manifestation of that kind providence which has ever since
attended me, and marked by life with so many favors” (46).
Self-determinism / Fate
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“From that moment,” the moment Mr. Auld revealed the power of
reading, “I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom. … I
was gladdened by the invaluable instruction which, by the
merest accident, I had gained from my master. Though
conscious of the difficulty of learning without a teacher, I set out
with high hope, and a fixed purpose, at whatever cost of trouble,
to learn how to read” (48-49).
Douglass acknowledges that he “was compelled to resort to
various stratagems” in order to learn to read, including
exchanging bread for reading lessons with the hungry children in
the street near Durgin and Bailey's ship-yard (51,53).
In January of 1833, when Douglass was fifteen, he was sent to
Mr. Covey to “be broken” (69). Having never before been a field
hand, when put in charge of a team of oxen, Douglass lost
control and was nearly killed when the oxen ran wildly and
dashed the cart against a tree. He states, “Thus, twice, in one
short day, I escaped death by the merest chance” (71).
Self-determinism / Fate
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Douglass “resolved that 1835 should not pass without witnessing
an attempt, on [his] part, to secure [his] liberty” and thus devises
a plan to forge documents and escape to Baltimore (91).
However, Douglass and his fellow slaves are “betrayed” and
ultimately Douglass is sent to Baltimore to learn a trade. This
punishment is actually fortuitous in the long run. Here he learns
calking and the use of mallet and irons, which earns him up to
nine dollars a week and makes him more valuable to his master.
Earning a wage also re-motivates him to runaway to freedom.
Douglass intentionally refrains from revealing how he escaped
and reprimands the members of the Underground Railroad for
not doing the same, believing that revealing the methods used
endangers other slaves who might attempt a similar path. He
states: “such a statement would most undoubtably induce
greater vigilance on the part of slaveholders … which would, of
course, be the means of guarding a door whereby some dear
brother bondman might escape his galling chains” (106).
Purpose of the Introduction & Preface
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General overview
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Emphasize key points and themes
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Testimony of other renown individuals to
bolster support for Douglass and
substantiate his claims
Inspire others to see beyond one man's story
to a national crisis that demands their active
engagement to stop
Literary Devices
Douglass was a skilled orator and a skilled writer. His writing is specific,
vivid, and passionate. Unsurprisingly, his writing is filled with
imagery, metaphors, similes, allusions, etc.... He also intentionally
points out instances of irony and includes a parody (126).
Find an example of each of the above and discuss what it is used
to accomplish.
Douglass also uses apostrophe. A literary device where an
address is made to an inanimate object(s). The most
prominent example of this device occurs in Chapter Ten where
Douglass recounts, “pour[ing] out my soul's complaint, in my
rude way, with an apostrophe to the moving multitude of ships:
– ” (75).
“You are loosed from your moorings, and are free; I am fast in
my chains, and am a slave! You move merrily before the
gentle gale, and I sadly before the bloody whip! You are
freedom's swift-winged angels, that fly round the world; I am
confined in bands of iron!” (75).
Blurbs...
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"A blurb is a short summary or some words of praise accompanying
a creative work, usually referring to the words on the back of the
book but also commonly seen on DVD and video cases, web portals
and news websites."
"A blurb on a book or a film can be any combination of quotes from the
work, the author, the publisher, reviewers or fans, a summary of the plot, a
biography of the author or simply claims about the importance of the work.
Many humorous books and films parody blurbs that deliver exaggerated
praise by unlikely people and insults disguised as praise.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail - "Makes Ben Hur look like an Epic"
1066 and All That - "We look forward keenly to the appearance of their last
work"
The Harvard Lampoon satire of Lord of the Rings, entitled Bored of the
Rings, deliberately used phony blurbs by deceased authors on the inside
cover. One of the blurbs stated "One of the two or three books...", and
nothing else.
Blurb it up!*
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Investigate the blurbs on the back of Douglass'
autobiography. Why do you think the
writer/editor/publisher chose these lines? What
does each add? Discuss.
* You're going to find out real fast that I have a strange sense of humor and
in many ways am the ultimate nerd (Yes, I'm in love with Sheldon
Cooper). So, in case you missed it, this was my geeky allusion to Star
Wars! Ever heard Han Solo say to Chewbacca, “Laugh it up fuzzball” ?**
**Grammar note: First, allusion is not to be confused with illusion. The
first is a literary device you need to know. The term means to refer
in one work to another work. Illusion, conversely, means a
distortion of the senses and is frequently used to refer to something
that may appear real but isn't. Second, when you lead into a quote
that is meant to stand out from your sentence a comma is need.
Third, question marks belong inside quotation marks only when the
quote itself was a question.
Blurb it up! continued...
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Create your own blurb that recapitulates the
details of Douglass' narrative that most
impacted you. Then chose at least two quotes
to surround your summary. You may chose
memorable/ significant lines by Douglass
(include page numbers) or by others about
him. Remember to keep it short and make
every word count!
HW: Polish up your blurbs and create a stellar
new book cover. We'll discuss each Monday
and hang our favorites up as study tools for
the final at the end of the year.