Frederick Douglass and the
Problem With Autobiography
What do you think are some benefits of using
Autobiographies or Biographies in teaching history?
What do you think are some problems with using
them?
Some benefits of using Autobiographies or Biographies
in teaching history:
- Can make history come alive
- Personalizes events – makes history “human”
- Interesting
- Helps us understand why people made certain
decisions, or took certain actions and the thoughts that
were behind them
-Brings depth to individuals who may get minimal
attention in history textbooks – we can learn about
their personalities – grit, determination, struggles, etc.
- We can learn a lot about the individual as some
historical figures have been written about in great
detail (also perhaps in numerous books)
Some problems with using autobiographies and
biographies:
- bias, especially from autobiography
- gives a very limited perspective of historical events
through the eyes of one person, or a limited period of
time
- may gloss over an individual’s weaknesses or poor
decisions
- May make and individual look overly heroic or
grandiose
- An autobiography, in particular, may be written with
an agenda in mind
Slave Families and Communities (History Alive)
Positive things about slave families:
-Most slaves grew up in families with both a father and a mother.
-Tight-knit slave families and communities helped slaves cope with
slavery.
Negative things about slave families:
-Laws did not protect slave families.
-Owners could break up families through the sale of one slave.
Frederick Douglass
• “My mother and I were separated when I was but an infant – before I
knew her as my mother. It is a common custom, in the part of Maryland
from which I ran away, to part children from their mothers at a very
early age. Frequently, before the child had reached its twelfth month,
its mother is taken from it, and hired out on some farm a considerable
distance off . . .” (pg. 17)
Living Conditions of Slaves (History Alive)
Few slaves went hungry. They ate cornmeal, bacon, molasses, and food
from the gardens and hunting.
Frederick Douglass
• Slaves were given a monthly allowance of food – 8 lbs. of pork (or
fish), one bushel of corn meal. (pg. 23)
• “There were four slaves of us in the Kitchen . . . And we were allowed
less than a half of a bushel of corn-meal per week, and very little else,
neither in the shape of meat or vegetables . . . A great many times have
we poor creatures been nearly perishing with hunger, when food in
abundance lay mouldering in the safe and smoke-house . . .” (pg. 54-55)
• “Not to give a slave enough to eat, is regarded as the most aggravated
development of meanness even among slaveholders. The rule is, no
matter how coarse the food, only let there be enough of it. This is the
theory . . . it is the general practice.” (Pg. 54)
Living Conditions of Slaves (History Alive)
Slaves wore course linen, called “Negro cloth”, and were typically given
one pair of shoes and one set of clothes to last a year.
Frederick Douglass
• “Their yearly clothing consisted of two coarse linen shirts, one pair of
linen trousers, one jacket, one pair of trousers for winter, made of
coarse negro cloth, one pair of stockings, and one pair of shoes . . .” (pg.
23)
• Children who were not yet able to work in the fields were not given
shoes, jackets, or pants. They got 2 linen shirts per year, and if these
wore out, they went naked. (pg. 23)
Controlling Slaves (History Alive)
Some of the methods that slave owners used to control slaves are the
following:
• Beating – Whipping – Branding
• Instilling fear (constant threat of punishment)
• Keeping slaves as ignorant and dependent as possible (could not learn
to read or write)
Frederick Douglass
• “Very soon after I went to live with Mr. and Mrs. Auld, she very kindly commence to
teach me the A, B,C. After I had learned this, she assisted me in learning to spell
words of three or four letters. Just at this point of my progress, Mr. Auld found out
what was going on, and at once forbade Mrs. Auld to instruct me further, telling her,
among other things, that it was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read.”
(Pg. 40)
• “. . . I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a
blessing. It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy. It
opened my eyes to the horrible pit . . . In moments of agony, I envied my fellow-slaves
for their stupidity. I have often wished myself a beast.” (pg. 45)