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tstewart_frederick_douglass_rough_draft_121116.docxRunning head: NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS ROUGH DRAFT 1
NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS ROUGH DRAFT 7
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Rough Draft
Toni Stewart
Rasmussen College
Author Note
This paper is being submitted on December 11, 2016 for Professor Branch’s G435/AML4680 Literature of American Minorities course.
Frederick Douglas enactments at abolitionist rallies did not only make him was well known by a majority, but also his articulate and intelligent brought doubt among many if he had ever actually been a slave. He was born around 1818 though not sure in slavery as Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey in Talbot County Maryland (Douglass, 1845). At a teenager, Frederick served she learned to read and write with the help of his master's wife in Baltimore where he served as a house servant. Later in the year 1838, he escaped from slavery, went to New Yolk City, and married Ann Murray a longtime friend he had met while in Baltimore. Slavery was and still a cruel act to practice and therefore firmly conquer with Frederick Douglas with his fight against slavery.
His slavery ant campaign came to right in 1841 when Frederick addressed a resolution of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in Nantucket. His speech was so influential that he greatly impressed the movement that they instantaneously hired him as an agent. Additionally, his campaign was so impressive that many were entirely convinced that Frederick had one time had been a slave and drove him into writing the book “Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass.” Subsequently, during the civil war Frederick contributing in the recruitment of men of color for the 54th and 55th Massachusetts Regiments respectively and unswervingly argued for the liberation of slaves.
Frederick Douglass was born and raised by married parents with his mother, Harriet Bailey, born and raised by colored parents and while his father was white. He claims that many thoughts that his father contributed to his slavery while Douglas says that he knew nothing of the sort since he separated with his mother at an infant age. Frederick Douglass gives the main reason for the custom practiced by the people of Maryland at that time to separate one year children from their mothers and placing them under the care of senior women while their parents worked in different farms considerable distance off from their born children. Unfortunately, Frederick said that he only met his mother for not more than five times in his lifetime with each of those times being late at night for a very short duration of time. Being employed by Mr. Stewart about twelve miles away from their home, His mother could only travel at night despite the hard chores throughout the day just to see him and go back before morning to resume her duties without being late.
While his life has a slave, Douglass served two masters with his first master known as Captain Anthony, a name he acquired by sailing craft on the Chesapeake Bay. Captain Anthony owned about three farms and around thirty slaves under the care of an overseer. Plummer was the name of the overseers who Frederick describes as being a miserable drunkard, a profane swearer, and a ferocious monster. He claims that Plummer was well known to cut and slash women’s heads so this type of cruelty infuriated outrageously that even his masters. Overseer Plummer used to whip women just to hear them scream with Frederick recalling an instance of his auntie whose Plummer used to beat just to enjoy the screams she made until fatigue who get him to stop to swing the whip.
Secondly, Captain Thomas Auld was the second master of Frederick Douglass with his family consisting of two sons namely Andrew and Richard respectively and one daughter namely Lucretia. More than four hundred slaves worked in their family plantations with the name of the nearest farm to their home being Wye Town and New Design. Wye Town estate was under the overseer Noah Willis while the New Design plantation was under the management of Mr. Townsend overseer. Additionally, in these farms, there were no beds provided to the slaves unless one coarse blanket is considered in very few cases. Among these holdings, Colonel Lloyd was among the caretakers and kept a large and finely cultivated garden that afforded almost constant employment for at least four men besides the chief gardener. The colonel was well known for his stable and carriage house that presented the exteriors of some of the livery formations with his horses being of the finest form and noblest blood. All these establishments and horses were under the care of two slaves who were a dad and a son namely Old Barney and Young Barney correspondingly.
Despite the kind of complaints brought before him, the slaves were not supposed to answer any word, as the colonel could not tolerate any incongruity from a slave. According to Frederick, when Colonel Lloyd spoke all the slaves were supposed to stand, listen keenly and more so tremor always. For instance, Douglass gives an example where he witnessed the colonel make an old man Barney, at an old age estimated to be between fifty’s and sixties uncovered his bald head, kneel upon the cold, damp ground, and receive upon his naked and toil-worn shoulders more than thirty lashes at the time (Douglass, 1845). Furthermore, this colonel owned thousands of slaves a rarely did He know all of them nor did they know him despite his popularity among them. Therefore, it was difficult to describe his wealth, as it would be almost like describing the riches of his job with all those servants among other material possessions called by his name.
Additionally, in his narrative Douglass puts it that it was hard to hear the slaves comment about their masters due to the harsh consequences associated with such incidences. He gives an example of a slave who was heard saying about how he not contented with his master, and how he ended being immediately chained and handcuffed without any moments of warnings and after that forever cleaved from his friends and family. This is just an example of what was happening to the slaves who were in any way caught talking ill about their masters with some ending up murdered. In this regard, Colonel's slaves were always actively involved in various activities during the daytime and at night. At night, they were in the habit of spending nights and Sundays in fishing for oysters. In most cases when the slaves trespassed with other masters, they ended up being killed with nothing significant being done by their masters for compensation. One instance, Mr. Bondly to the offense and killed a slave belonging to Colonel Lloyd with the later ending up the completely fiendish transaction with no significant issue arising. This ascertains one of the young white boy's statement that it was worth a half-cent to kill a “nigger,” and a half-cent to bury one (Douglass, 1845).
While in Baltimore, His oldest master Captain Anthony’s son Richard died, and three years later the teacher died too leaving his son Andrew and daughter Lucretia to share all their fathers’ belongings. Douglass puts it is clearly that he remembers well that everything in the estate was ranked at the same level, whether men, women, children, cows, horses or whatever it was and therefore shared between the two. During the division, I was among the excited slaves since I fell under his daughter Lucretia and was deported back to Baltimore to live again in with the family of Master Hugh and was lucky to be sent back again to his home area. Frederick says that he was very fortunate to escape an eviler than lion’s jaws from being possessed by Andrew.
Subsequently, Douglass underwent a very hard separation after Mrs. Lucretia died and Master Thomas married a second wife with misunderstanding arising between the two leading to separation. He was taken from Baltimore all the way to St. Michael in the sloop Amanda under the Captain Edward Dodson. However, while in St. Michael Frederick met a young white man Mr. Wilson who proposed to teach them how to read the new testaments but unfortunately after the introduction he left the classes ended abruptly. Frederick and his master had some differences and thus he found his inappropriate for his purpose that contributed later to their separation.
After their separation, Douglass then went to live with Mr. Covey who offered him his first job as a free man with him describing the experience being awkward than a country boy appeared to be in a large city (Douglass, 1845). During the year of 1834, they worked a lot with Mr. Covey, and even later, he suffered some wounds that he was treated by Master Hugh’s attendants until he fully recovered. He after that was taken to a shipyard where he acquired experience in calkers, and within a year, he becomes one of the top earners in that field due to his experience.
Finally, in the end, Frederick narrates that he got tired of working for little or no pay at all decided to write to his Master Thomas to hire his time. His offer was turned down and later he went away and were employed by Mr. Butler. This was just the beginning as Douglass got to the Free State and started fighting for the freedom of other slaves who were undergoing similar difficulties under different slave masters (Douglass, 1845). He describes that he has never felt so happy in his life than being in an anti-slavery meeting fighting for his fellow brothers and sisters. Since then Frederick devoted his time in campaigning for anti-slavery meetings and recalls his biggest moment while attending an antislavery convention at Nantucket on 11 August in the year 1841.
References
Douglass, F. (1845). Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave by Frederick Douglass. Boston: Anti-Slavery Office.
TEACHER’S RESPONSE TO PAPER- USE THE SUGGESTIONS AND REWORK THE DRAFT ABOVE WITH THE INFORMATION NEEDED FROM BELOW!
As you read, think, write, and revise, just make sure you have a clear, specific, and arguable thesis statement in the last sentence of introduction paragraph that is then developed throughout the paper. NEEDS SUB-HEADINGS- and Need to discuss the color-line throughout the book- maybe how differently blacks/whites were treated, how this made Frederick feel, how the treatment was different between the north/south treatment of slaves, etc…. This is supposed to be an argumentative analysis of the book.
Quotes: Include three or more quotes from the primary text as well as a couple secondary sources. (Primary sources are by the author, while secondary sources are books, journal articles, and essays about the author.)
Assertion: Be sure to present a strong argument that ends with a solid conclusion. This means that you will repeat your thesis and add your final thoughts or end with a strong quote.
