Summary Of Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglas

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Courtney D. Austin Dr. Brooksie Harrington September 24, 2014 Fayetteville State University To understand any account from a former slave, one must first understand exactly what a slave is and how it came to be in America. According to Merriam-Webster a slave is defined as “someone who is legally owned by another person and is forced to work for that person without pay.” According to history.com, slavery was prominent during the early years of the United States. Slaves were brought over to America in 1619 to Jamestown, Virginia to help the new settlers with procuring crops, like tobacco and cotton. Because of slavery, the first colonies flourish, but it wasn’t at the hand of goodness. Slavery lasted in the North America for over two-hundred…show more content…
He states in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass that he “was born in Tuckahoe, near Hillsborough, and about twelve miles from Easton, in Talbot county [sic].” (Douglass 395) Douglass never had the chance of knowing who his actual father was. In his narrative, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, he states that the only knowledge he gained of who his father may have been was through others whispers on the plantation. Whenever Douglass was just at twelve months old, his mother was sent away from him. Unlike Jacobs, he never had any chance of knowing his mother. He only had the chance of seeing her a handful of times, which was only at night and his mother had to walk twelve miles both ways to see him, during his life before she passed away. He was raised by a woman to whom he refers as his grandmother alongside of other slave children. Douglass also states in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass that the slave children were only allotted a single gown to wear per year, therefore many slave children would be seen naked running around on the plantation. He also never knew what a formal bath was or how to really take one. The turning point in his life was whenever he was given to a family member of his master and was told by his mistress to clean himself in the river to remove all of the dead skin, dirt, and scruff from his body; and that once he had done so, he would be given a pair of pants to

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