Frederick Douglas

The Road to Freedom

Many interesting details are shared by Frederick Douglass in his book, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. He shares with us many recollections from his past. Douglass was a rare person because he was a slave who survived horrible conditions; he did this by gaining his education which eventually led to him gaining his freedom.

For the majority of Douglass’ days as a slave he did not endure the most horrible slave work conditions. It is said that the worst conditions were in the South and Douglass was lucky enough to never be sent that way. That is not to say that he had an easy life as a slave. He had been exposed to the less extreme sides of work and this contributed to the difficulties he had when hard labor was given to him. “I suffered more anxiety then most of my fellow-slaves. I had known what it was to be kindly treated;” Douglass said. This was probably not something that was felt by all slaves. Some slaves had only experienced work in the field and never experienced a kind master or overseer. Unfortunately Douglass finally met one of these harsh masters while being watched by a Mr. Covey. He was the one who had the worst working conditions and also subjected Douglass to many injuries. These horrible conditions did have one positive result; it reminded Douglass that he needed to complete his goal and become a free man. In order to do this he would have to be determined as he once was a child.

While Douglass was a young slave he armed himself with what was his most powerful weapon, that weapon was knowledge. Douglass was lucky enough to live with Mr. & Mrs. Auld, slave owners who at first were lenient and nice to him, especially Mrs. Auld. Mrs. Auld originally started showing Douglass the alphabet. This came to an end suddenly when Douglass overheard Mr. Auld telling Mrs. Auld, “Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world. Now, if you teach that nigger (speaking of myself) how to read,...