Frederick Douglass

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Frederick Douglass was born in Talbot County, Maryland. He does not know the year, as most slaves were not allowed to know their ages. He remembers being unhappy and confused that white children knew their ages, but he was not allowed even to ask his own. He estimates that he was born in or around 1818. “Frederick Douglass’s mother was Harriet Bailey, the daughter of Isaac and Betsey Bailey. He was separated from his mother immediately after birth, which was a common practice among slave owners.” (http://www.biography.com/search/article.jsp?aid=9278324)
He assumed that this custom was intended to break the natural bond of affection between mother and child. He also recalled that he only saw his mother on the rare occasions when she could walk twelve miles after dark to lie next to him at night. Harriet died when Frederick was about seven years old. He was told about it afterward and was hardly affected by the news.
Bibliography Term Papers, Essays, Book Reports DataBase C“Frederick Douglass knew only that his father was a white man, though many people said that his master was his father.” (Frederick Douglass: An American Slave) He explained that slaveholders often impregnated their female slaves. In that era, a law insured that mixed?race children became slaves like their mothers. Slaveholders actually profited from this practice of rape, as it increased the number of slaves they owned. Frederick explained that such mixed?race slaves have a worse lot than other slaves, as the slaveholder’s wife, insulted by their existence, insured that they either suffered constantly or were sold off. He considered that the existence of such a large population of mixed-race slaves contradicted arguments that justified American slavery through the supposed inferiority of the African race.
Frederick Douglass’s first master was Captain Anthony. The Captain’s overseer, Mr. Plummer, was a drunk and a cruel man who carrie...