Frederick Douglass

1818-1895

Life

Family

• Father: unknown white man
• Mother was separated from him when he was an infant
• After his escape from slavery, he changed his name from Frederick Bailey to Frederick Douglass to avoid identification.

Homes

• Maryland
• Massachusetts

Occupations

• slave
• abolitionist
• writer
• editor
• orator
• consul-general to Haiti

Chronology

• 1818: born into slavery in Maryland
• 1838: escapes to Massachusetts
• 1841: becomes an abolitionist
• 1845: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself.
• 1847: begins publishing The North Star, an abolitionist newspaper
• 1855: My Bondage and My Freedom
• 1881: The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass

---

Issues and themes

Frederick Douglass is the most famous author of a literary genre known as the slave narrative. His Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself, like Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, not only exposes the horrors of slavery, but addresses several central themes of the black Americans' experience. As Douglass explains in the first chapter of his narrative, for example, identity was a problem for him and other slaves, who usually did not know their birthday or, in some cases, their parentage. Later, he takes up the topics of race, language, freedom, and empowerment. In the century and a half since the publication of Douglass's book, many of these subjects have continued to interest black American writers, including Richard Wright, Langston Hughes, Alice Walker, and Toni Morrison.

While it carries particular significance for students and scholars of African-American literature, Douglass's narrative is also the story of an American, a man, and a human being. As an account of free will and self-creation, the book puts Douglass in a tradition that also includes John Smith, Benjamin Franklin, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. In its riveting account of Douglass's confrontation with Mr. Covey, it treats the connection between violence and manhood--a topic that also interested Stephen Crane, Ernest Hemingway, and other writers. Finally, the story can be read as a nonfictional bildungsroman, in which Douglass recounts his rise to adulthood.

---

Work

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself.

• Publication: 1845
• In the first chapter of his narrative, Douglass shows that slaves lacked a strong sense of identity. Why? What might be some consequences of this status?
• What does Douglass's narrative reveal about the institution of slavery? Consider not only its practical implementation, but the motivations behind it and its effect on slaves.
• How does Mr. Covey turn Douglass into a "brute"?
• What aspect of slavery seems to disturb Douglass the most and makes him decide to escape?
• Analyze this passage: "You are loosed from your moorings, and are free; I am fast in my chains, and am a slave!" (900).
• Douglass says that impudence is a terrible offense in the eyes of slaveholders. What is impudence? Why do you think it disturbed slaveholders?
• Explain the differences between Mr. Covey and Mr. Freeland. How do you explain these differences?
• Why does Douglass see his fight with Mr. Covey as a turning point in his life? What transformation takes place?
• Why was reading so important to slaves and so offensive to slaveholders?
• Identify some characteristics of the bildungsroman in this narrative. For example, consider Douglass's ideas about "manhood."
• Identify some of Douglass's allusions. What do they contribute to the meaning or effect of his narrative?
• Most of Douglass's readers were white. In what ways does Douglass take his audience into consideration when composing his narrative?
• Analyze Douglass's style. Do you find it engaging? Why or why not?

Bibliography

• "Frederick Douglass." Norton Anthology of American Literature. Shorter Fourth Edition. New York: W.W. Norton, 1995. 14-16.
• Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself. Norton Anthology of American Literature. Shorter Fourth Edition. New York: W.W. Norton, 1995. 885-916.

© Mark Canada, 1997

Quoting any of the phrases or paraphrasing any of the ideas on this site without citing this site is plagiarism, a serious form of academic misconduct that can result in failure of a course, dismissal from a university, or both.

If you use the citation style suggested by Janice R. Walker, co-author of the Columbia Guide to Online Style and author of "MLA-Style Citations of Electronic Sources" on the World Wide Web, a reference to this site on a "Works Cited" page would appear as follows:

Canada, Mark, ed. "Frederick Douglass." Canada's America. 1997. http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/canam/douglass.htm (*).

*Inside the parentheses, type the date on which you are viewing this site.