Chapter I: Front Matter

Transcriber’s Note: Italic text is enclosed in _underscores_. Additional notes will be found near the end of this ebook.

_Fred^k. Douglass._]

LIFE AND TIMES
OF
FREDERICK DOUGLASS,

WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.

HIS EARLY LIFE AS A SLAVE, HIS ESCAPE FROM BONDAGE,
AND HIS COMPLETE HISTORY
TO THE
PRESENT TIME

INCLUDING HIS CONNECTION WITH THE ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT; HIS LABORS IN
GREAT BRITAIN AS WELL AS IN HIS OWN COUNTRY; HIS EXPERIENCE IN THE
CONDUCT OF AN INFLUENTIAL NEWSPAPER; HIS CONNECTION WITH THE
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD; HIS RELATIONS WITH JOHN BROWN AND
THE HARPER’S FERRY RAID; HIS RECRUITING THE 54th AND
55th MASS. COLORED REGIMENTS; HIS INTERVIEWS
WITH PRESIDENTS LINCOLN
AND JOHNSON;
HIS APPOINTMENT BY GEN. GRANT TO ACCOMPANY THE SANTO DOMINGO
COMMISSION; ALSO TO A SEAT IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT
OF COLUMBIA; HIS APPOINTMENT AS UNITED STATES MARSHAL
BY PRESIDENT R. B. HAYES; ALSO HIS APPOINTMENT BY
PRESIDENT J. A. GARFIELD TO BE RECORDER OF
DEEDS IN WASHINGTON; WITH MANY OTHER
INTERESTING AND IMPORTANT EVENTS
OF HIS MOST EVENTFUL LIFE;

WITH AN INTRODUCTION,
BY MR. GEORGE L. RUFFIN,
OF BOSTON.

HARTFORD, CONN.:
PARK PUBLISHING CO.

GEO. M. REWELL & CO., CLEVELAND, OHIO; J. S. GOODMAN
& CO., CHICAGO, ILL.; SUN PUBLISHING CO.,
ST. LOUIS, MO.; PHILLIPS & HUNT,
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL.

1882

COPYRIGHTED BY
PARK PUBLISHING CO.,
1881.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

AUTHOR’S BIRTH.

Author’s place of birth--Description of country--Its
inhabitants--Genealogical trees--Method of counting time
in slave districts--Date of author’s birth--Names of
grandparents--Their cabin--Home with them--Slave practice of
separating mothers from their children--Author’s recollections
of his mother--Who was his father? 25

CHAPTER II.

REMOVAL FROM GRANDMOTHER’S.

Author’s early home--Its charms--Author’s ignorance of “old
master”--His gradual perception of the truth concerning him--
His relations to Col. Edward Lloyd--Author’s removal to “old
master’s” home--His journey thence--His separation from his
grandmother--His grief 28

CHAPTER III.

TROUBLES OF CHILDHOOD.

Col. Lloyd’s plantation--Aunt Katy--Her cruelty and ill-nature--
Capt. Anthony’s partiality to Aunt Katy--Allowance of food--
Author’s hunger--Unexpected rescue by his mother--The reproof
of Aunt Katy--Sleep--A slave-mother’s love--Author’s
inheritance--His mother’s acquirements--Her death 33

CHAPTER IV.

A GENERAL SURVEY OF THE SLAVE PLANTATION.

Home plantation of Colonel Lloyd--Its isolation--Its industries--
The slave rule--Power of overseers--Author finds some
enjoyment--Natural scenery--Sloop “Sally Lloyd”--Wind
mill--Slave quarter--“Old master’s” house--Stables, store
houses, etc., etc.--The great house--Its surroundings--Lloyd
Burial-place--Superstition of slaves--Colonel Lloyd’s wealth--
Negro politeness--Doctor Copper--Captain Anthony--His family--
Master Daniel Lloyd--His brothers--Social etiquette 39

CHAPTER V.

A SLAVEHOLDER’S CHARACTER.

Increasing acquaintance with old master--Evils of unresisted
passion--Apparent tenderness--A man of trouble--Custom of
muttering to himself--Brutal outrage--A drunken overseer--
Slaveholder’s impatience--Wisdom of appeal--A base and selfish
attempt to break up a courtship 48

CHAPTER VI.

A CHILD’S REASONING.

The author’s early reflections on slavery--Aunt Jennie and Uncle
Noah--Presentiment of one day becoming a freeman--Conflict
between an overseer and a slave woman--Advantage of resistance--
Death of an overseer--Col. Lloyd’s plantation home--Monthly
distribution of food--Singing of slaves--An explanation--
The slaves’ food and clothing--Naked children--Life in the
quarter--Sleeping places--not beds--Deprivation of sleep--
Care of nursing babies--Ash cake--Contrast 53

CHAPTER VII.

LUXURIES AT THE GREAT HOUSE.

Contrasts--Great House luxuries--Its hospitality--
Entertainments--Fault-finding--Shameful humiliation of an
old and faithful coachman--William Wilks--Curious incident--
Expressed satisfaction not always genuine--Reasons for
suppressing the truth 61

CHAPTER VIII.

CHARACTERISTICS OF OVERSEERS.

Austin Gore--Sketch of his character--Overseers as a class--
Their peculiar characteristics--The marked individuality
of Austin Gore--His sense of duty--Murder of poor Denby--
Sensation--How Gore made his peace with Col. Lloyd--Other
horrible murders--No laws for the protection of slaves possible
of being enforced 71

CHAPTER IX.

CHANGE OF LOCATION.

Miss Lucretia--Her kindness--How it was manifested--“Ike”--
A battle with him--Miss Lucretia’s balsam--Bread--How it
was obtained--Gleams of sunset amidst the general darkness--
Suffering from cold--How we took our meal mush--Preparations
for going to Baltimore--Delight at the change--Cousin Tom’s
opinion of Baltimore--Arrival there--Kind reception--Mr. and
Mrs. Hugh Auld--Their son Tommy--My relations to them--My
duties--A turning-point in my life 78

CHAPTER X.

LEARNING TO READ.

City annoyances--Plantation regrets--My mistress--Her history--
Her kindness--My master--His sourness--My comforts--Increased
sensitiveness--My occupation--Learning to read--Baneful
effects of slaveholding on my dear, good mistress--Mr. Hugh
forbids Mrs. Sophia to teach me further--Clouds gather on my
bright prospects--Master Auld’s exposition of the Philosophy of
Slavery--City slaves--Country slaves--Contrasts--Exceptions--
Mr. Hamilton’s two slaves--Mrs. Hamilton’s cruel treatment
of them--Piteous aspect presented by them--No power to come
between the slave and slaveholder 85

CHAPTER XI.

GROWING IN KNOWLEDGE.

My mistress--Her slaveholding duties--Their effects on her
originally noble nature--The conflict in her mind--She opposes
my learning to read--Too late--She had given me the “inch,” I
was resolved to take the “ell”--How I pursued my study to read--
My tutors--What progress I made--Slavery--What I heard said
about it--Thirteen years old--Columbian orator--Dialogue--
Speeches--Sheridan--Pitt--Lords Chatham and Fox--Knowledge
increasing--Liberty--Singing--Sadness--Unhappiness of Mrs.
Sophia--My hatred of slavery--One Upas tree overshadows us all 92

CHAPTER XII.

RELIGIOUS NATURE AWAKENED.

Abolitionists spoken of--Eagerness to know the meaning of the
word--Consults the dictionary--Incendiary information--The
enigma solved--“Nat Turner” insurrection--Cholera--Religion--
Methodist Minister--Religious impressions--Father Lawson--His
character and occupation--His influence over me--Our mutual
attachment--New hopes and aspirations--Heavenly light--Two
Irishmen on wharf--Conversation with them--Learning to write--
My aims 100

CHAPTER XIII.

THE VICISSITUDES OF SLAVE LIFE.

Death of old Master’s son Richard, speedily followed by that of old
Master--Valuation and division of all the property, including
the slaves--Sent for to come to Hillsborough to be valued and
divided--Sad prospects and grief--Parting--Slaves have no
voice in deciding their own destinies--General dread of falling
into Master Andrew’s hands--His drunkenness--Good fortune in
falling to Miss Lucretia--She allows my return to Baltimore--
Joy at Master Hugh’s--Death of Miss Lucretia--Master Thomas
Auld’s second marriage--The new wife unlike the old--Again
removed from Master Hugh’s--Reasons for regret--Plan of escape 107

CHAPTER XIV.

EXPERIENCE IN ST. MICHAELS.

St. Michaels and its inhabitants--Capt. Auld--His new wife--
Sufferings from hunger--Forced to steal--Argument in
vindication thereof--Southern camp-meeting--What Capt. Auld
did there--Hopes--Suspicions--The result--Faith and works at
variance--Position in the church--Poor Cousin Henny--Methodist
preachers--Their disregard of the slaves--One exception--
Sabbath-school--How and by whom broken up--Sad change in my
prospects--Covey, the negro-breaker 116

CHAPTER XV.

COVEY, THE NEGRO BREAKER.

Journey to Covey’s--Meditations by the way--Covey’s house--
Family--Awkwardness as a field hand--A cruel beating--Why
given--Description of Covey--First attempt at driving oxen--
Hair-breadth escape--Ox and man alike property--Hard labor more
effective than the whip for breaking down the spirit--Cunning
and trickery of Covey--Family worship--Shocking and indecent
contempt for chastity--Great mental agitation--Anguish beyond
description 129

CHAPTER XVI.

ANOTHER PRESSURE OF THE TYRANT’S VICE.

Experience at Covey’s summed up--First six months severer than
the remaining six--Preliminaries to the change--Reasons for
narrating the circumstances--Scene in the treading-yard--Author
taken ill--Escapes to St. Michaels--The pursuit--Suffering in
the woods--Talk with Master Thomas--His beating--Driven back
to Covey’s--The slaves never sick--Natural to expect them to
feign sickness--Laziness of slaveholders 142

CHAPTER XVII.

THE LAST FLOGGING.

A sleepless night--Return to Covey’s--Punished by him--The
chase defeated--Vengeance postponed--Musings in the woods--
The alternative--Deplorable spectacle--Night in the woods--
Expected attack--Arrested by Sandy--A friend, not a master--
Sandy’s hospitality--The ash-cake supper--Interview with
Sandy--His advice--Sandy a conjuror as well as a Christian--
The magic root--Strange meeting with Covey--His manner--
Covey’s Sunday face--Author’s defensive resolve--The fight--
The victory, and its results 150

CHAPTER XVIII.

NEW RELATIONS AND DUTIES.

Change of masters--Benefits derived by change--Fame of the fight
with Covey--Reckless unconcern--Author’s abhorence of slavery--
Ability to read a cause of prejudice--The holidays--How
spent--Sharp hit at slavery--Effects of holidays--Difference
between Covey and Freeland--An irreligious master preferred to
a religious one--Hard life at Covey’s useful to the author--
Improved condition does not bring contentment--Congenial society
at Freeland’s--Author’s Sabbath-school--Secresy necessary--
Affectionate relations of tutor and pupils--Confidence and
friendship among slaves--Slavery the inviter of vengeance 164

CHAPTER XIX.

THE RUNAWAY PLOT.

New Year’s thoughts and meditations--Again hired by Freeland--
Kindness no compensation for slavery--Incipient steps toward
escape--Considerations leading thereto--Hostility to slavery--
Solemn vow taken--Plan divulged to slaves--Columbian Orator
again--Scheme gains favor--Danger of discovery--Skill of
slaveholders--Suspicion and coercion--Hymns with double
meaning--Consultation--Password--Hope and fear--Ignorance
of Geography--Imaginary difficulties--Patrick Henry--Sandy a
dreamer--Route to the north mapped out--Objections--Frauds--
Passes--Anxieties--Fear of failure--Strange presentiment--
Coincidence--Betrayal--Arrests--Resistance--Mrs. Freeland--
Prison--Brutal jests--Passes eaten--Denial--Sandy--Dragged
behind horses--Slave traders--Alone in prison--Sent to
Baltimore 174

CHAPTER XX.

APPRENTICESHIP LIFE.

Nothing lost in my attempt to run away--Comrades at home--Reasons
for sending me away--Return to Baltimore--Tommy changed--
Caulking in Gardiner’s ship yard--Desperate fight--Its causes--
Conflict between white and black labor--Outrage--Testimony--
Master Hugh--Slavery in Baltimore--My condition improves--New
associations--Slaveholder’s right to the slave’s wages--How to
make a discontented slave 200

CHAPTER XXI.

ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY.

Closing incidents in my “Life as a Slave”--Discontent--
Suspicions--Master’s generosity--Difficulties in the way of
escape--Plan to obtain money--Allowed to hire my time--A
gleam of hope--Attend camp-meeting--Anger of Master Hugh--The
result--Plans of escape--Day for departure fixed--Harassing
doubts and fears--Painful thoughts of separation from friends 212

SECOND PART.

CHAPTER I.

ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY.

Reasons for not having revealed the manner of escape--Nothing
of romance in the method--Danger--Free Papers--Unjust tax--
Protection papers--“Free trade and sailors’ rights”--American
eagle--Railroad train--Unobserving conductor--Capt. McGowan--
Honest German--Fears--Safe arrival in Philadelphia--Ditto in
New York 220

CHAPTER II.

LIFE AS A FREEMAN.

Loneliness and insecurity--“Allender’s Jake”--Succored by a
sailor--David Ruggles--Marriage--Steamer J. W. Richmond--
Stage to New Bedford--Arrival there--Driver’s detention
of baggage--Nathan Johnson--Change of Name--Why called
“Douglass”--Obtaining Work--The _Liberator_ and its Editor 228

CHAPTER III.

INTRODUCED TO THE ABOLITIONISTS.

Anti-Slavery Convention at Nantucket--First Speech--Much
Sensation--Extraordinary Speech of Mr. Garrison--Anti-Slavery
Agency--Youthful Enthusiasm--Fugitive Slaveship Doubted--
Experience in Slavery Written--Danger of Recapture 244

CHAPTER IV.

RECOLLECTIONS OF OLD FRIENDS.

Work in Rhode Island--Dorr War--Recollections of old friends--
Further labors in Rhode Island and elsewhere in New England 250

CHAPTER V.

ONE HUNDRED CONVENTIONS.

Anti-Slavery Conventions held in parts of New England, and in some
of the Middle and Western States--Mobs--Incidents, etc. 257

CHAPTER VI.

IMPRESSIONS ABROAD.

Danger to be averted--A refuge sought abroad--Voyage on the
steamship Cambria--Refusal of first-class passage--Attractions
of the forecastle-deck--Hutchinson family--Invited to make
a speech--Southerners feel insulted--Captain threatens to
put them in irons--Experiences abroad--Attentions received--
Impressions of different members of Parliament, and of other
public men--Contrast with life in America--Kindness of
friends--Their purchase of my person, and the gift of the same
to myself--My return 266

CHAPTER VII.

TRIUMPHS AND TRIALS.

New Experiences--Painful Disagreement of Opinion with old
Friends--Final Decision to Publish my Paper in Rochester--Its
Fortunes and its Friends--Change in my own Views Regarding the
Constitution of the United States--Fidelity to Conviction--Loss
of Old Friends--Support of New Ones--Loss of House, etc., by
Fire--Triumphs and Trials--Under-ground Railroad--Incidents 294

CHAPTER VIII.

JOHN BROWN AND MRS. STOWE.

My First Meeting with Capt John Brown--The Free Soil Movement--
Colored Convention--Uncle Tom’s Cabin--Industrial School for
Colored People--Letter to Mrs. H. B. Stowe 309

CHAPTER IX.

INCREASING DEMANDS OF THE SLAVE POWER.

Increased demands of slavery--War in Kansas--John Brown’s raid--
His capture and execution--My escape to England from United
States marshals 329

CHAPTER X.

THE BEGINNING OF THE END.

My connection with John Brown--To and from England--Presidential
contest--Election of Abraham Lincoln 350

CHAPTER XI.

SECESSION AND WAR.

Recruiting of the 54th and 55th Colored Regiments--Visit to
President Lincoln and Secretary Stanton--Promised a Commission
as Adjutant General to General Thomas--Disappointment 373

CHAPTER XII.

HOPE FOR THE NATION.

Proclamation of emancipation--Its reception in Boston--Objections
brought against it--Its effect on the country--Interview with
President Lincoln--New York riots--Re-election of Mr. Lincoln--
His inauguration, and inaugural--Vice-President Johnson--
Presidential reception--The fall of Richmond--Fanueil Hall--
The assassination--Condolence 390

CHAPTER XIII.

VAST CHANGES.

Satisfaction and anxiety, new fields of labor opening--Lyceums and
colleges soliciting addresses--Literary attractions--Pecuniary
gain--Still pleading for human rights--President Andy Johnson--
Colored delegation--Their reply to him--National Loyalist
Convention, 1866, and its procession--Not Wanted--Meeting with
an old friend--Joy and surprise--The old master’s welcome,
and Miss Amanda’s friendship--Enfranchisement debated and
accomplished--The Negro a citizen 414

CHAPTER XIV.

LIVING AND LEARNING.

Inducements to a political career--Objections--A newspaper
enterprise--The New National Era--Its abandonment--The
Freedman’s Saving and Trust Company--Sad experience--
Vindication 442

CHAPTER XV.

WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE.

The Santo Domingo controversy--Decoration day at Arlington,
1871--Speech delivered there--National colored convention at
New Orleans, 1872--Elector at large for the State of New York--
Death of Hon. Henry Wilson 451

CHAPTER XVI.

“TIME MAKES ALL THINGS EVEN.”

Return to the “old master”--A last interview--Capt. Auld’s
admission “had I been in your place, I should have done as you
did”--Speech at Easton--The old jail there--Invited to a sail
on the revenue cutter Guthrie--Hon. John L. Thomas--Visit to
the old plantation--Home of Col. Lloyd--Kind reception and
attentions--Familiar scenes--Old memories--Burial-ground--
Hospitality--Gracious reception from Mrs. Buchanan--A little
girl’s floral gift--A promise of a “good time coming”--Speech
at Harper’s Ferry, Decoration day, 1881--Storer College--Hon.
A. J. Hunter 487

CHAPTER XVII.

INCIDENTS AND EVENTS.

Hon. Gerrit Smith and Mr. E. C. Delevan--Experiences at Hotels and
on Steamboats and other modes of travel--Hon. Edward Marshall--
Grace Greenwood--Hon. Moses Norris--Rob’t J. Ingersoll--
Reflections and conclusions--Compensations 503

CHAPTER XVIII.

“HONOR TO WHOM HONOR.”

Grateful recognition--Friends in need--Lucretia Mott--Lydia
Maria Child--Sarah and Angelina Grimke--Abby Kelly--H. Beecher
Stowe--Other Friends--Woman Suffrage 517

CHAPTER XIX.

RETROSPECTION.

Meeting of colored citizens in Washington to express their sympathy
at the great national bereavement, the death of President
Garfield--Concluding reflections and convictions 527