Armando Gonzalez
US History
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Fredrick Douglas, the author of the autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, was born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey around February 14, 1818 in Holme Hill farm in Talbot County on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. His mother was Harriet Bailey and it is rumored that his father was Aaron Anthony, A former sea captain and master of both Douglass and his mother. Douglass began life working as a slave in Holme Hill until his master Aaron Anthony dies around 1826. At this time Douglass was inherited by Anthony’s son-in-law Tomas Auld. Auld then hired out Douglass to his brother Hugh Auld in Baltimore, Maryland where Douglass worked in the shipyards. Hugh Auld’s wife, Sophia, started teaching Douglass to read but soon stopped at the request of Hugh. Douglass continued his education on his own by associating with white boys and reading Caleb Bingham's The Columbian Orator. Douglass was hired out to William Freeland and soon started teaching other slaves to read the New Testament. This activity went undiscovered for months. In 1833, Douglass went back to Thomas Auld after a dispute with his brother Hugh, and Thomas was sent to work for Edward Covey, who was notorious for his cruelty to young male slaves. The first time Douglass tried to escape was under Freeland and then again in 1837 under covey. The same year Douglass met Anna Murray, a free black woman, and fell in love soon after. Murray helped Douglass escape by providing a sailors uniform, borrowed identification papers and part of her savings to pay his way by ferry across the Susquehanna River. Douglass soon arrived at the house of David Ruggles, an abolitionists and member if the Underground Rail Road, in New York. A short time later Murray arrived in New York and they move to New Bedford, Massachusetts where they get married on September 15, 1838 with the surname of Johnson. Douglass joins several organizations during his time in Massachusetts including abolitionists, and church where he learns about the anti-slavery teachings of William Lloyd Garrison. On June 24 Anna gives birth to their doughter Rosetta and a year later around august 11, 1841 she gives birth to their first son, Lewis. Their second son, Fredric Jr, was born March 3, 1842, and third son, Charles, was born on October 21, 1844. In 1845 Douglass publishes his first autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, and becomes wildly popular among abolitionists. At the time of its initial publication there was a controversy, because few could believe that a black, former slave could write so eloquently, sophisticated. Douglass then set out on a tour of Ireland and Britain in an attempt to about getting the attention of his former owner. Douglass arrived in Ireland about the same time the potato famine was starting. Douglas spent
