Douglass is able to know more about slavery. Douglass’ mother was Harriet Bailey. She was the daughter of Isaac and Betsey Bailey. He was separated from his mother after his birth, a common practice that was exhibited by slave owners. He assumes that the practice was done to destroy the natural love and affection between mother and child. He only remembered meeting his mother four or five times during his childhood. She would walk twelve miles on foot from the neighboring plantation to see and lie next to him. She could be with him at night and be ready to work by dawn. She died when he was about seven and he was not allowed to go to her burial. Harriet’s death did not affect Douglass so much, because she was like a stranger. Douglass states “never enjoyed, to any considerable extent her soothing presence her tender and watchful care, I received the tidings of her death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger” (Douglass 2). Frederick Douglass’ grandfather, Isaac Bailey was a free black man. He sawed trees as an occupation for Captain Anthony and Colonel Lloyd. Betsey Bailey was Douglass’ grandmother and she was owned by Captain Anthony. Although, Douglass knew that his father was a white man, he had no way of finding out for sure. He explains that slave masters are often liable to impregnate female slaves. The law of the land ensured that if a mixed-race occurs, the child becomes a slave like the mother. Thus slave masters benefited from this which led to rape and the increase of slave ownership. As a result, the wife of the slave master becomes jealous and tended to treat the slaves harshly. The slaves were sometimes even sold off because the master’s wife felt insulted by their existence. Douglass had two masters.
His first master’s name was Captain Anthony. Douglass did not remember his master’s first name because he was generally called Captain Anthony a title which Douglass states, “he presumed, he acquired by sailing a craft on the Chesapeake Bay” (Douglass 3). Capitan Anthony was not considered a rich slaveholder since he had few slaves and farms. The Captain’s overseer, Mr. Plummer, was a miserable drunk, a savage monster and a cruel man who carried cowskin and heavy cudgel with him. He often uses the cowskin and cudgel on the slaves. Mr. Plummer enjoyed whipping the slaves so much that Captain Anthony would be enraged at his cruelty, and would threaten to whip him if he did not mind himself. Douglass recalled Mr. Plummer whipping his Aunt Hester. He describes the feeling both of being the witness and participant in the abuse. It was the first time he ever saw an actual whipping. He explains the blood and insane beating in horrid details. As a child, too innocent to understand what was happening, it was traumatic to witness such a terrible incident. Aunt Hester disobeyed Mr. Plummer’s orders by going out and being in company with Lloyd’s Ned, a servant of Captain Ned Roberts, a slave
master. In conclusion, Douglass suggests interbreeding during slavery times is justified when compared to Gods curse on Noah’s, son Ham. Douglass tells us his own life in order to depict the harshness of slavery. He also talks about his own parents and how slavery prevents them from being a normal family. His relationship with his mother was not fulfilling because, there was no affection between them. He had no way of finding out for sure about his father, and the experience he had at his first master’s farm left him scared about slavery.
Works Cited
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. New York: Dover
Publications, Inc., 1995.