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Fredrick Bailey (Douglas)

Fredrick Bailey (Douglas) was born a slave sometime in the year of 1818 in Tuckahoe, Maryland. His mother was Harriet Bailey and his father was a white man. He was separated from his mother in his infancy and was seen only a few times by Fredrick prior to her death in 1824. The culture of the slaves varied upon several factors including the Master and his level of religion, the area and whether the slave was on a plantation or private home, the sex of the slave, the knowledge the slave possessed, the work being required of the slaves and even the time period.
During his slave years he had lived with several masters with different slave cultures, some of them several times. During his enslavement with Master Captain Anthony, from birth to 1825, he describes this culture as being of a slaveholder who was a cruel man, hardened by a long life of slaveholding, who would at times take great pleasure in whipping a slave. (Chapter 1, page 15) It was during this time that he witnessed his Aunt Hester’s whipping due to the master desiring her presence and her being absent. She had disobeyed orders and was keeping company with another slave that belonged to another slaveholder that Master Captain Anthony did not approve of. From the information stated by Mr. Douglass, it becomes apparent that Master Anthony wanted Fredrick’s aunt for his own pleasure. This practice was not uncommon for the Masters to have a slave mistress and many would bare children by them. This appears to be the case with Fredrick as well.
The slaves all received a monthly allowance at the plantation house of food, (which sometimes was not even enough to live on) and a yearly allowance of clothing and shoes. It was looked down upon on a Master that did not give his slaves enough food. Sometimes the slaves had to beg or steal food to even survive. For doing this, the slaves would be punished and whipped severely. Slaves did not have beds and only the men and women received a blanket. It was...