But, the mistress of the house, Sophia, began teaching Douglass the alphabet until her husband intervened. Slaves were kept illiterate and ignorant because it was believed that an education would make them rebellious and unfit for enslavement. It was against the law to educate slaves by teaching them to read or write. Two years later, Douglass was sent to Baltimore to work in the Hugh Auld household as a house slave. Around the age of six, Douglass was deemed old enough to begin working and joined his older siblings at the Wye Plantation. The property was owned by Aaron Anthony who is believed to have raised slaves to supply local plantations such as Wye House which was owned by a local wealthy family. His father’s identity is unknown but he is believed to have been a White man, quite possibly his owner, Aaron Anthony.ĭouglass was raised from infancy by his grandmother, Betty Bailey, who also cared for the other children at Holmes Hill Farm.
His mother lived on a plantation several miles away and they would only see each other on a few occasions before she passed away when he was about eight years old. As often occurred, Douglass was taken from his mother, Harriet Bailey, while he was still a baby. He never knew the exact date of his birth but was most likely born in or around the year 1818 and later chose to use February 14th as his date of birth. Notable: Abolitionist & Author Media YouTube Videoįrederick Douglass was born into slavery in Tuckahoe, Talbot County, Maryland. Frederick Douglass (née Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey)
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