Frederick Douglass

I am grateful to have a quiet weekend at home.  My cousin is visiting and she wanted to go to yoga so I got an early start which led to a productive morning of laundry, washing the dining and bathroom floors, writing a grocery list, making a tofu scramble etc.

During lunch I started reading Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.  I read an excerpt in The Sun magazine recently and it was easy to connect with and captivating.  I requested it from the library and the narrative voice is truly compelling.  I've learned that Maryland and Baltimore were slave states (I would have guessed that was the North), that slaves pretty much always said their masters treated them well when asked, (because if they didn't it would get back to the master and they'd be punished) and that the worst of a masters reputation was to not feed a slave sufficiently (though it still happened).

Douglass also portrays how his new masters wife was the first white woman he met with a kind face.  She began to teach him his letters.  Soon enough her husband put a stop to that, and with time, being a slaveholder turned her kindness sour.  She had not been a slaveholder when Douglas came into their household.

Douglas continued his thirst to learn to read however, and would give bread to the poor white boys in his neighborhood for a reading lesson.

It seems that often when I try to read old literature, it takes a while to connect.  However, this book written in 1845 the connection was instantaneous and effortless.