My Bondage and My Freedom

MY BONDAGE and MY FREEDOM

By Frederick Douglass

By a principle essential to Christianity, a PERSON is eternally differenced from a THING; so that the idea of a HUMAN BEING, necessarily excludes the idea of PROPERTY IN THAT BEING. —COLERIDGE

Entered according to Act of Congress in 1855 by Frederick Douglass in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Northern District of New York

TO HONORABLE GERRIT SMITH, AS A SLIGHT TOKEN OF ESTEEM FOR HIS CHARACTER, ADMIRATION FOR HIS GENIUS AND BENEVOLENCE, AFFECTION FOR HIS PERSON, AND GRATITUDE FOR HIS FRIENDSHIP, AND AS A Small but most Sincere Acknowledgement of HIS PRE-EMINENT SERVICES IN BEHALF OF THE RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES OF AN AFFLICTED, DESPISED AND DEEPLY OUTRAGED PEOPLE, BY RANKING SLAVERY WITH PIRACY AND MURDER, AND BY DENYING IT EITHER A LEGAL OR CONSTITUTIONAL EXISTENCE, This Volume is Respectfully Dedicated, BY HIS FAITHFUL AND FIRMLY ATTACHED FRIEND,

FREDERICK DOUGLAS. ROCHESTER, N.Y. CHAPTER I. Childhood CHAPTER II. Removed from My First Home CHAPTER III. Parentage CHAPTER IV. A General Survey of the Slave Plantation CHAPTER V. Gradual Initiation to the Mysteries of Slavery CHAPTER VI. Treatment of Slaves on Lloyd's Plantation CHAPTER VII. Life in the Great House CHAPTER VIII. A Chapter of Horrors CHAPTER IX. Personal Treatment CHAPTER X. Life in Baltimore CHAPTER XI. "A Change Came O'er the Spirit of My Dream" CHAPTER XII. Religious Nature Awakened CHAPTER XIII. The Vicissitudes of Slave Life CHAPTER XIV. Experience in St. Michael's CHAPTER XV. Covey, the Negro Breaker CHAPTER XVI. Another Pressure of the Tyrant's Vice CHAPTER XVII. The Last Flogging CHAPTER XVIII. New Relations and Duties CHAPTER XIX. The Run-Away Plot CHAPTER XX. Apprenticeship Life CHAPTER XXI. My Escape from Slavery

LIFE as a FREEMAN CHAPTER XXII. Liberty Attained CHAPTER XXIII. Introduced to the Abolitionists CHAPTER XXIV. Twenty-One Months in Great Britain CHAPTER XXV. Various Incidents

RECEPTION SPEECH. At Finsbury Chapel, Moorfields, England, May 12, Dr. Campbell's Reply LETTER TO HIS OLD MASTER.. To My Old Master, Thomas Auld THE NATURE OF SLAVERY. Extract from a Lecture on Slavery, at Rochester, INHUMANITY OF SLAVERY. Extract from A Lecture on Slavery, at Rochester, WHAT TO THE SLAVE IS THE FOURTH OF JULY?. Extract from an Oration, at THE INTERNAL SLAVE TRADE. Extract from an Oration, at Rochester, July THE SLAVERY PARTY. Extract from a Speech Delivered before the A. A. S. THE ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT. Extracts from a Lecture before Various

FOOTNOTES

MY BONDAGE and MY FREEDOM

EDITOR'S PREFACE

If the volume now presented to the public were a mere work of ART, the history of its misfortune might be written in two very simple words—TOO LATE. The nature and character of slavery have been subjects of an almost endless variety of artistic representation; and after the brilliant achievements in that field, and while those achievements are yet fresh in the memory of the million, he who would add another to the legion, must possess the charm of transcendent excellence, or apologize for something worse than rashness. The reader is, therefore, assured, with all due promptitude, that his attention is not invited to a work of ART, but to a work of FACTS—Facts, terrible and almost incredible, it may be yet FACTS, nevertheless.

I am authorized to say that there is not a fictitious name nor place in the whole volume; but that names and places are literally given, and that every transaction therein described actually transpired.

Perhaps the best Preface to this volume is furnished in the following letter of Mr. Douglass, written in answer to my urgent solicitation for such a work:

ROCHESTER, N. Y. July 2, 1855.

DEAR FRIEND: I have long entertained, as you very well know, a somewhat positive repugnance to writing or speaking anything for the public, which could, with any degree of plausibilty, make me liable to the imputation of seeking personal notoriety, for its own sake. Entertaining that feeling very sincerely, and permitting its control, perhaps, quite unreasonably, I have often refused to narrate my personal experience in public anti-slavery meetings, and in sympathizing circles, when urged to do so by friends, with whose views and wishes, ordinarily, it were a pleasure to comply. In my letters and speeches, I have generally aimed to discuss the question of Slavery in the light of fundamental principles, and upon facts, notorious and open to all; making, I trust, no more of the fact of my own former enslavement, than circumstances seemed absolutely to require. I have never placed my opposition to slavery on a basis so narrow as my own enslavement, but rather upon the indestructible and unchangeable laws of human nature, every one of which is perpetually and flagrantly violated by the slave system. I have also felt that it was best for those having histories worth the writing—or supposed to be so—to commit such work to hands other than their own. To write of one's self, in such a manner as not to incur the imputation of weakness, vanity, and egotism, is a work within the ability of but few; and I have little reason to believe that I belong to that fortunate few.

These considerations caused me to hesitate, when first you kindly urged me to prepare for publication a full account of my life as a slave, and my life as a freeman.

Nevertheless, I see, with you, many reasons for regarding my autobiography as exceptional in its character, and as being, in some sense, naturally beyond the reach of those reproaches which honorable and sensitive minds dislike to incur. It is not to illustrate any heroic achievements of a man, but to vindicate a just and beneficent principle, in its application to the whole human family, by letting in the light of truth upon a system, esteemed by some as a blessing, and by others as a curse and a crime. I agree with you, that this system is now at the bar of public opinion—not only of this country, but of the whole civilized world—for judgment. Its friends have made for it the usual plea—"not guilty;" the case must, therefore, proceed. Any facts, either from slaves, slaveholders, or by-standers, calculated to enlighten the public mind, by revealing the true nature, character, and tendency of the slave system, are in order, and can scarcely be innocently withheld.

I see, too, that there are special reasons why I should write my own biography, in preference to employing another to do it. Not only is slavery on trial, but unfortunately, the enslaved people are also on trial. It is alleged, that they are, naturally, inferior; that they are so low in the scale of humanity, and so utterly stupid, that they are unconscious of their wrongs, and do not apprehend their rights. Looking, then, at your request, from this stand-point, and wishing everything of which you think me capable to go to the benefit of my afflicted people, I part with my doubts and hesitation, and proceed to furnish you the desired manuscript; hoping that you may be able to make such arrangements for its publication as shall be best adapted to accomplish that good which you so enthusiastically anticipate.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS

There was little necessity for doubt and hesitation on the part of Mr. Douglass, as to the propriety of his giving to the world a full account of himself. A man who was born and brought up in slavery, a living witness of its horrors; who often himself experienced its cruelties; and who, despite the depressing influences surrounding his birth, youth and manhood, has risen, from a dark and almost absolute obscurity, to the distinguished position which he now occupies, might very well assume the existence of a commendable curiosity, on the part of the public, to know the facts of his remarkable history.

EDITOR

INTRODUCTION

When a man raises himself from the lowest condition in society to the highest, mankind pay him the tribute of their admiration; when he accomplishes this elevation by native energy, guided by prudence and wisdom, their admiration is increased; but when his course, onward and upward, excellent in itself, furthermore proves a possible, what had hitherto been regarded as an impossible, reform, then he becomes a burning and a shining light, on which the aged may look with gladness, the young with hope, and the down-trodden, as a representative of what they may themselves become. To such a man, dear reader, it is my privilege to introduce you.

The life of Frederick Douglass, recorded in the pages which follow, is not merely an example of self-elevation under the most adverse circumstances; it is, moreover, a noble vindication of the highest aims of the American anti-slavery movement. The real object of that movement is not only to disenthrall, it is, also, to bestow upon the Negro the exercise of all those rights, from the possession of which he has been so long debarred.